I’m going to assume you’ve already logged into Google+ and know the basic layout. Please read all the tips before dismissing them individually.

1) Forget reading the Stream. The Stream is why you want to leave Facebook. It’s a firehose five feet from your face. Unless you’ve limited your circle to the three friends in your cell, the Stream is simply too much information to swallow.

2a) You’re already worried you’ll add too many to your Circles. Jump in. This isn’t your sewing circle. Forget Dunbar’s Number. Google+ is not about staying close to your tribe. Google+ is a vast library where you get to read delightful autobiographies still in progress.

2b) On the other hand, don’t add every person Google suggests. Show some sense. I could be one of those suggestions and where would that get you? Take a look at a profile before you add the person.

-

4) Keep. Each. Circle. Underpopulated. Each time you check out Google+ you’re going to dip into a circle or two and catch up on a couple of days worth of posts. You don’t want to see you’ve missed 127 posts each with 42 witty, but never pithy, comments.

5) Don’t Round Up the Usual Suspects. I know it is is beta and you’re looking for activity, but use this opportunity to not follow Ashton Krutcher, Chris Prillio or Robert Scoble. You’ll have plenty of time to follow them after this mad rush. You won’t miss much of what they say about Google+. You’ll catch their pearls of wisdom in your circle: Folks Who Regurgitate the Experts.

6) Listen. Follow more than who follow you.

7) Share just 10% of what you read. It really isn’t all good. Remember Sturgeon’s Law.
+1 is your bookmark friend. It’s your bookie tip. It’s a “ditto” when you just don’t feel a need to add anything. Some are just for those in Google+ and some are more public. They’re never completely private. Here’s how to display your +1 list on your Google Profile.

9) Read the Help File. Either they thought of your question or you’ve found a bug. (Speaking of bugs…expect them. You’re there for the adventure.)

10) Here is your first link: G+ Account Settings. Turn off unneeded notifications. Visit G+ a couple of times a day. You won’t miss anything important.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss adding your Twitter and Facebook feeds to Google+ (Hint: Don’t cross the streams.)

Bonus: Did you set up one of those nice Google Profile short URLs? It now points to your Google+ public posts: http://profiles.google.com/chuckwelch

…to be continued….

CC image credit: Joyce Seitzinger

Downtown at City Hall on the 16th of November from 6-8pm, I’m leading a Foursquare free-for-all. Sponsored by the kind folks at Dixieland and the Downtown Lakeland Partnership.

Did I mention “free?”

We’ll spend an hour on Foursquare and other business related social media. Then bring your questions and concerns for the hour open Q&A.

0) Before You Start

You’ll need to know what URL you’d like to use, I always suggest writers use their own names. You are your brand. However, some like to set up site names by the topic. To make it easier later, write down five URLs you’d like to use. In step one, you’ll quickly find if those URLs are available.

You’re going to need a credit card or Paypal account to pay for the domain and the host. Simple definitions? The DOMAIN is the name of your site. You own it and can assign it to a HOST which is the company that “hosts” the files that make up your web site.

OK, close the door to your office to keep out inquisitive editors….

1) Buy Your Domain

Your domain is your identity on the Internet. Pick wisely. You don’t want to keep changing it. I suggest Godaddy.com as the place to purchase your domain. I’ve used them for years. They are fairly easy to use, don’t try to upsell more than anyone else and their prices are competitive — figure about $12 a year to buy your domain name.

At this point I’m going to send you to someone who already has written a fine Godaddy tutorial. (Why reinvent the…you know the cliché.) Head over to Murlu.com and follow How to Register a Domain With Godaddy. Don’t be long, I’ll go make a cup of tea.

2a) Find a Host

That didn’t take long. I know Murlu is a bit concerned with something called SEO and niche blogging, but don’t concern yourself with that…yet. Let’s find a place to host the web site you’re going to create.

I use a pair of hosts. One is someone I started using in the mid-90s and I keep ChuckWelch.com there. However, it’s one-person operation, and while good, I don’t send people there for their first domain. It’s just a bit too hands-on for new users. Ask me about it when you’re ready to run your 4th site.

