Wading In The Streams

Google Plus streams (Posts) were a new technology. I’ve evolved some practices to make it easier to use and more valuable for me.

I already follow sixty blogs on Google Reader. I’m reading for my own development, but also forward a fair amount, say one out of three, to friends and customers who I know have an interest in a subject. You can see the blogs I subscribe to on the bottom of the right column on this blog, where they are titled Good Ideas. I blog on Sales Lab Posts and Through The Browser.

The Google Plus Profile stream is my outgoing stream that I send. The Google Plus Home stream is incoming from the Google Plus pages I follow and is not visible to others.You should see one on your Plus page.

Outbound

If I write something, I have three circles I send it to Team, Friends, and Acquaintances. That goes to their Plus streams. I have sent some posts to Team alone. Friends were originally humor contributors.

I also include Public for anyone who comes looking at my stream and as a record of anything I originate.

If I want a stream post to go to someone’s email (higher priority) I send it to an email not associated with their Plus page.

Inbound

When someone I’m following on Plus writes something that I really like, I follow a similar practice, first send to Public for a record in my stream for me, then usually to people who I know will be interested, either to their Plus page for their stream or to another email address. Maybe one time in a hundred I will send something written by someone else to my whole list.

A difference between reading Plus stream and Reader is that Plus stream posts come most recent first. Reader allows me to read by author, which is especially good when I am looking for a previous post. Plus is more entertaining, and less formal – many of the people I follow on Plus don’t have a blog. I follow blogs and news outlets on Reader.

Posting Practices

I develop an idea in a blog post, and then expand from my platform to other platforms.

If I want to extend someone else’s idea, that goes to a comment under their post.

If I want to disagree with someone, I let it sit for an hour. If I still want to disagree, I let it sit for a day. If I still want to disagree I let it sit forever. Disagreement usually comes back as a positive idea that merits a blog post.

If I like something and have nothing to add, I’ll + it or like it, whatever a platform will allow.

What are your practices?