July 9, 2011 31 Comments

Using Google Plus to Source Ideas

For a long time, I’ve used Twitter to help pull together ideas. Since jumping on Google+ however, I’ve found that so many more people respond, and that there’s a great range of potential answers given to questions. Because comments exist under the post, I don’t lose them in my stream the way I do in Twitter. Here’s my question and some of the answers I got on Google Plus:

If I were to interview you on Skype video for 5-7 minutes, what would you want to talk about? What topics are interesting to you? What would be of interest to an audience of small business owners or web entrepreneurs?

And here are a sampling of the 149 answers I received:

answers

more answers

Use Google+ To Source Ideas

I’ve seen lots of people use it this way. I think you’ll find some great value in using it as such.

If You Don’t Yet Have An Invite

1.) Please don’t ask. I don’t seem to get invites.
2.) Keep refreshing http://plus.google.com , usually at night. It SEEMS to open up a little bit each night and then close down again.

I hope that helps.

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  • http://www.mikestenger.com Mike Stenger

    Who’s that weirdo with a pink hat? But yes, Google+ is fantastic for getting ideas and conversation. I’m seeing significantly more interaction on Google+ than I am on Facebook, but I think that has to do with there being less noise at the moment.

  • Randy Thio

    Chris, you’re right.  Mining for new ideas seems to be easier with G+ compared with Twitter.  Topsy, every once in awhile.  But with G+ it’s all organized in the same thread which helps to categorize ideas when you’er going back to search.

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  • Darleen

    Would be better if tool/app to compile answers- but I see that coming. I have been involved in ome great discussions on Google+ that have not ad elsewhere. Similar to Twitter, but o much easier and more efficient.

  • http://www.springinsight.com Erika

    Another compelling advantage over Twitter is the presence of the +1 button.  As you can see from the results above, not only are you collecting the ideas but you have voting in place on each idea.

    • http://rickmanelius.com Rick Manelius

      Yeah, in twitter the only way to +1 is to retweet, which can be frowned upon for being noisy.

      For the semantics geeks out there. Twitter is a great RDF like format: a great pile of data, but it needs other tools to sculpt it into threads or ways to use it in more meaningful ways!

  • http://rickmanelius.com Rick Manelius

    Losing threads is one of the reasons I have trouble fully committing to twitter or facebook for because it prevents longer conversations, deeper questions, etc. Personal blogs solve these issues, but the the conversation is spread across blogs. Disqus tries to unify this (users can easily track their posts across all blogs), but it’s not easy to mash comments for all users across all blogs.

    Google+ might solve this dilemma by allowing for persistent, threaded conversations that are linkable and mashable.

    Here’s hoping! As chris states, this will be an awesome way to grow bigger ears..

  • http://www.billyburgwick.org/boss justinstoned

    I would talk about Tumblr.

  • http://wordsdonewrite.blogspot.com Words Done Write

    Just got my invite today. I’m eager to try it out. It better not replace Twitter, though. I love my Twitter!

    -Amber

  • http://20andengaged.com Briana Myricks

    Good idea Chris. Google+ is a great way to host interviews. Could be an additional resource for bloggers.

  • http://ajleon.me ajleon

    Greetings from London! And thanks for the Google+ tips. :)

  • Malcolm Omond

    At the moment everybody using Google+ is in refined space you have a captive audience don’t you? How many potential people are you reaching via Google+ now and how qualified are they being in that space. At this point your google+ audience is how big vs. your Twitter base?

  • http://pizzaspotz.com Brian Humek

    What’s wrong with Google? Why aren’t they giving you invites? I will take your advice and refresh the page late at night hoping some open up.  Hearing all this buzz about Google+ makes me think Twitter will soon be abandoned. Is that a possibility?

  • http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

    This is what Facebook should have had when they bought Friendfeed. Of course, being Facebook, they screwed up and lost the opportunity. ;-)

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      And truth be told, when Google buys stuff, they screw it up sometimes, too. But yes. I agree. 

      • http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

        Yeah, great job with Feedburner… ;-)

  • http://www.khaledscorner.com خالد

    nice post thanks

  • http://hairremovalways.com/permanenthairremoval.html hair removal

    Well, Google’s new service or should I say feature opens a lot of doors to the public. I mean, I can use the service to discuss business abroad and in the comforts of my home. This is a very reliable and convenient service! Way to go Google. 

  • http://www.online-business-virtual-assistant.com/ Virtual Business Assistant

    This is such a great  post Chris! Google certainly is making a difference in social media. Thanks or the share.

  • http://twitter.com/nigellegg Nigel Legg

    Chris, don’t you think this is purely due to the signal to noise ratio?  So few people are using Google+, that when something iss posted, everyone sees it and jumps on it.   i’ve got a feeling you won’t get the same level of response when G+ is old hat.

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      No, though that helps. I think it’s because it’s open vs closed. FB has this whole kind of “I need to know someone before I get involved” kind of vibe. 

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      No, though that helps. I think it’s because it’s open vs closed. FB has this whole kind of “I need to know someone before I get involved” kind of vibe. 

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    I agree chris google plus is very good for source ideas.

  • http://www.maheshkukreja.com Mahesh Kukreja

    Nice! Google+ will beat Facebook soon.

    On the contrary, if anyone wants Google+ invite, I have a giveaway open on my blog.

    Mahesh.

  • islam

    This is such a great  post Chris! Google certainly is making a difference in social media. Thanks or the share http://www.mavinehir.org

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    This has been a good way for us to use google plus so far. I thin it is also another good way to network online.