Google Plus

Has Google+ been added to your daily morning websites yet? The four new features unveiled this week on the social network are unlike anything we've seen on other sites and may have you visiting the site much more often. Improved photo editing and a dashboard of network-wide trending posts are among the newest updates.

• Google+ Creative Kit — Google+ already has basic crop and editing tools to use when uploading photos to the site. The in-site customization is now going a few steps farther with filters, a sharpness tool, and the ability to add text directly to an image. Leading up to Halloween, spooky special effects can also be added to photos uploaded to the site. If those seasonal photos are tagged with #gplushalloween, they'll be submitted to a celebrity panel who will publicly choose their favorites next week.
• What's Hot on Google+ — Google reports that over 1 billion posts are shared each day on Google+. That staggering amount of content inspired them to create What's Hot so that users can see the topics gaining buzz around the world, not just within their immediate community.The feature shows up in the main stream underneath the newest posts from people in your circles. The What's Hot stream is also accessible on its own by clicking "What's Hot" in the left column.

Check out the other new features now available on Google+.

Google + is still fairly new to the social networking masses, and if you're dabbling in the fresh waters, then you could probably use a little guidance. Here, a few tips to help make your experience easy, seamless, and fun.

• Beginners guide to Google+ — Before you get too excited, flip through this step-by-step guide that teaches you all the basics about the social network.
• Google+ for iPhone — Go mobile with this Google+ iPhone app that lets you access your circles, stream, and sparks all on your iOS device.
• Disable Instant Upload — In case you didn't know, the default Google+ application settings on an Android phone will automatically upload new photos and videos to a Google+ album, but the photos and the album itself will remain private until you sign into Google+ and specify which images you want to share with select circles. If you still don't want your pics auto uploaded to the cloud, this tip will show you how to switch off the feature.
• Publish Sync for Chrome — If you're a Chrome user, there's a new extension called PublishSync that will allow you to sync your Google+ updates with other social network accounts like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others, letting you publish one update to multiple accounts.
• Quickly scroll to the top of the page — Want to jump back up to the top of the page after scrolling down through lots of Google+ updates? Just click on the black nav bar to jump to the top of your profile page. It's sure to be an awesome time-saver for you and might also prevent you from getting blisters on your scrolling finger.
• Get Gmail notifications in Google+ — The Chrome extension Native Gmail For Google+ allows you to get a second notification box (alongside your Google+ notification box) to see when you have incoming Gmails in your inbox. Sweet!

Did you know you can quickly scroll to the top of your Google+ stream just by clicking on the black nav bar that resides above your profile? iPhone users should already be familiar with this handy feature that pops them back to the top of a web page, app, email inbox, and more, but Google has added the same feature into its Google+ profiles. Obviously, it's simple to use — just click on the black nav bar to jump to the top of your profile page. It's sure to be an awesome time-saver for you and might also prevent you from getting blisters on your scrolling finger.

Are you neglecting your Twitter and Facebook accounts in favor of Google+ these days? Although some tech nerds consider crossposting on social network accounts to be a faux pas, the truth is it saves time. If you're a Chrome user, there's a new extension called PublishSync that will allow you to sync your Google+ updates with other social network accounts.

Just install the extension in Chrome, and PublishSync can automatically post your update to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Digg, and others. Good news is that you can choose which networks you'd like to publish each post to, so you can change things up instead of sharing every single Google+ post to all of your networks every time (which can get really annoying for people who follow multiple accounts).

Do you sync up your social networks?

A home cook recently discovered that his passion for creating delicious meals could easily be taught to others through his new Google+ account, and now he's teaching cooking classes three times a week on the social network.

The video conferencing feature on Google+, called Hangout, is a simple way of interacting with multiple friends online in real time. Friends can see that you're in Hangout on the news stream and join in on the fun. Like the cooking class example, hangouts can be used for more than just a simple video chat, and we've nailed down five uses that will have you hanging out all day.

• Study groups — Explain to peers how you got the right answer to question seven.
• Book clubs — Great for long-distance friends to discuss the Hunger Games series.
• Concerts — Can't make it to a friend's appearance at open mic night? She can perform the latest song in a Hangout for others who missed the show.
• Learn a hobby — YouTube has plenty of tutorials to learn a new hobby, but finding a friend that can patiently explain and then watch you attempt to knit will help you become a pro.
• Family reunions — Get all the aunts, uncles, and cousins to join a hangout before the hectic holiday season.

What fun ways have you used Hangouts?

To those that have yet to find a reason to use Google+, it's now a great way to discover talented artists. Aaron Wood shared these propaganda-style images of Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ on his Google+ account and has received over 3,000 comments since posting the work four days ago.

Each individual social network image is available for purchase through Aaron's Etsy store, though they keep flying off the virtual shelves.

There's now a new social media platform that you can add to your job-hunting arsenal: Google+. Since this medium is still in its early stages, you'll probably get more exposure once you start leveraging it for your job search. Mashable came up with a bunch of great tips to using Google+ to find yourself a job:

• Be seen and heard: Fill out your profile with a job-hunting angle in mind and start interacting with people and let them know you're looking for employment. Feel free to post it in your profile or even an update, but make sure you're doing it in a creative way and not spamming people. Make it cute, fun, and succinct and figure out a way to
• Follow people in your industry: Google+ is a pretty open network right now, and the privacy settings are more reminiscent of Twitter rather than Facebook. Here's your chance to mix around with people in your industry and to make new friends. Start making a list of people to befriend and look them up on Google+.
• Share content: Many experts provide a valuable service of sharing great and unique content on social media outlets. Try doing the same and try to stick to a niche topic.
• Be careful of which circles you're posting to: Remember to filter your posts and be sure to censor your private thoughts from those in your professional circle.

iPhone users rejoice: the official free Google+ app is now available in the iTunes App Store! The app, which works for all iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4 users running iOS 3.1 or later, allows you to see and add to your stream; send group texts with Huddle; and view, edit, and add Circles, so you can ditch the web app you've been using for the past few weeks in favor of a dedicated iOS app.