Anyone out there still using Google+? I’m hearing more and more rumblings in my blogger networks that people are getting so frustrated with Facebook’s recent changes that they are spending more time on G+. I don’t know if the numbers really reflect that, but it certainly would be interesting if that becomes a trend. I get pretty frustrated with Facebook feeling spammy, and now that it’s not showing posts from Pages unless they are promoted (i.e. paid for) I’m tempted to give up on my FB Page for Water Water Everywhere.
Google Plus has a new feature that you probably haven’t noticed called Events. I first learned about it when Google approached my water organization, WEF, about partnering during our huge WEFTEC conference to do a Google + event called “Thousands of Photos for Water”.
The idea was pretty simple. Designated photographers would document the conference with photos from their smartphones and upload them with comments and appropriate hashtags to this G+ event. Then everyone else could view the photos and search on the hashtag #WEFTEC to see thousands of photos surrounding the premier water industry conference.
I signed up as a volunteer photographer because I knew I’d be very active at the conference, attending lots of different events, and I had the fantastic Samsung Galaxy s3 phone from Verizon that takes amazing photos. I had to update my Google+ app in order to even see the Events tab, but it was there, I joined and I started uploading all sorts of photos as soon as I arrived.
There were a few rules I had to sign off on such as no alcohol in the photos and no photos on the Exhibit Hall floor. Those rules were both very limiting for me since it IS New Orleans and I did spend a ton of time on the Exhibit Hall floor.
Here are just a handful of the photos I took and uploaded to the G+ event. Great quality even in low light!
I ended up contributing 54 photos to the Thousands of Photos for Water event. All shot and uploaded on my Galaxy phone, which is crazy slick. You can see them all here. Between the eighteen designated photographers we did end up with well over a thousand photos. I’m not sure how many people actually viewed the event photos, but it was fun seeing what we all contributed in real time.
Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Wireless Ambassador program and have been provided
with a wireless device and three months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the
product.
