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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWRa6Cz6m_M]

Google’s Vic Gundotra just announced a bunch of updates for Google+ for Android, including shaking your Android device to add some snow to your photos. Similar to last weeks addition of the snowy autoawesome feature, all you have to do is open your photo, shake your device and snow will start falling. It’s a gimmicky but nifty feature and one we’ve come to expect from Google in years past.

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As Hangouts on Air grows in popularity, Google is working to standardize it as a professional tool. With that in mind, the company is introducing “Control Room,” providing Hangout users the opportunity to “adjust the audio and video levels of your participants so viewers can simply enjoy the show.”

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Chalk up another Google Drive update for iOS as Google just announced a new sorting feature for files. Google’s iOS version of Google Drive has received quite a few updates in recent months to bring it in line with its Android counterpart. The new sorting feature should prove useful to just about every Google Drive user as it’s a much-needed and important feature.

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The world called for another aspect of our Google lives to be invaded by Google+ and voila…Google+ inside Google Play. Google just announced via…where else…Google+ that a new version of the Play Store is rolling out to “make it easier for you to find and share recommendations with your friends and family.”

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Google Product manager Eran Arkin just made a quiet but perhaps major announcement in how Google+ will handle brands and social ads moving forward. Google will begin testing a new type of monetization for Google+ called +Post ads. In simple terms, Google will let brands turn their Google+ content into display ads across the web.

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Autoawesome fans take note as Google staff software engineer Erik Murphy-Chutorian just dropped word on Google+ that two new features are rolling out for the holidays.

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This afternoon, Google has updated its Google+ app for Android with a couple of new features and enhancements (via Droid Life). First off, the app now supports Android Beam. This feature will allow for users to share photos from within the Google+ app to other devices via NFC. The app also now supports DayDream. This is feature, which has been available in some third-party apps for a while, is essentially a screensaver for devices while they are being charged or placed in a dock. Now that the Google+ app supports this feature, it will work with pictures stored within the app.

What’s New:

• Photos now supports Android Beam, so you can share photos via NFC
• Photos also supports Daydream, so you can view your pics in screensaver mode when charging or docking your device
• Individual photo details are now available in the drop-down menu
• Opening “Locations” will automatically refresh your friends’ locations on the map

This update is a staged rollout, which means it may take a little while for it to rollout to every device. Keep an eye on the Play Store to see if your device has received the update.

In addition to updating its Android app, Google has also enhanced cover photos on the web version of Google+. Now, cover photos will show the entire image, as opposed to just a select portion. Photos are still the same size, so you don’t need to change anything in order to enhance your profile. 

As news spread this morning that one of the original YouTube founders, Jawed Karim isn’t fond of Google+ YouTube comments, it begs the question what others think. The introduction of the new comment system led Karim to post his first comment on the site in 8 years:

“Why the fuck do I need a google+ account to comment on a video?”

Now, at first glance I’d say I agree with him, it just seems like another opportunity for Google to push its social media service right under a nose. On the flip side, there’s little argument that YouTube’s comment section is a black hole of the internet. If there’s even a remote possibility that Google+ can improve the quality of the conversation on YouTube, I say hell yes.

It remains unclear is Karim is truly the man responsible for the comment or if someone hacked his account. With the news that Feedly suddenly backtracked using Google+ authentication based on initial feedback, the question remains whether or not Google is making the right move pushing their service on YouTube?

So what say you, is Google+ the right comment system for YouTube? Would you like to see them spread to a blog like this one?

Earlier this week Google officially started rolling out a new commenting system on both the desktop and in its Android app. The new system is integrated with Google+ with the goal of finally creating a “better commenting” system on YouTube with more relevant comments and new moderation tools for creators. A revamp of YouTube’s commenting system was a long time coming, but YouTube’s own co-founder isn’t too happy about the change.

Posting his first comment in nearly eight years to the same account that uploaded the first video ever to the service, YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim is wondering why he needs a Google+ account to comment on the service he helped create:

“Why the fuck do i need a google+ account to comment on a video?”

