Thursday, September 22, 2011

Social Network Sharing – Chrome Extensions For Google+

Now the whole point of G+ is to share with everyone on it. But why limit yourself to just G+? To reach a larger audience you will have to use every Social Network tool you can get your hands on and efficiency is key to getting the most out of all your Social Network profiles. These extensions will allow you to view and share your G+ posts with almost every Social Network out there, especially the big ones like Facebook and Twitter cause let’s be frank (even though I’m still Chuck), not everyone is ready to ditch any of their other Social Network profiles just yet (or at all) although with these extensions, it’s pretty easy to see them all as one in the same.

Due to recent updates on Google+ some of these extensions or features on the extensions may be broken or obsolete by the time this is posted so feel free to ignore those extensions or the feature that is broken or obsolete. Each extension has been linked to it’s page on the Chrome Webstore so you can check it out yourself.


      12 1212_thumb[3]



Tweetify for Google Plus
The concept of this extension is interesting, make all posts on your stream no more than 140 characters like Twitter to make the stream look more like Twitter. I am unable to test this extension possibly because recent G+ updates may have broken the code and the creators does not seem interested in updating it at the moment. Based on some of the comments on this extension there was no way to see more than the 140 characters, the creator failed to add an expand feature making this extension somewhat interesting but pointless.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]

G+ Tweet for Google Plus
If you’re a Twitter fan and would love to be able to keep track of both Twitter and G+ all in one screen on your browser than this extension is for you. A full featured Twitter client especially designed to integrate with G+. Now this is cool. The stream is almost exactly like looking at the Twitter site directly with all the functions and everything and a nice button right next to the G+ Home button for easy access to the client.
I have not been much of a Twitter user but since I have been using G+ and have found some extensions that allow me to Tweet what I post on G+, I have been much more active lately and having a Twitter client right within G+ is definitely very useful and will likely make me much more active with Twitter.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]

G+Twitter for Google Plus
Twitter fans rejoice for here is another Twitter client for G+.  Unlike G+ Tweet, this extension puts your Twitter feed directly into your G+ stream. However, like other extensions with the same feature, depending on the amount of people you follow, your G+ stream will move just as fast as Twitter making it difficult to keep up with who’s saying what, not to mention your G+ posts will also get lost in the process and if you have a Facebook client for G+ which also shows Facebook posts on your G+ stream then get ready for an extreme Social Network overload.
The extension works OK and even gives you options to post to both G+ and Twitter directly at the same time, as long as you keep your posts to within the 140 character limitation of Twitter, including any links you may be posting. It also lets you track of tags and keywords thru a small interface on your left column. My opinion is I prefer a client that is separate from G+ like G+ Tweet is. Makes it easier to keep track of both without the in-your-face, all-at-once overload you can get from an extension like this one.
BTW, I noticed if you refresh you G+ tab all the Tweets that were displayed on your G+ stream disappear. And it seems to take a while for the extension to start showing them again. I also noticed that if you have Twitter open there seems to be some conflict over who shows what on which screen. Hmm.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]

SGPlus
If you are a Social Media addict, SGPlus will definitely be an extension you may want to check out. It allows you to post your G+ posts to Facebook and/or Twitter at the same time. With twitter it will spread the post over several tweets depending how far over do you go the 140 character limit. It also merges your Facebook and Twitter streams directly into your G+ stream making it almost unnecessary to even have the other 2 sites open unless really necessary. There are extra features such as an option to add a LinkedIn account, sign in to multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts and also post status updates more frequently from your multiple feeds, but you will have to pay for these extras. $5 really doesn’t sound that bad if you think about it. Heck it even throws in an email notification counter, a Facebook and Twitter notification count on the left column and the ability to comments on Facebook posts right from your G+ stream. This is a great addition to your extensions to alleviate some of the Social Media overdose.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]

Publish Sync for Google+ & Facebook (Green Edition)
Publish sync is another good extension that allows merging multiple Social Media sites with G+ to post from one single page. This extension has a few extra options that I find very useful when handling multiple sites. Publish sync adds the option to select to post you G+ posts to Facebook and Twitter as well but it doesn’t stop there. On Twitter, it gives you the option to post your Tweets to Facebook and G+ also and on Facebook it allows you to choose to post to Twitter and G+ as well. It also includes the Social Media site Plurk, Sina and Tencent if you want to share your G+ posts to those as well. This is definitely an awesome feature.

