Why would Google+ send posts as 'messages' to people outside of your circles?
-
A day ago I uploaded a photo of a US Navy ship mooring at Bell Harbor marina, which is across from my office (near the conference center site of SMX Advanced Seattle). A rude comment was posted by someone from Germany accusing me of sending this to them personally, offended because he's anti-military: "Don't spam people pal." I blocked him.
So, since it was uploaded to my public stream and shared to my circles, I have no explanation as to how this could happen. If someone in my circles shared it to him, I suppose it could look like I sent it to him, but I haven't seen that happen before. Anyone else see behavior like this?
UPDATE: because this person was within one of the circles to whom I shared this photo, he received a notification that I'd shared it "directly" with him. See comment below.
-
Thanks for adding this information! I had wondered why people I hardly knew were sharing something "directly" with me.
-
As I hadn't had a response I neglected to add this update.
Within Google+, if you share to specific circles, anyone that you've added to that circle will receive the message "John Doe shared this directly with you."
I had shared the aforementioned waterfront photo to my "inbound marketers" circle, as almost all of them are were SMX Advanced attendees, and thus knew the adjacent Bell Harbor Marina by the conference center. The individual who whined that I was "spamming" him received a + notification that I shared this photo "directly" with him, although in reality it was to my circle.
It wasn't clear what had happened at first because I am not in his circles, though I had added him to the inbound marketers circle (he's definitely out now).
If you've set your settings up so that you'll receive no notifications from people you haven't added to circles, you won't see messages like this. It's interesting to note that if you send messages to people you've added to circles, they will see the message that it was shared directly with them. **I think this is a bad user experience in Google+, as it creates the impression that a message actually sent to a group/circle, was sent individually. **
The attached image shows a person who sent a message to her Social Media circle (of about 300 people), but looking at the verbiage "Shared a post directly with you," one might think it was a direct individual ping.
-
Hi Brian,
The popup where you choose who to share with when posting on Google+ has an option that says something like "email this post to X people not using Google+" ..it is usually checked by default on mine. Maybe this has something to do with it?
Sha
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Will the articles or blog-posts will get more visibility and do better in ranking by publishing them in different formats like videos?
Hi all, I just wonder how much the different formats of an actual content will bring more ranking improvement or visibility for an article or blog-post or landing page. If a topic has been created in video and slides, will that helps landing page at Google technically? Thanks
Social Media | | vtmoz0 -
Google Brand Page Verification
I have a website, for that i have created a Brand page on Google plus. So please tell me that: Is brand page need any verification like Google my business page or not..?? And if Yes then what will be steps to get verified..?
Social Media | | 1akal0 -
700+ Genuine likes in 4 Days on a new Site - Does it risk Google Spam?
Hi my site www.dealwithautism.com is a brand new site - only 2 months old and since Autism is a fairly competitive niche, id do not get more than 30 impression and 4-5 clicks for my 40+ pages on Google. However, recently I have become very active in the social platforms, so over the last week I am getting 200+ pageviews just from Facebook and Twitter, that not bad., I have recently created a post 21 apps for Autism https://www.dealwithautism.com/top-apps-for-autism/ Suddenly this post is generating a lot of interest and in the last 4 days I have received as many as 700+ likes (purely editorially) and it is growing in terms of 100s per day. How I acquired them? Well, firstly I believe it is a very good post. Secondly, I selected one of the Apps in the list as 5 star and editor's choice! Then twitted and Fb mentioned to that company on Twitter and Facebook. They returned the favour by re-tweeting and since they have tens of thousands of followers, my page immediately got traction. My question is this: Do I need to worry about Google turning a suspicious eye on me for being a new site getting too many social signals in too short time? Should I pull out the Like buttons for a while from my site to slow things down?? I am new to web development and not fully sure how Google would recognize social spam.
Social Media | | DealWithAutism1 -
Help to raise a charity's Face book profile to raise funds
Hi, I am new here and its my first question. I am helping a charity on pro-bono basis on their SEO. They do a great job by looking after terminally ill children with no costs to parents. 60% of their funding is through various fund raising events. They know some well known actors and sports personality who may be willing to help. They have asked my to look at their Facebook page and help to raise its profile and no of likes increase interaction with donors & general public and most importantly use it to raise funds Any ideas/ help/suggestions will be really appreciated. Thank you, Syed
Social Media | | Syed_I0 -
Linking Facebook activity and your post
Hi everyone, I'm sure you know how images tend to do better in Facebook. The problem is, if I post an image on Facebook, and link to a blog post in the comment of that image, the activity of that Facebook post wouldn't be pulled into the blog post. That is, the blog would show 1 "like" when the post on Facebook is actually getting 150 "likes". That wouldn't be the case if I posted a link instead of an image. Does anyone know of a work-around? Thanks.
Social Media | | andrep0 -
Google+ Local and Google Places?
Hey Everyone, I've been out of the game for a few months, and I am amazed at how much I've missed! I'm trying to wrap my head around the difference between Google+, Google+ Local, and Google Places - can anyone help? My client has a Google+ account and manages multiple businesses under Google Places. I can't seem to get google to connect the two though (the account login is the same). I know Google is still working on migrating Google Places to Google+ Local, so here's my question: How do I obtain ownership of my Google Places listings in Google+ Local? I already have ownership of the Google Places listings, but when I log into the Google+ account there is no proof of ownership. I can add the related Google+ Local locations to my "Pages" in Google+, but it lists me as a manager and not an owner. My client has been penalized by Google in the past (not my doing, but unfortunately something I now have to deal with), so I want to tread lightly as I optimize his local listings. Any assistance to help me figure this out is greatly appreciated! Also, if anyone knows of a good book on Google+ Local for business owners I would love the referral! Thanks!
Social Media | | Level2Designs0 -
Ways to get the most out of your content/blog posts?
I've been working on posting more content on my blog and now I need a workflow to help me get more exposure on my posts. Currently this is what I'm doing: 1- Write Post 2- Add it to my favorites in Stumbled Upon 3- Post it to Facebook 4- Pin it in Pinterest I would love some more ideas. My goal at this point is to gain greater web exposure. I would love to be they type of blog others actively follow.
Social Media | | continuumphoto0 -
Are Facebook page updates indexed in Google search?
I seem to remember an update where Google said it was going to include Facebook page updates into Google search, but perhaps that was a deal that fell through? If updates ARE appearing in Gooogle search, how do I troubleshoot a Facebook page where they are not?
Social Media | | KatherineWatierOng0