I'm on Google+, by the way.

I'm just getting started, but already I like it very much.  

Here's the thing about FB.  I've decided to use it to keep up with a fairly small number of people (less than 60 at this writing).  I don't have time to deal with a bunch of interlinked privacy settings and lists each time I make a post, so I've made an executive decision to control my privacy at the level of "whom do I friend."   To make the cut, a person has to be either

• someone I would literally have called "my friend" now or at some stage in my life -- and I can afford to be generous with this because there never have been that many people who fit that description at any level; or
• someone who is related to me; or
• someone whom I have had a long, 2-way correspondence with online.  Long enough that I feel I know them and they know me.

Between that and setting almost everything to "Only friends can see this" I feel satisfied with the level of privacy, and I enjoy using FB to keep up with all those people.

What I don't get to do, with these sensible rules, is follow strangers who produce good content.  For example, I don't get to friend Simcha Fisher under these rules, because I don't know her.  In my imagination, Simcha posts very funny status posts all day, and I don't get to see them.  Poor me.  I suppose  I could friend her, but in my imagination, she could also be an evil stalker, right?  Bent on world domination?  Anyway, I am leery of sending Simcha Fisher (whom I don't know) photographs of me and my children rolling out cookie dough*  for her to repost to the world (HA HA HA JUST LOOK AT THOSE PANTS), just because I like her blog.  You know?

But (not that Simcha is on G+ yet) I anticipate a different experience with G+.  It's very easy to control whom you share a given post with.  So I anticipate putting LOTS of people in my circles, so that I can see what they choose to share publicly.  And then I think I can be comfortable with writing a fair number of public posts but also reserving some posts to go out only to people I know personally.  And who knows, maybe I will wind up listening more than talking; it depends how many people I know make the switch.

All this is to say to my readers, I'm there, and I'm expecting to encircle people fairly promiscuously, unlike on FB, where chances are if you sent me a friend request I would decline it.  Look for me under my real name.  

(p.s. If you need an invite, let me know -- in the comments are fine -- and I'll send it to the email address you type in the combox.)

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*Hypothetical situation for rhetorical purposes.  No pictures exist of me and my children rolling out cookie dough because that has never happened in real life.  I only ever make drop cookies, except for my Grandma's filled Hungarian cookies at Christmas, which are very rich and are rolled out in powdered sugar, and I won't let the kids help with those because (a) you have to work quickly unless your kitchen is very cold (b)  they would eat all the raw cookie dough scraps and get sick and (c) there would be no leftover dough for me.

Comments

[Kelly]

I get many souls out of purgatory just in time for Christmas every year due to that being the only time I ever roll out cookies with the children.

[Kate]

Oh, I am so going to stick you in a circle.

[Honor]

Um, could I have an invitation? I feel silly asking because my only reason is that I hate FB, but I'm very curious about Google+. . . honor[dot]wallace[at]gmail.com.

[Arwen]

I joined Google+ and immediately got overwhelmed by it, and haven't logged in since. Of course, with 2-month-old twins I don't have extra energy for anything these days. But I am already a dedicated Twitter user, and log into FB a couple times a week, and that's a lot of social media already. I do use Google Reader, so if G+ takes off I can see myself using it in the future, but now is not the time for me. Put me in a circle, though!

[bearing]

Arwen: got you. Honor: sent. Kate: thank you. I am trying to promote the verb "to encircle," which seems like the obvious one to me....

[MelanieB]

Arwen, I'm with you about being overwhelmed. I signed up for G+ and at almost the same time decided I needed to take a break from Twitter. I think I'll like Google+ at some point but right now I just don't have brain space leftover to figure it out.

[Honor]

Thanks! So confused but liking much of it so far. . .

[Barbara C.]

I've received an invite for Google+, but I haven't taken the time to look into it yet. I'm waiting to see if it becomes the next big thing. I clung to MySpace for a long time before I gave into Facebook.

And Simcha is totally worth friending!!

[MrsDarwin]

As a Friend of Simcha, I say that she does post witty status updates all day, and that you should friend her. For the record, I consider myself as close to anyone who hasn't deleted my comments from his or her combox.

[Christy P.]

I think that your adventure with Google+ is having a negative effect on your blog frequency.

[bearing]

Christy, it's not actually G+ that's doing it, but school planning. I am using Facebook brain cells for G+ and blogging brain cells for school planning right now. I need to have my year plan finished in about four weeks.

For example, today Hannah and I figured out how to divide up our time when we have to manage ten children twice a week next year. That's ALL we did.

[brooke]

I think I would like an invite to see how it all works!