Google post logo The last post I wrote was extremely long, so here’s a post that’s short and sweet one derived from my own experience. Google Plus keeps surprising me left and right. Even though the feature I’ll be covering (Google Plus Stories) was announced in May, it’s still pretty uncharted.
First let me just say, I love having the Google “Auto Backup” feature on because Google Plus will surprise me with these unexpected collages from my cell phone camera roll. The other day, I hit the bell icon on the top right of my Google Plus and was notified that Google wrote me a “story.” Needless to say, I felt special. However, the Google Plus Stories is available to anyone with a G+ account who activates the backup feature.
According to Mashable, Google+ Stories detects the user’s location history and the geotags of individual photos. Anil Sabharwal, Google Director of Product Management, announced the tool will “automatically weave your photos, videos and the places you visited into a beautiful travelogue.”
The feature is viewable and editable on Google Plus mobile and web. However, when comparing both, I could clearly see that this feature is far superior when accessed through mobile devices. You can scroll through each page as if it were an e-book and view each picture individually for easy caption editing. A difference I noticed was that deleting a picture from the book wasn’t an option via mobile, you instead had the option to “Hide Moment” if you tap and hold your finger on a specific image.
However, both formats have the option of editing an image to your liking. Click on the image through your cell and go to the settings wheel on the top right, hit the “edit” option in the drop-down menu. Now you can auto-enhance the image, crop, rotate, and choose a filter from “Looks.” You can also tune the image, do selective editing, choose from even MORE filters, tilt the image, or add a frame. If you press and hold your thumb when on the option “tune image” or on any of the filters that are NOT under “Looks,” you will see even more methods for changing that particular filter with individual options for brightness, contrast, saturation and more. Google Plus Stories image editing features take some brains [WARNING: not for your average Instagrammer]!
If you follow the same steps via web browser, you must be using Google Chrome, otherwise you cannot access this feature. Once on Google Chrome, simply select the image you want to edit, hover over the image, and hit “edit” on the top LEFT corner of the image once it shows up. Do NOT choose the blue “edit” button on the right because this will edit the story as a whole. It is more difficult to find this editing feature via web, which is why I believe Google Plus Stories was more intended for G+ mobile. However, while editing on your browser, you have the option that once the image is edited you can “undo, redo, compare” or “revert” back to the original.
That’s all folks! I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with too much Google Plus stories info on this lovely weekend. However, if you want more tips and social media tricks you should probably visit our expert blog for all things social media and SEO. And if you want to view my Google story, click here. If you have any comments, please feel free to post below!
Google post logo The last post I wrote was extremely long, so here’s a post that’s short and sweet one derived from my own experience. Google Plus keeps surprising me left and right. Even though the feature I’ll be covering (Google Plus Stories) was announced in May, it’s still pretty uncharted.
First let me just say, I love having the Google “Auto Backup” feature on because Google Plus will surprise me with these unexpected collages from my cell phone camera roll. The other day, I hit the bell icon on the top right of my Google Plus and was notified that Google wrote me a “story.” Needless to say, I felt special. However, the Google Plus Stories is available to anyone with a G+ account who activates the backup feature.
According to Mashable, Google+ Stories detects the user’s location history and the geotags of individual photos. Anil Sabharwal, Google Director of Product Management, announced the tool will “automatically weave your photos, videos and the places you visited into a beautiful travelogue.”
The feature is viewable and editable on Google Plus mobile and web. However, when comparing both, I could clearly see that this feature is far superior when accessed through mobile devices. You can scroll through each page as if it were an e-book and view each picture individually for easy caption editing. A difference I noticed was that deleting a picture from the book wasn’t an option via mobile, you instead had the option to “Hide Moment” if you tap and hold your finger on a specific image.
However, both formats have the option of editing an image to your liking. Click on the image through your cell and go to the settings wheel on the top right, hit the “edit” option in the drop-down menu. Now you can auto-enhance the image, crop, rotate, and choose a filter from “Looks.” You can also tune the image, do selective editing, choose from even MORE filters, tilt the image, or add a frame. If you press and hold your thumb when on the option “tune image” or on any of the filters that are NOT under “Looks,” you will see even more methods for changing that particular filter with individual options for brightness, contrast, saturation and more. Google Plus Stories image editing features take some brains [WARNING: not for your average Instagrammer]!
If you follow the same steps via web browser, you must be using Google Chrome, otherwise you cannot access this feature. Once on Google Chrome, simply select the image you want to edit, hover over the image, and hit “edit” on the top LEFT corner of the image once it shows up. Do NOT choose the blue “edit” button on the right because this will edit the story as a whole. It is more difficult to find this editing feature via web, which is why I believe Google Plus Stories was more intended for G+ mobile. However, while editing on your browser, you have the option that once the image is edited you can “undo, redo, compare” or “revert” back to the original.
That’s all folks! I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with too much Google Plus stories info on this lovely weekend. However, if you want more tips and social media tricks you should probably visit our expert blog for all things social media and SEO. And if you want to view my Google story, click here. If you have any comments, please feel free to post below!