I recommend Dreamhost.com for new domain owners. Almost everything about it is geared for the new user. Most of what you’ll need to do has a “one-click install.” That sounds fun, doesn’t it?

Ok, grab your credit card. Dreamhost has a million plans and near holidays has some crazy cheap offers. (I joined for a 90% discount one New Year’s Eve. No comments about my sad lonely life please.) Expect about $9 a month for hosting and you should go ahead and pay one or two years ahead.

There are two methods to signing up at Dreamhost:

a) Follow this link: Disclosure: I’ll make $97 when you pay for your hosting.

b) Email me at poynter [at] lakelandlocal.com . The first five classmates who do will get a special link and code and you’ll get $15 off a 1-year signup or $100 off a 2-year signup and I’ll get $97 for referring you.

I don’t send people to Dreamhost because I make $97. I send them there because it works, I use it and when people call me for free advice I don’t have to learn the system to help them out.

Here’s a video that explains the sign-up process:

2b) Set up Your Domain

I found a good video to set up your first Domain and FTP user. (Don’t worry about the latter…you won’t need to know that term until you become familiar with the term. Recursive, isn’t it?)

2c) Change Your Name Server at Godaddy

The Internet is simply a web of connected computers. As it was created by nerds, the Internet computers are numbered like 127.13.8.69. Those are called IP Addresses. Rather than forcing all of us to use IP addresses, we use common names (URLs) to find the Internet machines — like ChuckWelch.com. To map the common names to the proper IP address, special computers simply hold address books called Name Servers. These Name Servers point each common name to their particular computer. For example, you type in ChuckWelch.com in your browser, and the Name server directs your browser to 75.125.245.26, a machine in Great Britain that holds the page your’re reading right now. Or at least, was reading until I started explaining Name Servers.

But why is this important?!

Well, now that you plan to host your web site at Dreamhost, you have to go back to Godaddy and let them know to point your new Domain name to Dreamhost. When you set up your domain, Dreamhost sent you an email telling you to change your nameservers to something like ns1.dreamhost.com , ns2.dreamhost.com and ns3.dreamhost.com. (Yes, there are three. The Internet is built on redundancy.)

So, now you want to go to Godaddy and set your Name Servers.

3) Set Up WordPress

You’ve got your Domain, your Host and now you need a simple method to add your information to the Internet so you can change the world. Or make cash. Or attract a mate, seriously, it doesn’t matter what you plan to do…Wordpress is a incredibly simple way to do it. If you’ve ever used Atex or Word, you can use WordPress.

Again, why reinvent…blah, blah. Just go watch the video One-Click Self-Installation of WordPress with DreamHost.

That’s it. You’re now a Publisher.

Log in to your WordPress. Look at the Dashboard. Write your first post…

That’s it. We’ll talk about the look of your site next week. If you’d like to know more, leave me a comment, catch me on Twitter at @chuckwelch or on Facebook.

I don’t work for The Man (or The Woman for that matter.) Actually, I do very little for pay.

Five years ago my wife and I decided to change our lives. We cut down, cut back, and cut away. We moved to Lakeland, Florida so she could continue her career and I could end mine.

Yes, I became a “stay-at-home Dad.” That lasted a few months. Lovely weeks of going to Disney with my four-year-old. Until Mickey started calling us by name.

Then my daughter school. In response, I turned my “look what I found in my new home” site into Lakeland Local, a hyperlocal news site. (Basically, an old-fashioned weekly newspaper, but without the ink on your fingers.)

The same as a weekly, except for the ads. I didn’t want to sell ads…or find sponsors. I wrote all the content myself..and took the photos…and designed the layout. Again, not much different than the old-fashioned weekly.

Again, except the lack of advertising.

When I’d talk to Lakelanders, they’d ask how I supported the site. More importantly, how did I make money? I’d answer I didn’t and didn’t intend to. They’d shake their heads and wander off.

