I think Google+ is slowly becoming my blog

Be it more for curated content of interesting posts rather than posting my own stuff (though I’ve started doing that too).

It’s the complete opposite when it comes to my social networks. First it was the wonderful FriendFeed. Goodness knows how I get over 3,000 followers over there, interaction was high. Twitter grew and grew as well but at a much slower rate. And now Google+, which has gone straight through the roof with over 12,000 followers there.I have WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr and Posterous blogs (WordPress being the current favourite). but readership is virtual nothing. No one reads them, no one comments. No interaction at all. I’ve attempted writing a blog many times over the years but it seems wasted when there is no one at the other end.

So my thinking is why not use that there service as my blog? Google+ is by no means set-up for proper blogging. It lacks a lot of basic blog-like features. I used this post to suggest how Buzz could be turned into a kinda blogging ‘layer’ that fits somewhere in-between Google+’s simply share box and Blogger’s more full and advanced blogging service – something not too complicated for non-bloggers but something advanced enough to allows us bloggers to create my customised posts. Nonetheless, it’s very much possible to use Google+ as a blog if you wish. The ability to post lengthly articles (like this one) with some very basic formatting does allow for blog-like posts to be shared here. So I’m gonna give it at least a try.

I won’t be ditching my blogs, no, no. I’ll still post to them but I’ll be posting my blog articles directly on Google+ in full and first going forward. Google+ will be my ‘home’ (hmmm, I remember saying something very similar about another service – Amplify!)

If anyone is thinking of doing the same, I’ll give you one #plustip. Create a Circle called “Drafts”, add no-one to it. Then write-up your blog posts and share them to the “Drafts” Circle before posting them publicly. The advantage to this is you can test that the formatting works. Also, it allows you to simply save the post to come back to it later for a re-edit. Works a treat for me.

Speaking of Google+ Circles, please have a read of how I’ve set-up mine here.  it goes into detail my Circles structure and reasons behind it.

What are your thoughts? Could you use Google+ as your blog? What features would like on Google+ to tempt you?

For all my Google+ feature ideas search for the tag here: https://plus.google.com/s/kolgoogleplusidea

And for the Google+ thread of this post, head over to here.

Related articles

• Blogging and Google+ (koltregaskes.wordpress.com)
• Integrate Google Buzz (and/or Blogger?) into Google+ (koltregaskes.wordpress.com)
• Robert Scoble Shares Photography Circles on Google+ (wired.com)
• Crosspost your Google+ posts to your WordPress blog with this plugin (thenextweb.com)