How 2 Peas Changed the Pod & the Pod is Google Plus.

There is an old saying that no man is an island onto himself. Well then, what are 2 men? Are they islands onto themselves? I think that the answer is no, they are not. The two men in question are +Jesse Wojdylo & +Paul Stickland. These 2 chaps have never been shy in terms of venting their frustration about their most favorite social platform Google Plus. Why should they? Google actually answers them. Isn't that strange? Out of 500 million users (200 Million or so active users) these 2 people actually get responses from Google when they voice their concerns. How does that actually happen, and why does it happen? Let's discuss.

First and foremost both Jesse and Paul have been active on G+ from very close to the onset of the actual platform. We don't need to argue over who has been on longer, but they both were active in 2011 and that will suffice for now. They both have around 16K followers (Jesse was just admitted into the Emerald City, aka the SUL (suggested user list) so by the time this post publishes he might be up to 20K (edit 5/31, he is up passed 20K) and I will hopefully be able to publish this today b/c if I don't it might be 25K at the rate he's currently going.). With that large of a base, they tend to get heard by some relatively influential people both inside of and outside of Google itself.

Courtesy of Paul Stickland

Having screamed from the mountain tops my love for Google Plus for a little while now, this just reinforces my belief that we are on the cusp of something huge here. Where else can 2 singular people go, voice concerns about the social network that they are using, voice them on that very same network and actually GET A RESPONSE. No where. Imagine writing a tweet or a facebook post describing a problem and actually having twitter or facebook respond. A thought like this most likely has NEVER entered your mind. In fact the opposite holds so true that a thought like that seems irrelevant, so why even have it in the first place. It would just be upsetting. It's so much different on Google Plus though. I think I read somewhere that Google itself actually has 20K active G+ accounts from all their employees. Therefore it's not illogical to think that of those people, many are in circles w/you and me. Many watch what we watch on our streams and many are obviously active and there trying to help.

It's this notion of community that brings us all together here on Google Plus in the first place and the fact that Google's employees support us only reinforces the greatness that is Google Plus. Now both Paul and Jesse had different problems Wednesday 5/29.  They both connected w/each other through their own unique experiences Wednesday and were able to get some resolution to their problems. At 4:32 in the morning over here in the States (yesterday afternoon for Paul), he mentioned something to the extent that he was missing posts from people in his circles that he had set to more. Well setting a circle to "more" means every  post will be displayed by everyone in that circle. That was not happening.

Here are Pauls words: "OK, I have put all of you into one circle and unchecked 'Show posts in home stream' for all other circles. Google 'All' is totally different to my 'ALL'... So, in my new 'ALL', I scroll down to the first 'More' and I am already seeing yesterday lunchtime's posts and none of the posts that I know have been made by my top peeps..."

He certainly saw more posts but the posts he saw were from previous days and not matching up w/what should have been every post, from every person. He compared that circle to his others and found there was still a disparity between what was theoretically supposed to happen and display versus what was actually displayed. To the Google Phone Paul went and pinged +Natalie Villalobos. That ping was at 6:58am, by 11:11am she had responded that she was on the case and her team was aware. Granted a 'fix' to this problem can't just happen in an hour but where else can anyone get this type of service where you voice concerns in the early morning and by the late morning they are met with an answer? In terms of a social media platform, no where else, hands down. Here is the link to Paul's original post.

The second example also occurred Wednesday 5/29 at 3:31pm where Jesse posted this.
Google+, A 'Lil Help!

Is anyone else having issues with comments in the notification drop down box on desktop? I am not seeing an "expand comment" for those comments longer than a few lines. I have to go to the post to see them. Not easy!

Help! +Google+ Help 

So he pinged G+ Help right then at 3:31pm, but his problem, was also many other peoples problem which via G+ he immediately found to be the case. The comments weren't displaying the "read more" link and people (myself included) had to click on the view post just to see the comments. GASP! This went on for a little while longer and then at 4:44 this happened:

Andrea Zvinakis

Yesterday 4:44 PM

+

5
4
5

Hey +Jesse Wojdylo - this issue ('read more's not showing up in comments in the notifications panel) is a known regression for us that we've already fixed, so you should see the fix roll out shortly! Thanks for the report!

Problem Solved, less than 2 hours and it was right around this time where Paul who had also been a part of this thread  made a great suggestion.

Paul said: "Great news. It would be really helpful to have somewhere to go to  access status reports such as this"

So what have we seen thus far? 2 problems, both were addressed w/in 4 hours, 1 solved, the other being worked on, a new idea that could help create an even stronger Google Plus platform, 2 separate google employees engaging w/normal people (as normal as the 2 of them are), and actual service from the company steering the ship. I ask again, Where else can you find a platform like this? NO WHERE. 

I will leave you with this, Google Plus is a place that like-minded people can share information. The close knit circles that you travel in define your ability to make progress. Collect people like baseball cards and have bloated circles just for the numbers, you won't see much value. Circle real people that you connect and engage with and you will find real value is added not only to your stream but to your life and the lives of others. Both Jesse and Paul have been instrumental in my short lived time here on Google Plus but w/out them my experience would be far different and I certainly wouldn't be here now. Google Plus is what you make it and if you choose to make it a great place than that will be returned to you in spades. Be active, engage, comment, post, make friends, share and discuss. That's what makes Google Plus great, oh and they fix their problems in hours which kinda makes them the only kid on the block with the ball. If you want to play better get on board.

Michlin Metals is a Woman Owned Small Business, Aerospace Metal and Stainless Steel Distributor. Follow Michlin on Twitter @MichlinMetals, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ or on the Web at www.michlinmetals.com. More on the author on Google+.