Google+ Cheat Sheet offers helpful tips and tricks

Everyone’s talking about Google+. Those who have yet to get an invite want one, and those who are members are still trying to figure out what the heck it’s all about. Google+ user Simon Laustsen, an electronics technician from Denmark, has created a handy cheat sheet for those of us still trying to get the hang of Google+. It’s already been shared more than 1,000 times via Google+, and the Laustsen has translated it into several languages.
Laustsen said on his blog that the number of people following him “literally exploded from zero to 600 and counting.” He’s working on another image, which will have even more tricks for Google+. As for the tips and tricks in the current cheat sheet, here are some useful things to know.

• Circles are like following people on Twitter. Just because someone adds you to one of their circles does not mean they’ll show up in your Google+. You have to add them back. Like in Tweetdeck and in Facebook, adding a “@” in front of a name will allow you to mention a person in a post. You can also add a “+” to mention someone.
• To send a private message, there’s no “DM” like on Twitter. Instead, just share the post with only that person and disable the resharing option. The same thing goes if you don’t want people to reshare your post. Just click the arrow at the top right of the post and select “disable reshare.”
• There is also a slew of Hotkey options. Pressing the spacebar will scroll your Stream down, and pressing shift and space will scroll back up. Hitting the J key will scroll down post by post, and the K key will scroll up post by post. The Q key will bring you straight to chat.
• If you’re wondering about the +1 button, it’s pretty much the same thing as “Liking” a post on Facebook. If you +1 on a post within Google+, it won’t show up on your +1 page. However, if you use the +1 on the Web, it will show up on your +1 page.

Posted in: Google Plus