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I sometimes see complaints by people that Google+ is not as exciting and/or useful as a social media service they are already using, like Twitter or Facebook. They both looked just as perplexingly dull when you started using them as an outsider – you’ve just become comfortable there and forgotten that experience! Treasure the chance to once again experience social media as ordinary users do when they first discover it…

Google+ is a different medium to the other social networks you’re using, and the techniques and expectations you’re bringing with you may not apply – you need the right horse for the right course. That feeling nothing is happening is unlikely to continue for long if you engage on Google+ in ways that make it work well as a social environment. My take is those are:

• post interesting stuff publicly, preferably with pictures – Google+ is not a great place for private networking;
• comment on what you post, don’t just post unexplained links or pictures;
• engage in intelligent and respectful discussion on other people’s posts, as well as your own;
• respect other people’s discussion threads as you would a conversation you were drawn into at the next table in a cafe;
• track ripples (a feature on the context menu of any post that’s been re-shared) and cultivate new relationships by adding those who repost the same things that interest you to your circles;
• use the delete-comment button to prune comments on your posts where necessary – always to remove spam and sparingly to sanction trolls.

What other suggestions would you make to new users, especially those with good experiences of other social media systems? The Google+ thread for this post is public…

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