Social Media

Fix for Google+ Apps for iOS and Android Coming in a Few Days

October 28, 2011 By Bob Leave a Comment

I was so excited to finally get to sign up for Google+ for my Google Apps account yesterday. Then, of course, I downloaded the Android app right away and unfortunately a little of the excitement went away.

When I tried to login I got the following:

“The server has returned an error. There was a problem communicating with the server.”

It looks like the web is full of Apps users with the same issue. Apparently Google rolled out G+ availability to Google Apps accounts before updating either the Android or iOS apps to support it.

But the good news is… Google acknowledges the issue and there’s a fix coming a few days. Apparently in the form of an app update to allow Google Apps users to login. Here’s a G+ post from Google’s Ronald Ho.

So do like me. Keep checking for the update about every 30 minutes and it’ll be here before you know it!

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: android, apps, google+, ios

Giving up on Google+ for Google Apps

July 11, 2011 By Bob 4 Comments

google plus Google Apps and Google+ do not play well together. Actually, they don’t play together at all. At least not for now. Dave Girouard, President of the Enterprise group, has said the search giant will make Google+ available to Apps users, but no timeline has been given.

I’ve been paying to host my domain with an Apps account for several years. As a small business, and not and enterprise entity, all I really wanted from the Apps account was a personal domain and perhaps a little better support. Turns out part of the package is having to wait for cool new features like Google+.

Option 1 – Wait on Google Apps

Apparently, the main reason Apps users cannot have Google+ today is the inability to set up a Google Profile. Way back in March we were promised Profiles in a post on the Enterprise Blog. As of this writing, that was 103 days ago… and counting.

Option 2 – Switch to a Consumer account

Being prone to impatience, I decided to make the switch. But for a small business like myself, it’s a little more involved than just setting up a new Gmail account. Plus I want all this to work on my Droid X. Here are the steps I figure have to be completed.

Set up a Consumer account
Clean up contacts to move to the new account
Export contacts from Apps and import to Consumer
Set up the Apps email (and a few other accounts) to be fetched by the Consumer account
Hard reset my Droid X and enter the Consumer account
Reinstall all of my Droid apps (and repay for a couple)
Transfer important calendar events
Transfer important Docs
Fake out Voice somehow, since you cannot delete an old account

So far, I’ve cleaned up my contacts and imported them to the Consumer account. I’ve also started the process of fetching 16,800 emails from the Apps account. This takes a long time for so many emails. With attachments, that’s almost 3GB of email. Best I can tell, it will lake a little over 48 hours to complete. It’s still running now. Should be done early tomorrow.

My next step is to reset the Droid, get the Consumer account running there, and finally enjoy Google+ on my mobile device.

I really wish Profiles had been made available for Apps accounts three months ago when it was promised “soon”. Using Google+ with my existing Apps account would have been FAR easier that all I’m doing to be able to use the service now.

And somehow I just know that the Google+ on Google Apps issue will get resolved just about the time I get comfortable using the Consumer account. Who knows, maybe as a reward for having to wait Apps accounts will pick up some exclusive features of Google+ when it finally arrives for us. Hey, I can hope, right?

Will I switch back when Google+ comes to Apps? Maybe. I’ll have to wait and see on that one.

In the mean time, let me know if you’re an Apps user and how you’re handling the excruciating wait for this hot new social network to arrive. I’ll post an update after I have the switch completed and let you know how the journey unfolded.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: google+

How To Change Your Twitter Name

May 21, 2011 By Bob Leave a Comment

Do you need to change your Twitter name and are not sure how to go about it? There are instructions over at Twitter, but if you’re like me you have a few questions about how the change will effect things.

How to change your Twitter name

Actually, making the change is very simple. Log in to your account and click on the drop down menu in the upper right corner where your existing Twitter name is displayed. Then click on the top menu item, settings. The second field (the first editable field) is labeled Username. This is what you want to change.

Just type in your new name and Twitter will search and let you know if it’s available. Just a little warning that a lot of good ones are already used. Especially if you want your actual name, and it’s fairly common. Even with an unusual one like Fortner, I couldn’t get my own name without adding an underscore.

Think about the length of what you chose too and make it as short as possible while still communicating who you are. If you select a name that’s too long, you’ll have trouble later on when being mentioned or re-tweeted.

What happens to all my followers?

Don’t worry, all your followers are linked to your account, not your username. They’ll all be right there anxiously awaiting your next tweet when you’re all done Now keep in mind that they will see your new handle displayed after the change, so you will want to tweet out a series of reminders that you’ve changed Twitter names.

Create a safety net, just in case

When I changed Twitter names about a month ago, I asked a couple of friends (@LisaArcherRE @dylancwarner @jb140) who had recently made the switch for advice. All of them said the same thing. Create another account with the old name to catch any stray mentions.

I’m really glad I did this because I’ve caught some important stuff that would have escaped my notice otherwise. And of course you have to actually monitor the old account. I let it go for a few days and sure enough there were mentions there waiting for me to respond. I’d advise setting the old handle up in your Twitter client of choice so you don’t have to think about it.

There you go… now you know how to change your Twitter name.

Filed Under: Social Media

Social Media Reach From The Couch

May 18, 2011 By Bob Leave a Comment

A funny thing happened while I was sitting on the couch Monday evening. I was watching one of my favorite shows, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and because of social media I was able to reach out and speak with one of the stars of this hit TV show.

I picked up my trusty Android phone and tweeted this.

social media reach extreme makeover home edition

A few minutes later one of the stars of the show, Eduardo Xol, tweeted this.

social media response extreme makeover home edition

In just a few moments, in the most casual way imaginable, I had spoken with someone who I would have otherwise had no chance of ever contacting. This is the power of social media. Reach.

The trick is to capture this reach and focus it into a cohesive plan. It’s not complicated, but it does take lots of planning and execution. The power of reach will always be there waiting. What’s your plan to put it to work?

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: reach

Fix for Google+ Apps for iOS and Android Coming in a Few Days