It’s unclear if Karim is truly behind the comment, or perhaps it’s a joke from someone that got a hold of his account. Either way, Karim is not the only one that isn’t too happy about having to link a Google+ account to YouTube in order to continuing commenting. 
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Update: That was fast. Feedly has officially backpedaled on its decision to switch to Google+ sign-in after feedback from users:

[Update: the fact that this changing is forcing users to create a Google+ profile and that Google+ is not available in some companies and on some Google Apps domains outweighs the benefit of being about to login more seamlessly across devices. So we are going to rollback this change later this afternoon – Friday 1:00pm PST. We will try to make it optional in the future for some users who like Google+. Thanks for the feedback].

Feedly, our runaway favorite and the most popular Google Reader replacement is adding Google+ authentication to the service. A new post on Feedly’s blog indicates that as Google transitions from OAuth sign-in to Google+ so too will Feedly.

We are following on Google’s lead and transitioning feedly from Google OAuth to Google+ login. You will see this transition surface on cloud.feedly.com this week and on Android and iOS later this month.

The company teases that the introduction of Google+ authentication will “open the door to some interesting sharing features we have been working on.” That’s not to say Feedly is ignoring alternative log-in sources as well as the same post indicates they are also working on adding Twitter, Facebook and WordPress login options.

Are you starting to you use Google+ sign-in around the web?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGp8Z8Yb28

There’s little question we all would love to see an improvement in the quality and flow of YouTube video comments. That’s why the introduction of a “better commenting” system is beginning this week is cause for hope. Diving right in, we’ll take a look at what Google suggests as the three main takeaways with this comment system:

• Comments you care about move to the top: You’ll see posts opportunities the top of the list from the video’s creator, popular personalities, engaged discussions about the video, and people in your Google+ Circles. You can still see the most recent comments by switching from “Top Comments” to “Newest First.”
• Join the conversation publicly or privately: You can choose to start a conversation so that it is seen by everyone, only people in your Circles, or just your bestie. Like Gmail, replies are threaded so you can easily follow conversations.
• Easily moderate comments: If you also post videos on your channel, you’ll have new tools to review comments before they’re posted, block certain words or save time by auto-approving comments from certain fans.
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Google’s plan to throw Google+ into every single aspect of your Android and Google life continues with some newly announced caller ID features coming in 2014. Beginning early next year, the company plans on linking Google+ profile images with mobile phone numbers. The “good news” is if already have a verified phone number with el Goog, you’re automatically opted in! In other words, if you are using Android to make a call or receive a call from a number linked to a Google+ account, you will see a profile image automatically without having the persons contact information stored.

Attila Bodis, an Android software engineer whose team is working on the new caller ID feature announcing the changes on his…wait for his, his Google+ page:

“Coming in early 2014, users who have verified their phone number and have discovery turned on will have their names and Google Profile photos display whenever they call you, or you call them (it’s great if a new friend who hasn’t been saved in your contacts yet calls you). Check your Google Account to make sure you are happy with how you appear on caller ID by Google: http://goo.gl/g9P3Bp”

Some of the initial caller ID improvements are already live with the release of Android 4.4 KitKat, but the photo integration won’t come until “early 2014.” Thew new phone app in KitKat will help you find the right number, even if it isn’t in your contact list by letting you “search nearby places or even Google Apps accounts directly from within the app — just start typing and the results show up!”

If you want to avoid Google showing off your Google+ profile image to the world, you can disable the “help people who have your phone number find you on Google services and connect with you” option available in your Google account settings.”

Verge via Google+ Attila Bodis

A new Forrester Research poll conducted with 395 marketing professionals in the US, UK, and Canada is likely giving the team at Google’s Plus service something to smile about. Google’s social media service, which is now integrated into every.single.thing Google does, narrowly edged out Twitter for marketing satisfaction by a single point at 56% of marketers satisfied against 55% with Twitter. Sure, it’s just a single point, but given that so much has been written about Google+ being a wasteland comparative to Twitter, it’s notable that the service edged out one of its biggest rivals.

Of course, if we took a poll with a completely different group of 395 marketing professionals, the results might be wildly different. Still, it’s good to see that Google+ is making waves, and while it may be for entirely different reasons than Twitter or Facebook, I’m sure Google will take every bit of good news that puts emphasis on Google+ over its rivals.