Really, it doesn’t cost a lot to maintain a small hyperlocal website. I can afford it because my family lives very small. More expensive was the time I took to make the site. That’s expensive. It’s limited. But I didn’t have to use any of it to sell ads.

I’m sure most people thought I’d eventually find a job and give up Lakeland Local. I fooled them. I didn’t look for a job. However, I did find other ways to give away my time. More importantly, I found others who wanted to volunteer their time to write and shoot photos or video.

Other people who had the passion for news without needing the cash for news.

Now, some volunteers came on hard and heavy and burned out. Some were steady and oh…so…slow you’re not sure if they’re still writing, but they would pop up with an article every Blue Moon. But most shoot photos or write regularly. To the point Lakeland Local survives and is now in Year Five.

Why all the background and talk of advertising?

I was recently lucky enough to be invited to a summit of hyperlocal publishers. In one room were about a hundred others crazy enough to believe hyperlocal news is one important piece of the future media. We spend a lot of time talking about what we did and how we did it; time talking about what worked and what didn’t.

Guess what I learned there?

It takes money to make hyperlocal work.

Well, at least that was the comment on the lips of most. Whether it was finding grants or sponsors or subscribers or advertisers…it was about finding money.

So, I came back and made a decision. Lakeland Local is going to start accepting advertising.

But, I have to do it my way.

We’ll only accept advertising from small, locally owned businesses. And each business has to make the ads in house. Oh, and it has to be one minute video or 30 second audio…no text.

And it’s free.

The only way I want to sell advertising for Lakeland Local is to give it away.

Are you a small Lakeland-based business? Do you need to find a way to let other Lakelanders know you’re out there?

Grab your Flip. Get your hair cut. Sweep up your front desk. Shoot a video.

Send it to me. I’ll promote your business. I want you to succeed and I’ll do it for free.

It’s about my passion for Lakeland. Not the cash.

May 12 for Social Media “Newbie’s” / May 20 for SM Veterans

Social media consultant and hyperlocal writer Chuck Welch ( Lakeland Local and Metro i4 News) has graciously offered to conduct two professional development sessions in May. Both will be held at the new campus of Webster University and will take place from 8 a.m. – 10 a.m.

An ex-journalist, Chuck “retired” to Florida to concentrate on being a father, husband and writer. His online presence is primarily through as the editor, writer and occasional photographer for the news sites, Lakeland Local, a sampling of the news, concerns and events for Lakeland and Metro i4 News, which covers the Interstate 4 corridor. Both sites feature Chuck’s work and that of other contributors. Chuck is an early adopter of social media tools to discover their faults and best uses. He works to find tools best suited to connect citizens and small businesses to their community.

The first session will be Wednesday, May 12, for those with little to no social media experience. It will be an introduction to the concepts of social media as a viable tool for Public Relations professionals to use for their clients and/or employers. During class, participants will create a personal or hobby social media presence.

The second session will take place Thursday, May 20, for those with some social media experience and include an introduction to the five tools and one cardinal rule when using social media for clients/employers.

Webster University is located at 1479 Town Center Drive, Suite 202, at Lakeside Village. That’s the second floor of the building that houses New York and Company and Fish City Grille, around the fountain area. Parking is located at the rear of the building and the Hampton Inn.

Cost is $10 for FPRA members, $5 for students and $15 for non-members. Coffee, OJ and light snacks will be served. Reservations are on a first come, first served basis. Seating is limited for both sessions.

For reservations, email Jim Frankowiak, jim@cprg-web.com.

Our special thanks to Chuck and Webster University for this opportunity.

photo credit: Tom Hagerty

However, Facebook needs your information to lure advertisers. The more you share – 35, Single, Impulsive Buyer — the better they can direct ads you may fall for, er, enjoy. Now, Facebook will tell you they don’t give that information to advertisers. That doesn’t mean they don’t aggregate it to better deliver you those ads for dating services.

In response to this dilemma, Facebook recently made a mess of the privacy settings. Excuse me, they “improved user control.”

