55 Tips Terbaik Google+ | Book review

This post is a request from my friend, Mr Fary SJ Oroh or better know in some social circle as Kuti. Mas Kuti has been kind enough to ask me, which is beginner in writting world, to review his latest book, “55 Tips Terbaik Google+” or called in English as “55 best tips Google+”.

I’ll try to do a review on this latest book Mas Kuti, the “55 Best Tips Google +” as I could. Hopefully this review will be useful for anyone who is looking for the best way to optimize the latest features from Google, the Google+.

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1. Outside look
I love the cover design of the book “55 Best Tips Google +”, which is a predominantly white and splash with colors typical of Google. Impressively clean and simple. It reminds me directly of the Google search page that is simple and straight-to-the-point.

But I can not say the same for the selection of the type of paper being used. I frankly would prefer the white paper. For me personally I prefer the white paper for books of technology, because other than in accordance with the color of its cover, I think it also would make a better contrast with the writings and drawings. This will assist the reader in understanding the technological content that are often associated with difficult matter to understand.

Of course many considerations has been used by Mas Kuti and its Publisher to use brown paper with the light weight properties for this book. It could be to save costs or other considerations.

Even so, I discovered later on that the color of this paper does not really affect the quality of characters contrast and images that exist on the books. I found that the letters are very clear and every images are legible so we can identify both with ease.

So I finally concluded, paper color selected for the book is only a minor aesthetic problem that does not bother me much : P

GooglePlus

2. Book Content
This book, “55 Best Tips Google +”, outlines 55 tips that can be used by Google users + to further enhance their experience using the newest flagship program of Google. Tips like how to create bold, italic, and the horizontal line on the stream, or integrate with Google+ other social media like Facebook and Twitter. Tip how to install, edit, and add tags to photos on Google+ are also described in full on this book.

For you who likes to blog, Mas Kuti in this book also includes tips on how to maximize the power of Google + for your blogging activities. Those tips such as how to put Google Plus Widget on your blog, add the +1 button on the blog, to share content and posting on Facebook and Twitter. It will be very useful for bloggers who concern their posting SEO.

Another tip that is shared by Mas Kuti also how to manage the Circle, Notifications, add Google Translate, post videos, to play games.

Overall, I found the tips in this book are clearly written, very easy to follow, and accompanied by drawings that guide how to do tips. Two thumbs up, Mas Kuti! d \ (^ ^) / b

3. Pinch of suggestions
Frankly until I read this book, I am not a Google + intensive users. I more often use the first popular Social Media, Facebook. I was already familiar with the features or terms used in Facebook. Maybe that’s why when I tried to digest the tips in this book, I often find it difficult to understand quickly because I often get stuck in a pattern to compare the features in Facebook with Google+ first. This pattern is like the same guy who was just learning a new language outside of his native tongue. For people who are just learning English, if he wants to say “I want to eat”, he would translate that sentence wor per word, and not directly by sentence itself.

So when I find the term “Stream” on Google+ for example, I will look first at the equivalent feature on Facebook. A futile effort and actually unfair because Google+ has its own strengths and uniqueness, of course. But silly me, because of the influence and charm Facebook already firmly entrenched, I am hard to change this pattern.

Maybe that is why I hope the book can given such a special part in early in the book to discuss the terms and features commonly used on the Google+, and (if applicable) its counterpart with Facebook. For me personally, this section will be very helpful for people (like me! ) who are new to Google+ : P

In addition, in certain tips which is required to access the intenet with long address, it will be better to use URLs shortening facility. For example on integrating Google+ with Facebook (Tip#4), where users need to install StartGooglePlus (SGPlus) on the Chrome browser or Mozilla Firefox. At the tip, we need to access the URL address “https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hbgcgahdbgbdenffckohanhobdcnkoip#” (p. 7). It’s frankly a bit inconvenient for me. It also occurs in Tip #16 (add a Google search +) where we need to access the URL address “https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lgokneckoagpobobdfmiaflifhpbmfmd#”. It would be better if the address could be shortened with the facilities of Bitly (https://bitly.com/) or any other URL shortener program.
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