# Google+ Social Network

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by SunshineAndRain (I'm happily married, a mom of two and a fulltime college student.) on Monday, 18-Jul-2011 20:17:12

Well, I'm about fed up with Facebook & all their unnecessary changes. Plus, I have been interested in finding a new social network anyway. What do you all think of Google+? Is it blind-friendly? Does it compare to Facebook or Twitter?

## Post 2 by basket (knowledge is power) on Sunday, 24-Jul-2011 23:12:08

from what I herd about it, it works fantastically with screen readers but it is invitation only I'm afraid.

## Post 3 by Dave_H (the boringest guy you'll ever know) on Monday, 25-Jul-2011 12:07:56

If it works so well with screen readers, which ones? I've accepted an invitation and can barely use it with either Voiceover and Safari or Orca and Firefox. Adding friends seems impossible, especially moving them into your "circles". Joining a "hang-out" also appears not to work with my setup. I can read/post comments. I can "+1" comments. Not sure whether I can effectively manage my "stream". Things that show up seem to be accidental.

## Post 4 by basket (knowledge is power) on Monday, 25-Jul-2011 13:28:38

not exactly sure since I've never used it myself, but the person who was telling me was using jaws so it might just be jaws.

## Post 5 by SunshineAndRain (I'm happily married, a mom of two and a fulltime college student.) on Tuesday, 26-Jul-2011 14:26:45

I was invited & it works ok with Jaws. It's a little confusing the whole terminology they use.

## Post 6 by Lisa's Girl forever (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Wednesday, 19-Oct-2011 11:40:15

that sounds. cool. mite try it. out.

## Post 7 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 19-Oct-2011 12:30:20

I have tried it on my iPod.
There are places that just say 'Button' but I guess once I figure out what said buttons do I can either label them myself now or just remember based on location.
But here I am being kinda a dipstick I'm afraid: I just don't get Google + at all.
I joined Facebook almost two years ago now, and did so only because my wife wanted to learn how to use it. When I signed up, I gave it some basic info, it aggregated the data (in human terms that means it sorted things out, junk from useful stuff), and came up with a bunch of suggestions. Those suggestions in my case anyway, were all people I knew whether from now or over 20 years ago.
Even now I can see if I get a suggestion, who are mutual friends, etc., and know if I didn't recognize the name, in what sphere they are: college, high school, current industry, Coast Guard, family relation, etc.
But, no such luck with Google+, I'm afraid. I feel like I'm out of my element just logging into the thing. Even Linkedin can guess connections. I've got a friend who's a design and usability consultant in San Francisco, she's been all excited about Google+ and I probably rained on her parade by saying I just couldn't figure out how you were supposed to hook up.
To migrate from one social network to another is gonna mean migrating what I have built up over two years: loss of past family and school connections I haven't talked to in over 20 years, plus current industry and Coast Guard stuff. I just am not sure I want to do all that work, especially if Google+ doesn't seem to do much aggregating.
I too have smacked Facebook around plenty: they can be frustrating, to say the least. However, if there is a way to easily do on Google+ as I did on Facebook, I'd appreciate any pointers. Or at least an explanation of how it's supposed to work.
It's funny: many of us hate Facebook, but use the networking it provides. I don't know a man 40 and up who doesn't use it to remember birthdays and family relations by. With it you can see who is married to whom, whose kids are whose, stuff that's hard to keep straight when people are so spread out.
Google+ needs to make it easy for those of us casual social networking users, not just the social networking elite.

## Post 8 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Wednesday, 19-Oct-2011 17:47:21

Google's ast foray into the social networking field failed because it was too complicated. After trying GooglePlus out with Jaws, I ere on the side of thinking this will as well. It was usable, but complex, and I don't see the point of trying to master a new social network, when FAcebook works just fine, and I can't be bothered to join Twitter.
Ok, Facebook does not work all that fine, but no worse than GooglePlus.

## Post 9 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Wednesday, 19-Oct-2011 23:40:12

google+ is quite confusing. I tryed it using jaws, nvda, and voiceover even using the basic HTML version...

## Post 10 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 20-Oct-2011 10:06:25

My biggest problem s you can't easily contact people in your regular life, which is why many of us got into Facebook to begin with: catch up with people we otherwise don't see that often.
And, Facebook love it or hate it, has become synonymous with the announcements billboard for family, friends and even interest groups ... check my Facebook, I put it up, etc.
Google+ is a far cry from that. It seems like social networking for the benefit of social networking, rather than being the tool, (in more ways than one sometimes), that Facebook is.

## Post 11 by SatansProphet (Forever in the service of Satan, my King...) on Tuesday, 01-Nov-2011 3:16:32

I tried accepting an invitation, but I couldn't even do that. Lol. I think I shall stick with Facebook, which for the most part works fine for me.

## Post 12 by icequeen (move over school!) on Tuesday, 01-Nov-2011 15:23:54

Okay this is disappointing news... I have felt rather anti fb for some time... too many questionable privacy practices. Also, with each frequent site format change comes more complicated privacy settings... not to mention more screen reader navigation difficulty, and more newsfeed complications etc. And the list goes on.