0:00:01.605,0:00:05.606 This tutorial is an introduction [br]to Google Plus Communities. 0:00:05.606,0:00:09.997 In order to access Google Plus Communities[br]you need to be a Google Plus user. 0:00:09.997,0:00:13.193 So you are going to first need to[br]activate your Google Plus account. 0:00:13.193,0:00:19.161 You can do that from you inbox,[br]your gmail inbox, or you can go to 0:00:19.161,0:00:22.637 plus.google.com to get started[br]with Google Plus. 0:00:22.637,0:00:26.381 Google Plus Communities [br]are shared spaces on line 0:00:26.381,0:00:29.971 where folks can come together[br]to share ideas, to share resources, 0:00:29.971,0:00:33.534 and to collaborate with each other. 0:00:33.534,0:00:37.429 Here are just a few of the ways[br]people are using Google Communities. 0:00:37.429,0:00:40.002 I use Google Communities [br]for a couple of the courses that I teach. 0:00:40.002,0:00:45.232 Its gives us a shared space online[br]where we can post comments and ideas, 0:00:45.232,0:00:47.940 share resources, ask questions. [br] 0:00:47.940,0:00:51.535 If you are using it with students,[br]they need to be over, 13 or older. 0:00:51.535,0:00:55.440 You can also use it with other[br]professionals that you work with. 0:00:55.440,0:00:58.280 With your colleagues or[br]connecting with parents, 0:00:58.280,0:01:00.403 or folks who have similar interests. 0:01:00.403,0:01:04.376 So these are just a few of the [br]communities that I am a member of. 0:01:04.376,0:01:06.680 Some of these communities [br]I moderate 0:01:06.680,0:01:10.365 which means that I sort of [br]set the structure for that community 0:01:10.365,0:01:13.440 and some of these I created [br]and some of these I joined 0:01:13.440,0:01:16.487 that others created that were[br]interesting to me. 0:01:16.487,0:01:20.311 And you can see that communities [br]range greatly in the amount of members 0:01:20.311,0:01:22.342 that they have. 0:01:22.342,0:01:24.711 You may be looking for a community[br]that has a lot of members 0:01:24.711,0:01:27.440 and a lot of activity happening[br]or you may be looking for 0:01:27.440,0:01:31.797 a smaller close nit community[br]with just a smaller group of people 0:01:31.797,0:01:35.003 sharing resources for a specific purpose. 0:01:35.003,0:01:37.860 Communities can be private or public.[br] 0:01:37.860,0:01:40.680 As you can see here there is a community[br]for a course that I teach 0:01:40.680,0:01:42.295 that is a private community. 0:01:42.295,0:01:46.180 Only folks who I invite [br]can be part of that community. 0:01:46.180,0:01:51.180 These other communities are public[br]and open to anyone. 0:01:51.180,0:01:54.404 Here is just a small sampling [br]of communities that are available 0:01:54.404,0:01:58.002 in Google Plus. There are lots and lots[br]of communities already out there. 0:01:58.002,0:02:01.969 You can see alot of these have quite[br]a few members. 0:02:01.969,0:02:05.680 So you can browse and find communities[br]that are already existing 0:02:05.680,0:02:09.600 where people are already active[br]and having conversations with each other, 0:02:09.600,0:02:13.965 sharing great ideas and resources, and[br]you can join those existing communities. 0:02:13.965,0:02:17.971 Or you can create your own if there is [br]a specific purpose that you want 0:02:17.971,0:02:21.066 to collaborate with other folks about. 0:02:21.066,0:02:24.212 Here are some things that [br]Google Communities can do for you. 0:02:24.212,0:02:28.311 You can get answers to your questions[br]and get feedback on your ideas. 0:02:28.311,0:02:31.200 This is one of my favorite things about[br]Google Communities. 0:02:31.200,0:02:35.064 If I'm pondering a new idea,[br]or just doing some brainstorming, 0:02:35.064,0:02:37.296 or would like some advice, 0:02:37.296,0:02:39.991 Google Communities is typically the [br]place I go for that. 0:02:39.991,0:02:43.702 So I can just post a question.[br]I can put it into a specific community 0:02:43.702,0:02:45.633 which is what I've done here.[br] 0:02:45.633,0:02:47.990 I created a community for[br]teacher educators. 0:02:47.990,0:02:50.965 I can post a question in there[br]and you can see that I got 7 comments 0:02:50.965,0:02:53.626 that were on this one question. 0:02:53.626,0:02:57.566 People giving me advice and resources[br]and suggestions. 0:02:57.566,0:03:01.006 So the purpose of a community, [br]of posting ideas in a community, 0:03:01.006,0:03:05.440 is that people are there in this[br]community space on purpose. 