Some extra features also include Share links on every post to several other Social Media sites and the ability to access the options from the icon on Chrome or an icon on the Google nav bar. This is another great extension making more difficult to choose.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]

G++
G++ is another extension that connects you G+ account with Facebook and Twitter for posting between multiple Social Media sites at the same time and also merging each stream into the G+ stream. The only problem I have is that I was never offered the ability to connect with my Facebook and Twitter account and when I tried posting, even though it confirmed the posts were sent, neither site showed I had posted anything. And I was unable to merge the streams either. every time I refreshed the screen after selecting Facebook and Twitter, neither would merge and both would show unchecked. Options are limited on this as well. Too bad I could not truly test this extension and I don’t think the recent G+ updates were the cause as this extension shows being updated just recently.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]

Extended Share for Google Plus
This extension is very handy, it puts a nice little “Share On” link above the comment section that allows you to share a G+ post to several other Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Digg and more. It works very well, I was able to share a post to my Facebook account without much hassle and the  “Share On” link UI is nice and clean.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]

RSS Share for Google Plus and Google Reader
If you are an avid Google Reader and G+ user then RSS Share is for you. I do like how it adds a link to share your Reader items directly to your G+ stream. However, I am not very thrilled with the way it implements Google Reader on G+. You best have your Reader subscriptions well organized otherwise you will get one really big list of your subscriptions on the left side of G+ that will look like a mess. RSS Share displays the feeds right in the G+ stream but if you have several feeds in a single folder, it doesn’t display them well, you can’t tell what post goes with what subscription. Still, having the ability to check Reader right from G+ is pretty cool although I think it’s not worth saving a tab to get poorly detailed info from your Reader subscriptions within G+. It’s not like it’s a big deal to open Reader, the dam link is right on the notification bar on top anyways. With some work on the display on the feed and the side bar this extension has the potential to be better.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]

Share+ Social Buttons for Google Plus
This extension gives you the ability to share your post with other social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg and others. the only problem is it’s not working for me. I can not see the icon. It was updated pretty recently but perhaps the code ay be broken again thanks to G+ updates. Perhaps by the time I post this it may be working. For now, it’s a dud.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]

Share Widget for Google Plus
Recently the G+ team gave the Google +1 button the ability to share what you are +1ing to G+, the downside is if the site doesn’t have a +1 button, you have to share the site the hard way, copy pasting the webpage address into your next G+ post. But thanks to this extension, you no longer have to worry about the missing +1 button. Not only does it give you a pop-up to post directly to your G+ right from the Google Chrome interface but it will automatically add the website you are on into the post saving you having to add the address manually. Now that is neat. You can always opt to have the icon take you directly to your G+ page but you lose the main features. It also gives you a notification count on the icon, another typical feature found on many G+ extensions and more. Another good extension.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]

Reader to Plus
This extension basically puts a small link on your Reader screen that allows you to post articles from your subscriptions into you G+ stream. Not too bad, works pretty good.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]

Share Widget for Google Plus
An excellent extension when you are on a site that does not have the +1 button to share the page on G+, just hit the button, let the pop-up add the site, add comments, select your Circles and post. It even lets you change the icon and gives you notifications. Definitely a keeper.
My rating: star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]star_thumb[11][15][4]

Commenting has been disabled on this post so that your opinions can be shared on Google+. Please post your comments on the Google+ post for this article linked below. Also please share this post so that others can find it and enjoy the benefits of these extensions. Thank you.


Please remember to follow me on the Social Network Links on the top-right.


Link to Google+ post for commenting