2011-12-12

Join Google+ (Update: Do Not)


I’ve always thought that updating stuff to my homepage/blog feels a bit too much hassle, so I don’t want to do that very often. Strangely, even switching away from home-made kludges to WordPress didn’t help the feeling in a dramatic way, although it surely helped a little bit.

That’s why this page has always been subject to relatively long pauses without updates, even if I have felt like I’d like to share something. Thinking about alternative solutions, the social media websites, I’ve had a Facebook and Twitter account for quite a while now. I have always felt that Facebook suits best for personal friends and not for public stuff. Twitter is ok for public stuff, but the 140 char limit means that you’ll share only some tiny things, like a little anecdote or just a link to somewhere.

When Google+ came around, I started using it as well. By nature it is like a combination of good things from both Facebook and Twitter, and seems to fit my usage patterns quite well. It allows really easily to select per-post who I’m sharing it with. It doesn’t limit me to short posts when I want to say a little more. Each post is automatically a discussion thread, and since it isn’t hosted by me, I have less to worry about approving posts / preventing spam entries.

So I realized I tend to write there a bit more often – the smaller things, findings and even some more light-hearted observations go there. So, if you want to follow smaller updates from me, join Google+ if you aren’t yet there and add me to your circles. Today, I was originally going to write about my latest findings regarding prototyping with Processing (again), but decided I probably do that in my Google+ stream later and write this endorsement post here instead! ;-D

Update, early 2019:
Google+ is shutting down soon. I find it a bit unfortunate, as back in 2011 I felt it was better suited for public communication than some other alternatives. Also, as a generic principle, when some site or service is altered or discontinued, a graceful way would be to keep links working and data still readable. However, like almost always with site changes in the internet, also in this case the content is simply going to be deleted. I guess the end result will be that many links will cease to be working, which used to point to content in Google+.

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