Basic Guide to Google+ Hangouts

Transcription

1 Basic Guide to Google+ Hangouts To use the Hangout function on Google+, you will first need an account. If you already have a Gmail account, things are simpler, but it s similar to any other social networking platform. Let s start by navigating to Google+, which we can do by searching for it or navigating to or Once you get there, you ll need to either create an account, or login. When you ve gained access, you ll see that it looks similar to other social networking sites:

2 On the left, you ll find a drop-down navigation system. At the moment, we re interested in the People link, so click that: When you get to the People page, you ll find suggestions on who to add and the expected ways of finding contacts through social networking sites:

3 Click on the Your Circles link at the top of the page, and you will be taken to a page where you can create Circles. Google+ Circles are similar to groups in Facebook or similar Social Networking sites, except that you can add someone to a circle without authorisation from them, similar to following someone on Twitter. All privacy and security settings are controlled through your post settings, so you control who sees what by selecting relevant Circles, Extended Circles, individual users, or even the larger Public setting. This means that being in someone s Circle doesn t necessarily mean that they can see what you post, unless you have added them to one of yours in short, it isn t a like for like relationship. There is more information about this through Google+, but for our purposes, we suggest creating a Circle specifically for the UEA PGR Writers Group, as shown here: Once you have this Circle set up, you can add members of the group into the Circle, which will enable you to easily invite them to Hangouts, which is the Google+ system we are suggesting for the Virtual Writers Group. One way of ensuring others know how to connect with you via Google+ is to obtain the static link to your profile. This is done most easily by clicking on the Profile button on the left-hand side drop-down navigation system:

4 Once you re on the profile page, look at the address at the top and either copy it or write it down to pass on: This is the link to your public profile, and when a user navigates to these profiles, there will be an Add to Circles button there, which will enable other Writers Group members to add you to their UEA PGR Writers Group circle. Once you ve added people to your UEA PGR Writers Group Circle, if you need to initiate a group, you ll need to go to Home (top button on the left-hand side navigation) and then look on the right-hand side, where you should find the Hangout section: Click the New Hangout button, and type in the Circle name (in our case, UEA PGR Writers Groups please note that you must first have someone added into the Circle, or this will not show up). When it pops up, click the tick box:

5 You ll see the buttons below for message (text chat, essentially) or for a Video call. You can really choose either, because video can be launched from within the text chat, or you can turn off video and audio in a video chat and only use text functions, so it really functions either way. If you click Message, a small window will pop up in which you can type messages. If you click Video Call, a larger window will pop up, and it will ring until at least one member accepts the call. At this point, you can disable the webcam and mic, if you don t feel comfortable with those things: As you can see, the buttons on the left do different things, so from the top: Chat, Screenshare, Capture, Google Effects, YouTube, Remote Desktop, and another button to add apps. If you click the Chat button, you ll see the chat screen slide out from the left, so that you can communicate with the other writers in a written format. That is the basic form of the Google+ Hangout system for the Virtual Writers Group. There is also an option of launching a public Video Party (started from the bottom right of the Home screen by clicking on Start a video party and then the green Start a party button. Here, you essentially have the same system, but in addition to being able to add Circles or individual users as before, you can also add the Public option, as shown below:

6 This option allows anyone that goes to your public profile (as discussed before) to join your Hangout, which may not necessarily be what you re looking for in terms of controlling the members of a session, but it is an easy way of one person regularly starting a group without necessarily having to be in close contact with others. For example, if there is one person organising the group, all of those wishing to participate can just navigate to the public profile of that person and join.