Google+ aside, the real question here is why so many marketers are using these channels incorrectly? Social media provides a unique opportunity to connect with both existing and potential customers and that there is more emphasis on old school tactics like Email and word-of-mouth is concerning.

Where are you most likely to engage with a company? Twitter or Google+?

via Mashable

Google today announced that its launching a new education initiative that will see students taking “virtual field trips” using Google+ video chat Hangouts. Google explains that it’s now allowing teachers to sign up for the field trips through a program called Connected Classrooms.

Teachers are already using Google+ to make learning more relevant, collaborative and accessible—from exploring a world-class art museum to staging a play to venturing into space. Connected Classrooms aims to make it easier for teachers to access exciting educational content to share with their students. In addition to the virtual field trips, teachers who visit the Connected Classrooms site will have the opportunity to join a Google+ Community with other educators to collaborate on field trips and share best practices for using digital tools in the classroom.

The first locations featured as virtual field trips will include the Seattle Aquarium, the Minnesota Zoo and the Solar Impulse hangar. Google is also partnering with over 20 organizations to that will help organize the field trips, some of which include National Geographic, Matilda the Musical, the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 
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During Google’s Morning with Google+ event today, the company announced some new features coming to its Hangouts and Google+ apps, but it also gave us an update on growth in recent months since last checking in at Google I/O. Here are the notable numbers shared by Google’s Vic Gundotra during this morning’s event:

-540m active users across Google (signed in via Google+), up from 390m since Google I/O

-300m active users in the stream, up from 190m at Google+

-1.5 billion photos uploaded every week

-20x increase in video uploads

-Shipping new version of Google+ almost every day

-20 feature launches in last 4 months, 18 this morning

-1000 new terms recognized by Google’s computer vision for searching untagged photos

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On top of the updates to Hangouts today, Google also announced some new features for Google+ today during its event in the form of new Auto Awesome features. As highlighted in the video above, Google’s new Auto-Awesome features include Action, Eraser, and Movie:

Auto Awesome can help bring your story to life in creative ways. Today we’re adding three new techniques:

• Action. Maybe it’s your child’s first gymnastic meet, or you’re skateboarding with a friend. Action can take their tumble or half pipe trick, and create a strobe-effect photograph.
• Eraser. When you’re taking pictures of landmarks, people and cars often get in the way. Eraser can take a sequence of these photos, and erase whatever’s moving to give you a “cleaner” image.
• Movie. Movie produces highlight reels from your photos and videos—complete with effects, transitions and a soundtrack—automatically. You can share the movie as is, or dive into the editing process to customize even further.

Google also noted that its Auto-Enhance feature for photos now has low and high settings and can now be applied on an album by album basis. Lastly, it showed off a new Snapseed filter- HDR Scape- that it says is the first time anyone is offering a true HDR feature on a mobile device and also added Analog Efex Pro to the Nik Collection. Head below for a full roundup of what Google announced today:
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Following a report back in July showing that Google+ gets only 2 percent of social sharing, new figures from Shareaholic (via Marketing Land) reveal that the service drives an average of 0.06 percent of all referral traffic. This contrasts with Facebook at 8.11 percent, Pinterest at 3.24 and Twitter at a surprisingly low 1.17.

Google+ traffic is also growing at a far slower rate than other social media.

Shareaholic also says that Google+ is growing the slowest as a referral source at just 6.97 percent over the past year. Referrals from Facebook (58.81 percent), Pinterest (66.52 percent), Twitter (54.12 percent) and YouTube (52.86 percent) all grew more than 50 percent since September 2012.

Viewed against a backdrop of Google’s aggressive promotion of the service, making it virtually impossible not to have a G+ account by linking it to every product the company has, it does make me question whether Google+ has a long-term future … 
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Google has announced a change to its terms of service that will allow the company to use your name, photo and company endorsements to be included in ads from 11th November (via the NYT).

When the new ad policy goes live Nov. 11, Google will be able to show what the company calls shared endorsements on Google sites and across the Web, on the more than two million sites in Google’s display advertising network, which are viewed by an estimated one billion people.

If a user follows a bakery on Google Plus or gives an album four stars on the Google Play music service, for instance, that person’s name, photo and endorsement could show up in ads for that bakery or album … 
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