In this short article, I’ll point you to two easily set fixes to improve your privacy. After, you’ll want to spend some time reading the official Facebook explanation of privacy settings.

The Gist:

Most Facebook privacy options are now split to three setting Friends, Friends of Friends, Everyone. Each is less private that the one previous.

However, that’s just the basic options. In many cases you’ll find “Custom” is available. Always take a look at that option. “Custom” often allows a much finer control over what you allow to be visible. You can block specific friends or Lists from accessing or sharing parts of your profile.

Why bother making your settings more secure? Read an important pop-up from Facebook you might have missed:

# Information you choose to share with Everyone is available to everyone on the internet.
# When you visit a Facebook-enhanced application, it will be able to access your publicly available information, which includes Name, Profile Photo, Gender, Current City, Networks, Friend List, and Pages. This information is considered visible to Everyone.

Let’s fix those two privacy settings….

1) Log into Facebook. In the top bar, next to your name, is the Settings link. Hover over it, then choose Privacy Settings from the drop-down menu.

In the resulting screen choose Applications and Websites. Then look at the second option, What your friends can share about you.

Click “Edit Settings”. Facebook helpfully explains the reason for these options:

When your friend visits a Facebook-enhanced application or website, they may want to share certain information to make the experience more social. For example, a greeting card application may use your birthday information to prompt your friend to send a card. If your friend uses an application that you do not use, you can control what types of information the application can access. Please note that applications will always be able to access your publicly available information (Name, Profile Picture, Gender, Current City, Networks, Friend List, and Pages) and information that is visible to Everyone.

Uncheck what you don’t want shared. Note that any applications you use will ignore these settings for your friends. Even if you disallow Friends from letting applications see your birthday, if you let Birthday Card Sender know your birthday, it can access the information when your friend uses it to send you a card.

2) Again, hover over the top bar Settings link, then choose Privacy Settings from the drop-down menu. This time chose the Search option

This time Facebook pops up some damage control:

Worried about privacy? Your information is safe. There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile.

Remember the other Facebook pop-up? “Information you choose to share with Everyone is available to everyone on the internet.” Sounds like more than a name and a link to me.

There are two Search settings. Internally on the Facebook network, or externally through Bing and Google.

Under Facebook Search Results, your only options are: Friends, Friends of Friends, Everyone. If you want to make yourself easily found by other Facebook users, set to Everyone. If you’re satisfied with your current 1,154 friends, then set it to Friends.

The more important settings is the one below. Public Search Results (Allow search engines to access your publicly available info and any information visible to Everyone)

You’re either in or out with this setting. It defaults to Enabled, but if you want Facebook to be a private repository of your your love of LOL CATZ pics and Dick Chaney, then you might want to disable Search Engine Indexing.

If you don’t care who sees knows you collect Hello Kitty figures and AK-47s, then keep Search Engine Indexing enabled.

photo credit: Spencer E Holtaway

1) Close Tweetdeck, Seesmic, Hootsuite or any cell apps that check your Twitter account.

2) Log into Twitter directly on the Web at http://twitter.com

3) Open “Settings” (It is on the top menu.) (Update: It’s now selected by clicking the menu pull down next to your Twitter user name.)

4) See if you have a tab labeled “Connections.” (Update: the tab is now called “Applications.”) If so, click it and deauthorize everything you find there. If you want, note and reauthorize later.

5) Go to the “Password” tab and change your password. Make it longer and stronger.

6) Clear your Browser cache and exit.

7) Restart the browser and log back into Twitter. Make sure you no longer have a “Connections” tab under settings. Update: Make sure you no longer have any Applications enabled. If you do, go back to step 3 and repeat.

8] If you use Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Seesmic or other such third-party apps, you will need to give them the new password. I recommend you not do so for 24 hours. The fewer sites that have your password during this problem the better.

If someone you know is sending out Twitter spam, send them to this article.

PS: You can follow me at @chuckwelch for hyperlocal journalism information and get social media tips aimed at not-for-profits and small businesses at @sitesmith