In November, I presented at this conference called the Blogworld & New Media Expo.  They have what is called a virtual ticket, and I’m working my way through some of the sessions and taking notes.

Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki did a presentation on Google+, a social media platform (is that what you call it?) that I’ve largely ignored until now. I set up my profile. I know a couple of good friends are on there.  I check in to see what they’ve posted lately.  That was about it.

Guy says Facebook is for friends and family and Google+ is for those who share your passion.  He says the first thing I ought to do is to search for key words that describe my passion.  Okay, item learned #1:  I can search for key words on Google+.  I can’t do that on Facebook, right?  So I try searching by “writing” and “teaching” and what do I find?  TENURE-TRACK POSITION IN CREATIVE WRITING (FICTION) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.  It was the second post.  I hadn’t thought about job openings being on Google+.  It would be a certain kind of writer and teacher to find such a post on Google+ as opposed to the pages of The Writer’s Chronicle, right?  Some universities would never post on Google+ and some would most want to find future teachers and writers there.  That’s my guess.  Got an opinion?

Chris says you can click into your circles and just see posts from that circle.  So I could have a “writing” circle and a “basketball coach” circle and take only a look at those things when I want to.  He also says to try  FindPeopleOnPlus.Com.  There, you could not only search by someone’s name–William Torgerson–but also by key words such as “writer.”  Chris says he found 87 farmers.  He plays Texas Hold’em with his dad on Google+.

There’s something called Hangout where you can get together online via video.  I can see possibilities for writing groups or classes to meet virtually. Okay, I’m convinced to do more on Google+.  Maybe tonight I’ll take a look at organizing my circles.

You can read more about Guy Kawasaki here.

And Chris Brogan here. 

Are you on Google+?  If you are, what do you do there?