Google+ Plus FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

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May of you may be managed to get Google+ (Plus) account or may be struggling to get one for yous. You must be having so many questions on Google Plus like  why there is age restriction of 18+ on Google+ ? or Why some one who already got invitation are unable to join Google Plus? or How can you invite your friend on Google Plus? or Do I need GMail account to access Google+?

The list of questions related to Google+ Plus may go to very large. I found few list of frequently asked question (FAQ) related to Google plus in discussion forum of Google plus and I would like share them with you. Additional to this you can also check out features of Google plus and tips & tricks for Google +

Welcome to the Google+ Unofficial Frequently Asked Questions

How do I join Google+?

You can join Google+ by going to the Google+ Project site, select "Join" and a clicking on the button "Keep me posted". You can enter your e-mail address and other information and when a spot opens up you will be sent an e-mail that will allow you to join. There's also a loop hole that allows you to get an invitation. 

Note: Trick to invite your friend on Google Plus

 

How does the loophole work? 

If you know someone that's already using Google+ they can add you to a circle and share a stream with you. This will send you an e-mail with info about the stream and you'll be able to click the "join Google+" button.

Why is Google+ invitation only?

This new service isn't ready for public use just yet. Google is making the service available for field testing meaning they'd like a handful of regular people to use it and give feedback so they'll know what to improve and whether there are bugs that need fixing. So once again there's no point in complaining that you can't join freely or add people instantly since that's not purpose at the moment. This is not a public release.

People sent me invites but I'm not getting the e-mails, why?

There's a delay, sometimes up to 12 hours or more, for Google+ e-mail arrivals. It's probably due to regulating people using the loophole to get in. If  you're lucky enough to get an invite, please be patient and keep on checking the Google+ front page to see when they open up to allow people in.

I received an invite but I can't join, what gives?

The amount of people allowed to join is defined by the amount of space on the servers to host these people. As Google is expanding the capacity more people are able to join. So even if you receive an invitation you are only able to join if and when a spot opens up.

How do I invite people to Google+?

Once you've managed to join the site you can help other people join by exploiting the loophole. Simply go to "Circles" and click on the "Add a new person button". Enter their e-mail address, name and assign them a circle. Once everybody's added go to "Home" enter something you'd like to share in the stream box and add the circles that contain people that you'd like to invite. Make sure the box below the post next to Share is checked (it says: Also email X people yet not using Google+). This will prompt an email of the stream to be send to them allowing them to click the join button. Warning: this email most likely will have hours of delay.

Do I need a G-Mail account to join Google+?

You don't need a Gmail account to join the project though having a Google account in advance might help you getting started a bit quicker. You can link any email to the Google account as well.

Are the loopholes closed?

No, the reason people aren't able to join is because there needs to be a spot open for them on the server. So whether you got your invite by exploiting a loophole or you got an official invitation from Google, you are only able to join when there's room for you on the servers.

I got invited and had a spot open but I still can't join because I'm too young, why?

You need to be 18+ to join Google+. Before you make any steps to get an invitation, make sure that the email you're using has your age or birthday year set up so you'll appear as 18 or older or you will get rejected from the project. In case this happens you'll need to set up a new email as an 18+ and start all over again. (I hope Google won't stone me for this)

Why do I need to be 18+ to join?

Google are looking for serious and mature people to test their product and give proper feedback. Also 18+ people are more likely to have in depth knowledge about the workings of a social network site and other technical knowledge which will provide them with better and insightful feedback.

Will Google+ be limited to 18+ year old?

No, this is a trial period. Once the product is ready to be launched the age restriction will be set to 13+.

Conclusion:

Keep in mind that this is a trial period for an unfinished project to test the features that are available and give feedback on points of improvement and bug fixes. Don't expect for things to function perfectly and to have all the features you want already available. Please give as much feedback by using the button at Google+ often found at the bottom of the page or share your story here.

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How To Send Google+ Plus Invite to Friend ?

