Enhance your Google+ Experience with these 5 Tools

August 2, 2011
August 2, 2011 Jason

Enhance your Google+ Experience with these 5 Tools

I haven’t been overly active in Google+ yet, more lurking/stalking to see how the space is going to be used and what the expectations are within it, but since I love tools, I figured I would share a few of the ones I’ve tried out.  Hopefully they will help you enjoy the Google+ space, if you’ve taken the time to check it out.  If you haven’t, give it a try.  It’s still in its infancy, and watching the (r)evolution is quite interesting.

At the moment, it looks like most of the tools for Google+ exist for Chrome only, but since they’re both Google products, that’s probably not surprising. Here are a few options that I’ve managed to find:

  1. Extended Share for Google Plus (Chrome)

Since Google+ does not have a quick sharing option, you can use Extended Share to post your Google+ info on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Tumblr, or Identica.  You’ll see an option to post for each platform, letting you choose where to share your latest SM opus.

  1. +Everything (Chrome)

This extension is a cool plug in for Chrome that places the Google+ bar at the top of your web browser, allowing you to access it no matter what site you’re on. It completes ease of sharing and alerts you to any notifications in real time as they happen. Great for Social junkies who need to see their alerts as they come in. I did have some issues (Chrome crashing) with an earlier version of this plugin, but I’m willing to try it again.

  1. Liquid G+ (Firefox, Chrome, Opera, IE)

Simple enough, it rearranges the Google Plus page and places the posts in columns like in a magazine. Great if you prefer a more compact layout, and works in most browsers. You’ve got to install the Chrome App – Stylish – to enable this plugin, but it does look pretty slick.  The install process leaves a bit to be desired, but once it’s running your Google+ stream is much more viewable.

  1. +Photo Zoom (Chrome)

If you like to cruise pics, this is a fun little extension. It magnifies or zooms on photos in your Google+ stream. I like this because it makes things just that much easier to see – no more squinting at the screen.  Can’t be something wrong with my eyes…

  1. Facebook Friend Exporter (Chrome)

For those of you looking to make the switch, this extension lets you pull all your Facebook friends and tries to add them to your Google+ account in one go. Apparently this only works in English because it is a language-recognition based engine, but updates are coming.  If you want your Facebook friends in your Google+ feed, this might be the tool for you.

There are many more extensions available, and more being written every day. So if you’re looking for browser based solutions to your Google+ problems, keep looking, because sooner or later they’ll be there. Just keep on Googling.

What tools are you using to get the most out of this new social media playground?

 

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