0:03:05.440,0:03:08.003 So membership in a community[br]is mutual. 0:03:08.003,0:03:10.472 People choose to join [br]for a specific reason. 0:03:10.472,0:03:13.471 They want to engage in conversations[br]with other people. 0:03:13.471,0:03:16.971 They have an interest in whatever[br]the community is focused on 0:03:16.971,0:03:19.502 and they are there on purpose. 0:03:19.502,0:03:21.940 Now, not every member of a [br]community is an active member 0:03:21.940,0:03:25.659 and you know is regularly participating[br]but lots of people are there on purpose 0:03:25.659,0:03:28.930 and they are there because [br]they want to participate. 0:03:28.930,0:03:31.631 So the odds are pretty good [br]that if you are a member of an active 0:03:31.631,0:03:34.879 community and you post an idea [br]or question 0:03:34.879,0:03:37.971 you are going to get some feedback[br]from the community. 0:03:37.971,0:03:40.598 Which I just think is really valuable. 0:03:40.598,0:03:44.883 You can also find some great resources,[br]connect with people who are like-minded, 0:03:44.883,0:03:49.972 and if you are a twitter user Google Plus [br]can have some real advantages to you 0:03:49.972,0:03:55.521 in that you can have lengthier [br]conversations than you can through twitter 0:03:55.521,0:03:59.131 so I'm actually going to go into [br]Google Communities now 0:03:59.131,0:04:02.477 and show you how to navigate.[br]Show you how to find communities 0:04:02.477,0:04:05.562 and how to join them [br]and how to create your own. 0:04:05.562,0:04:10.003 So here is my Google Plus page.[br]If I hover over the home button 0:04:10.003,0:04:15.004 here in the top left corner,[br]I can find my option for communities. 0:04:15.004,0:04:17.424 Now these are communities [br]that I moderate 0:04:17.424,0:04:19.987 so these are either communities[br]I created, 0:04:19.987,0:04:24.006 or communities that I am a member of[br]but also a moderator for. 0:04:24.006,0:04:27.421 These are communities that other folks[br]created but I joined 0:04:27.421,0:04:31.426 because they are about something [br]that I am interested in. 0:04:31.426,0:04:35.244 Now if I scroll down here to the [br]section on discover communties 0:04:35.244,0:04:38.641 I'll find other communities[br]that Google is recommending for me 0:04:38.641,0:04:42.680 based on my profile [br]that I've set up previously, 0:04:42.680,0:04:46.311 based on things that I post about,[br]and based on my existing communities, 0:04:46.311,0:04:48.973 these are some recommendations for me. 0:04:48.973,0:04:52.240 So I may want to just pop into some [br]of these and see what is happening there. 0:04:52.240,0:04:55.769 You want to pay attention [br]to how many members 0:04:55.769,0:04:58.002 and how many posts are in there. 0:04:58.002,0:05:01.061 So there are some communities[br]that have a lot of members 0:05:01.061,0:05:03.629 but only a tiny bit of posts,[br]so there's a lot of people in here 0:05:03.629,0:05:05.940 but not a lot of activity happening. 0:05:05.940,0:05:08.631 I would maybe prefer to be in one[br]that has a lot of members 0:05:08.631,0:05:11.807 but also has a lot of activity happening. 0:05:11.807,0:05:15.037 And you can go into a community[br]and take a look at the kinds of posts 0:05:15.037,0:05:17.436 that are being shared there[br]and see if its something 0:05:17.436,0:05:19.844 that is interesting to you. 0:05:19.844,0:05:22.300 If it is, you can just click on the [br]community, go into the community 0:05:22.300,0:05:26.286 and then you can click this button[br]to join the community. 0:05:26.286,0:05:29.360 Now some communities you can join[br]without having to ask, 0:05:29.360,0:05:32.438 but in some communities, [br]the moderators have turned on a feature 0:05:32.438,0:05:36.712 that makes them, gives them permission[br]to mod..., to control who joins.[br] 0:05:36.712,0:05:43.979 So you may see that button say[br]"ask to join" or it may just say "join." 0:05:43.979,0:05:46.901 Here is a way you can find some[br]communities 0:05:46.901,0:05:50.192 if you are looking for communities[br]for something specific. 0:05:50.192,0:05:53.027 You can do a search here in the[br]Google Plus search bar. 0:05:53.027,0:05:55.834 So here at the top of my [br]Google Plus profile I can search 0:05:55.834,0:05:57.375 for something here. 0:05:57.375,0:06:00.180 Let's say you are interested in[br]using Chrome Books. 