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By now you must have managed to get the Google+ (PLUS) account. And may be you are looking to invite your friends on Google+ (PLUS) so that you can have real-time communication using it. Currently Google+ (PLUS) is enabled to limited users only and you can invite limited friends only. But here is very simple tricks using which you can send invitation to Google+ any number of friends.

Trick 1: Invite your friend on Google plus by sharing the post with him/her
- Create a stream / post in Google+ and at the bottom there is message "Add circles or people to share with..." that place you can directly type email address of the friend whom you want to invite.
- Also you can add set of your friends in to one circle and select the circle while sharing the stream or post.

Trick 2: Create handout with your friend whom you are willing to invite to Google+
Create hangout for Google+ from "Start Hangout" button of right side navigation, and add any one email address of your friend whom you wanted to invite to Google+. That will send out an email to him / her and by clicking on the link in the email he/she will be able to join Google+.

Once you sent invite you can also ask user to visit http://plus.google.com where they can find option to create Google plus profile.

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Google Plus Features, Tips and Tricks

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Recently Google has rolled out Google+ (Plus) that is a really amazing power packed social networking website and looks much more better than Facebook and Twitter.

Google+ has everything AJAX in it, simple look and feel but amazing set of features in it. One has to accept that Google has done some really good and hard work in bringing out Google+. After all, it was their long time wish to have a Google Social Network that can dominate over the web.

From my experience with Google Plus, I would like share some important features of Google+ and some handy tips and tricks about Google+. All these tips let you experience the actual power of Google+ (PLUS).

* One of the important feature in Google+ (PLUS) is Circles, which if you see initially that looks similar to lists in Facebook or Groups in Orkut. But when you really experience Google+ you will know it is much more than List or Group. You can access circles from Circles tab

* With Google+ Plus Circles you can add or remove any to circle just by drag and drop.

* We can use circles while sharing the post to share with selected users only. You can also create hangout with selected circles. Circle give more control over privacy then using individual users.

* Using Google+ you can create Hangout by clicking Start a Hangout button. Using Hangout we can create audio/video conference with any circle or individual users.

* You can click on Google+ Profile pictures to rotate through them.

* Click ‘j‘ to navigate down to the updates item or ‘k‘ to navigate up when checking the stream or any other page containing updates from friends using keyboard.

* To add formatting like bold, italics, strike-through to your text while sharing something on Google+, use the simple trick below.

• (*)bold(*):  Add * before and after the message.
• (_)italics(_):  Add _ before and after the message.
• (-)strike-through(-):  Add - before and after the message.

For example: *Bold Sample* _Italics Sample_ -Strike Through Sample- will appear as shown below:

* If you find a typo in the update which you have shared, what will you do? May be delete the post and share the same post again with correct content. Fortunately Google+ supports editing posts even after you have. Use the drop-down menu of your post to edit or delete it.

* If you don't want people to leave comments or re-share your posts with others it with others? With Google+ you can turn that off there too. Click on the drop-down menu of your post there you can find the options to Disable Comments and Disable Reshare

* Click on “Limited” next to the timestamp to find out the actual list of persons with whom you are sharing a particular post.

Screenshot showing how to check with whom particular Google+ stream post is shared with.

Addressing someone from your contacts in the shared content stream

* Similar to Facebook and Twitter using # to address someone, Google+ is using + or @ symbol to address someone. Additional to that it gives auto suggestions by reading form your contacts list. Add a + or @ to mention someone specifically in a post.

* To view individual post separately, click on the Timestamp of the page. Which would take you to the permalink (web URL) of any post.

* Google+ not just supports sharing you posts with selected circles or public, but there is concept call "Extended Circles" which will share your post with everyone in your circle and additional to that, everyone in their circle (i.e. Friends and their Friends). Also we can share post with individuals by typing their names.

Sharing post with Extended Circles and individual users

* Google+ also supports editing / rotating individual photos uploaded by you. It’s easy and flawless.
Open any picture uploaded by you or visit the gallery. Select Actions > Edit photo. Additional to this you can see the details of the photo and add tags and caption to the photo.

Then improve your not so good photos by adding some smart effects to them in a click.

* Google Talk / Chat is also built withing Google+ which enables chat, video and audio call within Google+.

