Reviews
On Mar 30 Edward Heze wrote:
Full Review >
Rating:
5.0
On Mar 12 Jeffery Rine wrote: Google + Raises the Bar on Social Media
The ability to control access to content is one of the best features of Google +. This book will make using it more effective. Full Review >
Rating:
5.0
On Jan 20 Jody Raines wrote: Google+: The Missing Manual - A Moving Target
Whenever an author attempts to capture the essence of an evolving and new social media site, like Google+, it's like the 3 blind men trying to define the elephant. Each has a grasp of part of the beast, but you would need to have all the pieces to have a good idea what the animal is like in it's entirety. That being said, Kevin Purdy, author of "Google+: The Missing Manual" published by O'Reilly Media does a decent job explaining the very basics of the service, however Google+ has clearly evolved with changes since the manuscript was published.
In fairness, the author does suggest that Google+ is in the process of changing and the reality is those changes have happened fast and furious and continue to happen. The book does a fair job describing the rudiments of Google+ to an uninitiated social media neophyte, but is not a manual for someone who is immersed in the social media environment.
What I like about the book is that it clearly shares the basic aspects of how to navigate through Google+. Some of the features, like Hangouts are new features sets that are breaking ground vis a vis other social platforms such as Facebook. For a person who has no experience in video capture, it may be helpful to be reminded to have good lighting or that the background will be in view - personally I found many of the sections to be filler info - very basic.
Originally I was interested in reading Google+:The Missing Manual because even though I am utilizing social media daily on behalf of clients, I figure there are always new tricks and twists that I may have missed. I can share that there were none that I wasn't already aware of, which was personally disappointing, but I may not be reflective of the typical person who would look for a book like this to guide their discovery of the feature set within Google+.
On a whole, I'd recommend this book to a person who is new to social media.
NOTE: I received a digital version of this book for review purposes. Full Review >
Rating:
4.0
On Jan 12 Shawn Day wrote: Google+ Shouldn't Need a Manual
If there was ever a product needing a manual, frankly it's Google Plus. It remains a rather obtuse beast - at least to my way of seeing things. Google Plus: The Missing Manual attempts to remedy this by providing a comprehensive review of all the possible interactions you'd have with the web service from a user perspective. So, do I feel like I know the service any better after reading the book. No, not really, unfortunately maybe it's just the case that G+ doesn't work the way I do. The book makes a valiant effort, but I have a sense that I personally would be better served by a pure cookbook approach. I would characterize this 'manual' as a hybrid approach. Although it structurally does follow a cookbook like structure, I found a tendency to words where graphics and images would better suit the purpose. This isn't to say that the information isn't there, I just found it harder to find. This is not to say that the book isn't well illustrated. It's full of great full-colour screen shots. I think what might improve it for me would be the addition of diagrams that represented the processes related to accomplishing tasks using pictures rather than words. Full Review >
Rating:
3.0
On Jan 6 Juan Jose de Leon wrote: A book for any level
A book for any level covering almost all the characteristics of Google+. Good if you like to know where does Google+ fits if you use Facebook and Twitter. I really like chapter 3 about posts. Full Review >
Rating:
4.0
