Google Plus isn't my social network, it's where I live. (Part one)

Before G+, I was already always in Gmail on the browser. It was only natural to add other tabs when Google Plus came along, especially since it touches many other services from Google, acting, as I said previously, as a glue to bring them together.

 

Today, Chee Chew announced that Hangout on Air are open for everyone!

This is huge. You now have a full, worldwide television station attached to your Google Plus account. Go live anytime for demonstrations, discussions, parties, fun, business, whatever works within the 10 person live video streaming platform of YouTube. (Note, there are some countries that are not currently allowing their citizens to be On Air: Germany is one.

Google Drive for collaboration

I've just started using this for work with a new associate and we've both found it to be incredibly useful. Google's free tools won't necessarily replace similar ones out there, but they are tied in with the GoogleVerse, and that seems to be a great advantage to me.

Gmail needs no introduction

I've been using it for years, bith as a paid and a free app. I run my own servers and it is trivial for me to run my own mail, yet I opted to pay for Google Apps for our small business and do all my personal mail on Gmail.

Daily News in a Vertical Sector (VoIP)

Every morning I do some news reviewing for the weekly VoIP & Tell on this page. Google News is one of the first things I see in the morning, sometimes before my mail.

There are many other great Google services like Maps, Books, etc. I think most of them will be tied together with a common toolbar some day. Google may not be the answer to every single situation. Perhaps you shopuldn't put all your eggs in one basket, but compared a social network, I'm happier on Google Plus and have no immediate plans to change that.

(Part One is here)

I don't see G+ as a social network:  The Social Backbone.

Google Plus will become the glue that holds together all of Google's platform. Think about how important that is. Instagram is a game compared to this future "social backbone".

YouTube, one of the top destinations on the Internet. When Sarah Hill (she's not a star, but she just passed a million followers) goes live on YouTube, G+ers join her to give input about the topics of the day. I heard a rumor that the thumbs up and down are going to be replaced by a +1 button for Google Plus.

Look at Gmail, Drive, Documents, Play, Calendar, Schemer and the rest of the Google space. Everything in that universe will probably be tied together by Google Plus some day. The ways these things can be combined will be amazing, sharing photos, documents, files, solutions to problems you haven't thought of yet. And Hangouts, public and private. Hangouts that can be learning sessions or seminars, paid for using Google Wallet.

Ok, you don't have time to deal with "yet another place to check in", learn an unfamiliar paradigm, explore a new universe, because you think it's a new social network?

Think again.

Part Three

Facebook is a social network. I don't see G+ as a social network, nor do I see Linkedin or Twitter as social networks. Here's why.

Linkedin is a professional directory. I accept only professional contacts there and then, in media or telephony or networks, nothing else. Twitter is a feed network, much of what you see there are links to blogs (including an auto-Tweeted one from this blog). It's also related to world, national and local news in short bursts and a few pleasantries between online friends.

Google Plus is more like a party.

 I compare it to a cocktail party where you mingle, as opposed to a dinner party where you sit with the same 4-6 people in conversation range. If you don't drink alcohol, there's fruit juice.

You meet new people at a party. As you walk around, you sample conversations. Assuming you are polite, civil and write in good faith, as opposed to in a purposely contentious manner, you'll be welcomed into the conversation. In real life, you wouldn't listen to a conversation, hear a statement and say "Totally man!" and nothing else. On G+ you might use the +1 to say that. Or you might want to actually chime in with an opinion or fact, in which case you might shout out the person's name with the @ or + sign, since comments are not threaded.

The key to me, and why G+ isn't a social network is that while relationships are created (and sometimes broken) there, they are based more on content than knowing the actual person. 

The key to a good experience is who you circle

One of the reasons G+ is not exploding is the difficulty of discovery. It's hard to get started. For a quality experience, you really have to circle people based on past postings, which, like for mutual funds and stocks, "may not be a guarantee of future performance". This can translate to a lot of work, circling and uncircling people or putting them in places you watch less. My purpose isn't to give tips or write a guide, only to say why I like it and think it's worth the trouble.

Hangouts, public, private and On Air

Hangouts is Google's word for video conferencing of up to 10 participants. A hangout can be private where you invite specific people. Those people can invite others. Or, a Hangout can be public, open to anyone who sees them. One of the big sticks Google has is Hangouts on Air (HoA). HoA are available to a limited number of users at the time of this writing while debugging and development is taking place. Soon, everyone will have this awesome power.