* You also can Resize the Chat Box in Google+. To do so, just drag the box by its corner or sides.

* If you are annoyed with some post that is getting lots of comments and thus irritating you with notifications. Just Mute the post from context menu which comes by clicking down arrow present at top right of each post on Google+ as shown in following image.

* You can even Block any person for sharing posts with you using Block this person and can Report Abuse against him as shown in above image

* You can also move to individual post page or find the link or URL of individual page by clicking on Link to this post in

* Set Options for any post made by you by clicking the grey drop-down ‘Options’ icon. You can choose to Edit it, Delete it, Disable comment or Disable Resharing a post.

* Google+ notifications & share options are at the topbar in Google+ as shown bellow and if you are logged in to Google account same will be available in GMail and any other Google Services. Using this you can access notification of Google+ from any GMail itself as shown in following UI. Also you can click on Share button at top right corner to share any thing on Google+ withing GMail or Google Search or any other Google services now that is really seamless integration.

Notifications for Google+, that's also available within any Google Services like GMAIL and Google Search

Share a post to Google+ withing GMAIL or Google search

* Tired of receiving notifications for a particular post you made or commented on? Just hit “Mute this post” to get rid of it.

* With Google+ you can preview how your profile appears to others – Input his/her username, select Edit profile, make the alterations to your profile only for that specific person. This is something unique form Google+ compare to other social networks!

* While you are on the Home tab, press twice the q key on the keyboard to search and add people to your chat list. (Press q 2nd time after a gap of sec).

* This is very important keyboard friendly shortcut similar to pressing j / k to move down / up in the posts. Hitting Enter when focused on a Post opens up the comment box in Google+.

* Set delivery preferences and tick mark desired entries under “Receive Notifications” for various actions on Google+ . Visit this link to edit the settings: https://plus.google.com/settings/plus  using this you can configure email delivery options as follows
* What’s that Incoming option under Stream of Google+? "Incoming" stream is stuff from people who are sharing with you, but who you haven’t added them to a circle.

* Give feedback – Found any bug or have a tip to suggest for Google+? Just click Send feedback from lower right corner, cool part is you can highlight the faulty area and report about it.

* Trick to Invite anyone to Google+ even if you don’t have invites –
1) Make a post in Google+, Share it
2) Create Google+ hangout with your friend
*  How to Enable Email Feature on your Google+ Profile

* You can even use the Scroll wheel of your mouse to Navigate through the Photos in the gallery withing Google+
> If you’re on Google+ then you can add me to your Circle. [My Google+ Profile]
>> Do post your comments below and share this post with your Google+ friends.

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Some Cool Google Talk Tips And Tricks

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With Google Talk being the talk of the town right now, some people loving it, and some hating it, I thought of posting some cool and useful tips and tricks for those who wanna tweak and get some more juice from it. I will try to keep it short and easy.

~Some General Info n Tips~

1. Insert Line Breaks - If you want to have a message that spans multiple paragraphs, just hold shift and hit enter. You can add as many new lines as you want to create.

2. Bold Text - To write something bold, you can use an asterisk before and after the word, like *this*.

3. Italic Text - To use italics, use an underscore before an after the word, like _this_ .

4. Switch Windows - Hitting tab will cycle through open windows. It will select minimized conversations, to expand them just hit enter. If you just want to cycle through IM's and don't care about the buddy list, control-tab will do that and will automatically expand a minimized conversation if you settle on one.

5. Length Of A Single Message - A message can be max 32767 characters long.

~Some More Tips And Tricks~

1. How To Make Conference Calls:
What you need to do to have conference calls: Open up a copy of Google Talk on all computers with which you wish to conference. After one copy is opened make a new shortcut for Google Talk but at the end of the target add /nomutex. If you installed it to the default folder then your shortcut should read "C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex. Open 2nd instance of the software on every user's computer. After this start a chain: User 1 should connect on one instance to user 2. User 2 will connect on his second instance to user 3. User 3 will connect using his second instance back to user 1. With this chain everyone is connected to everyone.