0:06:00.180,0:06:02.507 So I'm going to do a search [br]for Chrome Book 0:06:02.507,0:06:05.071 and its going to search through[br]everything on Google Plus 0:06:05.071,0:06:07.700 but if I'm just looking for a [br]community, 0:06:07.700,0:06:11.078 I'm going to click here on[br]communities and its going to find for me 0:06:11.078,0:06:15.742 all the communities that have[br]anything to do with Chrome Book. 0:06:15.742,0:06:18.963 And you can see there are quite a few.[br]So I may want to go into some of these 0:06:18.963,0:06:23.687 and see which ones of these are active. [br]This one looks like its pretty active. 0:06:23.687,0:06:26.711 So I'm going to take a look at that [br]community and see what kinds 0:06:26.711,0:06:28.843 of resources and posts [br]are being shared 0:06:28.843,0:06:31.995 and if there is something great[br]happening in that community 0:06:31.995,0:06:35.087 that you want to be a part of [br]you can just join the community. 0:06:35.087,0:06:37.440 So this one you don't have to[br]get permission to join. 0:06:37.440,0:06:40.006 You can just join. 0:06:40.006,0:06:43.110 Then another thing you can do [br]after you join a community 0:06:43.110,0:06:46.742 is you can turn notifications on[br]if you would like to be notified 0:06:46.742,0:06:49.781 whenever someone makes [br]a new post. 0:06:49.781,0:06:53.992 Now this is a great thing in most cases[br]because you don't have to remember 0:06:53.992,0:06:57.833 to keep checking the community [br]to see if there has been new activity. 0:06:57.833,0:07:00.928 Right here it tells me that I have [br]notifications "off" but if I turn 0:07:00.928,0:07:05.202 notifications on just by clicking here,[br]I can toggle this on and off 0:07:05.202,0:07:11.337 and now I'll get a little notification [br]up here in my little notification space. 0:07:11.337,0:07:14.971 I'll get a notification when something[br]new has been posted here. 0:07:14.971,0:07:19.680 So that way I wouldn't have to come[br]back and check on this every so often. 0:07:19.680,0:07:23.148 I'm going to keep notifications off[br]because this is a pretty active community 0:07:23.148,0:07:26.006 and I would be getting quite [br]a few notification. 0:07:26.006,0:07:29.107 You can see there have been [br]several posts just this afternoon. 0:07:29.107,0:07:31.528 I don't want all those notifications 0:07:31.528,0:07:33.905 but you may have communities[br]you do want notifications on, 0:07:33.905,0:07:37.271 for example, this community for a course[br]I'm teaching this semester, 0:07:37.271,0:07:40.973 I have notification on because I want to [br]know when one of my students 0:07:40.973,0:07:44.997 posts a question or shares a resource[br]or posts an assignment 0:07:44.997,0:07:47.305 or something like that. 0:07:47.305,0:07:49.245 That's all about [br]finding communities, 0:07:49.245,0:07:51.639 and joining communities,[br]and using communities. 0:07:51.639,0:07:53.971 If you wanted to create your [br]own community, 0:07:53.971,0:07:56.382 this is where you would go to do that. 0:07:56.382,0:07:58.300 So you click "create community" and [br]you can choose 0:07:58.300,0:08:00.805 whether it is a private community[br]or a public community. 0:08:00.805,0:08:04.493 Now a public community will allow[br]anyone in the world to join. 0:08:04.493,0:08:09.358 A private community means that [br]you can only invite specific folks. 0:08:09.358,0:08:13.940 So lets say we're going to do[br]a public community 0:08:13.940,0:08:19.776 and here is where you can choose[br]where you can control people who join. 0:08:19.776,0:08:21.932 So you can either say,[br]no, anybody can join 0:08:21.932,0:08:26.453 or yes, people can ask you to join, but[br]then you have to approve their joining. 0:08:26.453,0:08:29.940 So I'm just making a fake community[br]called, "demo." 0:08:29.940,0:08:32.807 Its going to show you [br]if there's anything similar already 0:08:32.807,0:08:35.700 because you may be starting [br]to create a community and realize 0:08:35.700,0:08:38.775 oh, there is already a community[br]like that. 0:08:38.775,0:08:41.674 Then you would just create your own[br]and that community would be 0:08:41.674,0:08:44.935 an actual community. Then you can [br]share that link with other people 0:08:44.935,0:08:48.571 and invite specific people [br]to your community. 0:08:48.571,0:08:51.940 So I encourage you now to go [br]browse some existing communities 0:08:51.940,0:08:56.655 find one to join or find several[br]and create your own and invite 0:08:56.655,0:08:59.409 people to that community.[br] 0:08:59.409,0:09:00.479 So go ahead and get Googling.