If you can’t pull yourself away from your Facebook farm or whatever you have going on over there, then I suppose this post isn’t for you, but if you’re interested in great conversations and following interesting people, then you need to check out Google+! In many ways, Google+ is similar to Facebook, but there’s a different air to it…I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is about it, but Google+ just feels more open, easier to work with, and it’s a bit less creepy than Facebook (privacy issues). If you have any sort of Google account like Gmail or Picasa, that’s all you need, so there’s no excuse to not at least have a look.

Yes, you can follow family and all of that, but more importantly, you can easily find folks relevant to what you do and what you’re interested in, follow them, and easily interact with them. It’s a lot harder to get this done in Facebook. Additionally, Google+’s circling method (the way you organize who you follow) is very easy to work with, plus it’s not quite as obtrusive as Facebook’s invite system. Really, Google+ is like Twitter, but without the 140 character posting limit and a few more options.

I’ve been involved with Google+ since it was a private “invite only” thing. During that time, I sent out invites to various friends and family. The most common complaint I heard during that process was, “there’s no one here”. Well, if you’re not proactive about it, yes, there’s no one there…for you. You have to take action, search for people based on your interests…and then PUT THEM IN A CIRCLE TO FOLLOW THEM; that gets the ball rolling. The people are there…MILLIONS of them; they aren’t going to come to you on a silver platter, so get busy! I used to worry that my family members weren’t on Google+, but not anymore. Sure, it’d be nice if they were there and active, but they’re not…and it doesn’t matter. You need to get over it; they’ll come over sometime because Google’s got a finger in everything and will guide them to it eventually, but for now, spread your wings a bit and explore beyond the blue-wrapped cocoon of ads, creepy timelines, funny pet photos, and time sink games Facebook seems to be filled with these days. Here’s a start, circle ME. 😀