Google Plus Collections Guide

Google may have the world’s most popular search engine on its bandwagon, but it certainly hasn’t found great success with its social platform Google Plus. Google’s strategy of aping Facebook did not find favor with its users and amidst plenty of rumors about its eventual demise, Google has attempted yet another comeback strategy -  this time going for a Pinterest-styled sharing concept. The new feature is called Google Plus Collections. For anyone who hasn't checked it out yet, here's all the information you need to get started.

Grouping Posts by Topic

The core idea behind Google Plus Collections is to group posts by topic in collections (or what we call boards in Pinterest). These collections can be shared publicly, privately or only with specific individuals. Currently, you can have up to a maximum of 50 collections.

You can create your own collections and find and follow other people and collections. The posts in the collections that you follow will become available on your Home stream with a link to go directly to the collection if you want to. With Google Plus Collections, the company is hoping that users will find more valid (targeted) reasons for engagement.

Collections will be available on Android devices as well as the web, but iOS users will have to wait a bit longer to check it out.

Google Plus Collections - What's In It For You

How to Get Started with Google Plus Collections

1. Login to your Google+ account.

2. Click the Home button and from the drop-down select Collections.

On the Home page, you will find the Create a new collection button as well as all the collections you follow and don't.  You can browse the various collections, follow ones you like, and unfollow ones that you think are irrelevant.

How to Create a Google Plus Collection On the Web

1. Login to Google+ and click the Home button.

2. Select Collections.

3. On the Collections home page, click Create a collection.

4. Enter a name for your collection and choose who it should be visible to.

How to Create a Google Plus Collection On Your Android

If you are doing this on your Android:

1. Tap the Home button and then tap Collections.

2. Tap Create collection.

3. Enter a name for your collection and choose who it should be visible to.

One point to note when creating collections is that you cannot change the visibility options once you create your collection. If however, your collection is visible to a Circle, you can change the visibility options for that circle accordingly. By default, anyone who has you in their Circles will automatically follow your newly created collections, depending on the collection’s privacy settings.

Once you have created your collection you can customize it further. Click Customize to add a cool cover image and a border color.

Adding Posts to a Collection

To add a new post to a Collection, you simply share the post (as you would normally do), only this time selecting the name of the Collection to share to. You can also add older posts to a collection, but this has to be done manually.

You can also move posts from your Profile page to a collection. Just select the drop down arrow from the top of the card and select Move post to collection.

Following Google Plus Connections

By default, you are autotmatically following all the collections of users who you are already following. Once you follow a collection, you can choose to receive notifications so you don't miss out on any updates. To do this just click the name of the collection and once inside click the Cog icon below the cover image. Then hit the Notifications Off switch.

Final Thoughts

That's a quick roundup of Google Plus Collections and how you can set it up and get going. What is your experience with Google's latest feature update? Do you think the changes will offer a better user experience or do you still think the platform needs a complete overhaul?