Monday Blog: G+ for writers…why I’m giving it a shot…
I really don’t want another social media distraction, but it turns out, I might need one.
It really hit home for me this weekend, when Facebook Chat was playing games with our news feeds and attempts to chat with others. For all of the things Facebook gets right, there are really a number of very social things it gets terribly wrong. (Ken Mueller over at Inkling Media has a good post that sort of sums up my thoughts on Facebook Chat.)
So. This morning, I jumped into the new G+ pool. G+ is Google’s answer to Facebook and Twitter, and according to reports, it’s up to ten million users in just one week. Obviously, there is a lot of curious-George types poking around to see what this is all about. I was really planning to wait, let the dust settle a bit, then see if there would be anything there worth being a part of. (I didn’t want another MySpace-type, unused, forgotten account attached to my digital name.)
The reason I changed my mind and jumped on in? This: G+ has “hangouts” and multi-user video conferencing built in, which could be a GREAT tool for writers. That Media Bistro article kind of sums up one way this feature could be useful: I have writer friends from all over the country, and it would be nice to get together and “hang out” occasionally. Maybe one of us can do a reading, or we can do a writing exercise and then share the results, or even workshop some short stories.
But I’m thinking of another use, as well. I’d like to use a video chat “Hangout” as one method of providing Fiction and Creative Writing Instruction to folks in various locations, not just here in Bradenton, Florida.
To me, that’s enough to get me started. Beyond that, we’ll have to see if G+ can keep my attention, and if the promised features actually work, they’ll be a leg-up on the quickly aging Facebook…
If you are a writer (or, interested in knowing more about writing) on G+, please let me know and I’ll add you to my “writer’s” circle.
Have a great week and, Happy Writing!!
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