The HoA difference

HoA have a "Broadcast" button. When this is pushed, the Hangout appears as a live Youtube stream. This is a very important feature because it allows a huge potential audience to view the Hangout. Imagine panel discussions, interviews, lessons, demos... all of these things and more can be shared by millions live. Stop and consider how amazing this is: start a conference, send the live URL out to Twitter, Facebook, your mailing list, Google Plus, Tumblr, anywhere. The same URL will persist after the HoA and once the video is processed, it's available there for those who didn't see it early enough to view live. Basically, this feature is similar to competing offers costing between $30 and $300 per month, with the result being hosted on Youtube, connected to Google's ubiquitous search engine AND the Google Plus Cocktail... er "Social Network".

Google Plus is a force to watch and I believe that if you have any interest in what goes on online these days and into the future, it can not and should not be ignored.

My current HoA are posted at http://PlusRealTime.com and started on the Plus Real Time Page.

 

There is an excellent post by Cliff Roth on Google Plus comparing G+ to a convention.

 

Part TWO

 

Test photopedia widget

 

 

I just learned today of the death of an old friend, Red Holloway. I met Red in 1974 on the gig with John Mayall. Red was a great jazz and blues player, and that year we recorded an album on Polydor and toured Europe, then Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Hanging out with Red was an amazing experience. He was 47, I was 27, and we were from different worlds, as was everyone in that "Latest Edition" band. Touring Europe with Red and drummer Soko Richardson, especially when we ate in fancy restaurants. Soko travelled with at least 12 bottles of hot sauce in his bag and Red would tell the waiters, "pass that gravy over here, sucker!".

Musically, Red was a giant, check this Youtube video. 

Red played with an impressive lineup of talent, including Billie Holiday, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Ben Webster, Jimmy Rushing, Arthur Prysock, Dakota Staton, Eddie Vinson, Wardell Gray, Sonny Rollins, Red Rodney, Lester Young, Joe Williams, Redd Foxx, B.B. King, Bobby Bland and Aretha Franklin. Later in his career, he teamed up with Sonny Stitt.

When Red came to Paris, we used have lunch at least once, when he'd play places like the one on Rue Jacob. Funny that as I learned of his passing today, I laughed thinking of the lines he sang on "Cleanhead's Blues" at that club: "If you see Kay.... tell her I'm lookin' for her..."

Good night, "sucker", rest in peace.

GWOBorg is an international coalition of passionate problem solvers working together to assist people whose survival is improved through access to technology or communications in instances of violence, neglect, or catastrophe.

Background:

In 2000, Johnny Diggz co-founded Voxeo with Jonathan Taylor.  For over 10 years, Voxeo has been demolishing barriers and unlocking communications between disparate networks, varying protocols and proprietary social communication tools.  A decade later hundreds of thousands of developers, 45,000 companies (including half of the Fortune 100), have run millions of applications on Voxeo’s global cloud network and premise solutions.

I wish that 2012 could be the year that every soldier from every country came home for good. (vote and be active in your country's choices)

I wish that 2012 could be the year that every human being on the planet had an equal chance for dignity and self-determination that would bring food and shelter to their families and make the world a better place for all. (participate in http://kiva.org)

I wish that 2012 could be the year when we could give up the notion that we alone are worthy and understand that all deserve a chance, the same chance that we, the privileged, were born with through no inherent qualities of our own doing. (get over yourself, collectively, we've been brainwashed)

I wish that 2012 could be the year that people who have kids would become patient, ardent and inspiring teachers to their own children in the hours they could be spending on that responsibility. This alone would change the quality of life for the entire world. (got kids? Think about the time you spend with them and the effect you need to have on what and who they will become)

I wish that 2012 could be a year where the quality of life of every being on this planet would improve, just a little. (Stop selfishly wasting resources)

You may notice that these were my wishes for 2011. Little has changed, unfortunately.

Brough Turner, founder of Netblazr which he describes as "a radically new form of wireless ISP." 358: Brough Turner of Netblazr by VoIP Users Conference

Don't believe the image, it's beautiful out here right now! Will this new app save Twitter? twitter.com/randulo/status…

— Randulo Zeeek (@randulo) December9, 2011