Google+ Pro Tips Round Up: Week 8

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• Google+ Pro Tips Round Up: Week 8
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It’s been an eventful week for Google+. Facebook decided to up its game and start rolling out several major updates intended to address privacy concerns. We got a glimpse into the future of Google+ via an insightful discussion between +Bradley Horowitz and +Tim O’Reilly. And Google decided to integrate the +1 button more fully with Google+ by allowing users to share directly from the +1 button. That’s not all, though—scroll down for more news updates that occurred in the past week.

Ignore Block People

• The ability to ignore people was introduced yesterday by +Olga Wichrowska. “Ignore” is different from “Block”, in that you are not actively shunning people. Maybe someone who has added you is boring, but you don’t feel strongly enough against them to block them. When you ignore someone, you no longer see their posts, you don’t get notifications about them, and you don’t see them on your circles page. As with block, they are not notified that you’ve ignored them.

• If a bunch of strangers have added you recently that you’re not interested in checking out, you have the option to Ignore All from the notifications menu.

Google+ Android App Updates

• After updating my Google Reader application on my Samsung Infuse, I was thrilled to discover that I could share items from Google Reader to Google+. I hit one snag—although I commented on the link that I shared, the text did not show up in my post. You also cannot share to Google+ directly from Google Reader in your browser. 
• +Punit Soni announced that you can now reshare items directly from your Google+ app.
• Visit the Android Market to update your Google+ app.

Google+ Photos Updates

• +Jon Moon informs us that you can now see who a photo album was shared with. Just mouse over the “Limited” link, and you can view the invited participants.

• Tiago Proença tells us that you can now see all the people you’ve been tagged with on a single page. It’s pretty simple. Just go to your Photos section, and click on “Photos of you” and then select “View all”, next to “Photos of you with”.

Google+ Chrome Extensions

Google continues to inspire a lot of developers, even if they haven’t made the Google+ API available for them to play around with yet. This week, these Chrome extensions caught my eye:

• Auto-Colorizer for Google Plus and Facebook - If you’re feeling like Google+ is looking a little too vanilla, you can try out the Auto-Colorize extension. It works for both Google+ and Facebook, and adds some personality to your stream.
• Hangout Pad for Google+ – This super-alpha Chrome extension from Chrome extension machine +Mohamed Mansour allows people to collaboratively code with each other during a hangout. For this extension to work, all participants have to install it. You are also forewarned by the author that this extension is currently pretty buggy.
• G+ Stream Pause - I get really irritated when I’m reading something on Google+, and then my stream moves because another post got updated with comments, etc. It makes for a schizophrenic experience, in which I’m always trying to catch up. This extension will let you “pause” your stream so you can actually finish reading your posts before moving on.

The Nym Wars Continue

• I’ve been adding links to follow along with the “Nym Wars” debate and discussion in our forum. If you see any interesting, insightful commentary, please feel free to add it here.
• The process for appealing a name suspension is a mystery to people who are affected. +Kaleh Kohler discovered that you can, in fact, appeal a name suspension if you click on “Edit Your Name”, even when you don’t want to edit it. From there, you’ll be taken to the “names appeal” form, and you can tell Google that your name does conform to its community standards.

Did I miss anything? Comment below.

Google+ painting by Ryan Allen

Via Google+ Pro Tips Round Up: Week 8 on googleplus.wonderhowto.com.

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Judge ‘Dislikes’ Missouri Ban On Teacher-Student Facebook Friendships

Don’t worry, Missouri students. You can still be Facebook friends with your teachers.

Earlier this summer, Missouri passed a law banning “exclusive contact” between teachers and students on social networking sites, fearing their Facebook contact could turn from online poking into real-world seductions. Privacy expert Daniel Solove said that the Show-Me state wasn’t showing enough respect for teacher and students’ constitutional right to free speech. Status update: It now appears that his prediction that the law was doomed was a prescient one.

A Missouri teachers’ union filed a lawsuit against the state this week alleging that the law was unconstitutional and vague. Based on the phrasing — it said teachers “cannot have a nonwork-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student” –some interpreted it as meaning teachers couldn’t have Facebook accounts at all. The Associated Press reports that a judge has blocked the law from going into effect this Sunday (it was set to take effect at the beginning of the school year):

Circuit Judge Jon Beetem issued a preliminary injunction blocking it until at least February, saying the restrictions “would have a chilling effect” on free speech rights.

via The Associated Press: Mo. judge blocks Facebook limits for teachers.

Meanwhile, the governor has called for the law’s repeal. “In a digital world, we must recognize that social media can be an important tool for teaching and learning,” said Gov. Jay Nixon, according to the AP.

So, for now, it looks like Missouri students are free to give their teachers an apple and send them a Facebook friend request on the first day of school Monday. And if anything inappropriate occurs, at least there will be a digital trail to make prosecution easier.

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