2. Nickname & Status Message:
You can't change your nickname in a way that other people will see it change. Every nickname in the Google Talk contactlist is the part that is before @gmail.com (only the alphabetical characters are used) or the name you chosen for your GMail account. To change the nickname need to go to your Gmail account and change the name there. Choose Settings, Accounts, and then Edit info. Click on the second radio button, and enter your custom name. As a result all of your emails will have that nick as well, there is no way to seperate the two. You can add a website in your custom message, it will be clickable when someone opens a conversation window with you.

3. Contacts:
You don't need to say Yes or No when someone wants to add you as a friend; you can simply ignore it, the request will go away. (On the other hand, someone with whom you chat often will automatically turn to be your friend, unless you disable this).
Wierd: The Gmail account 'user@gmail.com' can't be invited as your friend.

4. Keyboard Shortcuts:
Ctrl + 5 (KeyPad) - Selects all the text typed.
Ctrl + 1 (NumPad) - It goes at the end of the last line.
Ctrl + 7 (NumPad) - It goes at the begin of the last line.
Ctrl + F4 - It closes the current window.
Alt + F4 - It closes the current window.
Alt + Esc - It Minimize the current open window.
Windows + ESC - Open Google Talk (if it's minimized, or in the tray).
F9 - Open Gmail to send an email to the current contact.
F11 - It initiates a telephonic call with your friend.
F12 - It cancels a telephonic call.
Esc - It closes the current window.

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Using Orkut From Mobile Devices!

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Recently I have seen lots of people talking about orkutting from mobile devices!

Before going ahead here is an excerpt from Orkut Help page!

Why can't I access orkut from my mobile device?

We’re sorry to hear about any difficulty you’ve experienced accessing orkut.com. Currently, orkut.com isn’t compatible with mobile devices. To access your orkut profile, please try logging in using your computer’s web browser.

So today I'm posting about how to use orkut from mobile devices! Before going ahead lemme tel u few things about my environment! I have Nokia N-70 with opera 8.62 installed!
U may use opera mini or any version of opera which support javascript!
With these assumptions lets start the ride!

Login issues!
First at all, if u try to open orkut.com and get a page loaded with missing login box i.e. no place to enter login information then go to this address! It will directly open login frame where u can enter ur Login ID & password! This frames address is long one so better bookmark it on ur mobile device!

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLoginBox?service=orkut&nui=2&uilel=1&skipvpage=true&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.orkut.com%2FRedirLogin.aspx%3Fmsg%3D0%26page%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.orkut.com%252F&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.orkut.com%2FGLogin.aspx

(click on box to select all the text inside box)

The above address can also be used from ur PC to fast login on orkut!

Clicking on button does not work!
As of now u log into orkut but experiencing problem while clicking on buttons! The most common problem I have seen button like submit, delete, yes, no, accept, reject does not work!

The solution lies in JavaScript!

Submitting Scrap!
First thing If u want to scrap someone u hv to go into his/her scrapbook! (The code following are not for orkut's new reply feature!)
After opening intended scrapbook, write scrap with optional formatting the way u usually write!
In next step, without leaving that page(or tab if u r using opera with tab browsing) go to this address:

javascript:submitForm(document.getElementById('b2'),'submit');

(click on box to select all the text inside box)

Actually this is not a web address but javascript which will "execute" submit button!
Again bookmark this address by naming Submit Scrap or something! The advantage of bookmarking is that u can directly open the bookmark after writing scrap!

Steps for bookmarking above codes into ur mobile browser:

1. Copy content in text-box to say notepad and send that file to ur mobile.
2. Open that file in any editor in mobile!
3. Copy the script on clipboard! (using edit key in Nokia).
4. Open ur browser and go to Add Bookmarks Option!
5. Chose a name u like and paste the script in address field! OR U can manually create the bookmark by entering the script instead of copy-paste n sending a file to mobile!

Now once u have created these bookmarks, u can log into orkut fast as well as scrap someone!

In future will write code for other buttons if i found people interested in this cumbersome orkutting from mobile! U can subscribe to this blog to get updates automatically!

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