Nov 29, 2013

Does Google Know All? Google's ways of encouraging my on-line participation.

For the past couple of months I have had quite a busy off-line work/life situation.  Sad to say, I've had little time to tinker with code, write blog posts, keep up with my tech journals (the short stack is now growing into a little pile), and attend to the people I follow on the web.

I'm not totally off the grid.  

While walking my dog, I check Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, peek at my email. To be social, I quickly retweet, "like",  comment, or post a pic from time-to-time.  

Things just aren't the same.

Google noticed.

I hadn't been checking my Analytics account, and Google let me know.   I hadn't been nurturing my blog as in the past, and I guess this was a cause for concern.  I was amused that Google was prepared to delve deeper with short survey!



























Yes, Google, I have been neglecting you.

Although I regularly check Facebook, I ignored the Google Plus world.  So today, I decided to take a few steps to get back on track.

I saw that a number of people had added me to their circles.  I added a few back.  

I noticed that many people shared similar interests in technology, and sighed, longing for the days when I was taking interesting graduate computer courses and happily working on innovative projects.....

I perked up when I noticed that Google Plus had a "recommended communities" feature.

I was curious.  What sort of communities would be in store for me?    Could Google really read my ming?!   :  }

Well, maybe.  Almost.   

And I am thankful.

This was the nudge I needed -  a huge rabbit hole for me to explore:






























There were more communities to consider, but scanning through the recommendations, I could see that Google was pretty much on-target regarding the technology interests.    

Google was off a bit regarding my educational and assistive technology interests, which I'd expect to see represented in the array.   

I'm still a school psychologist in my "day" job.   Early retirement is an option for me someday. When I do, I know I will devote more TLC to my NUI/interactive multimedia tech-related passions.  

Google, now you know!



RELATED
Google+ Communities
Join a Google+ Community
Google launches restricted Google+ communities to let businesses make conversations private or invite-only.  Emil Protalinski, The NextWeb, 11/5/13
Google Plus Communities-Complete User Guide
Martin Shervington, Are you commoogling, 3/6/13

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