Do you have a love/hate relationship with Google+? Or maybe one of apathy?

On a given day, any of those descriptions fits my experience with the social media platform.

To be fair, the problem is more mine than the structure of Google+.

I think.

Google+ Learning Curve

Google+ was on my list of learning topics back in 2011. Somehow it has never received my full attention.

Frankly, I get tired of all the new platforms. However, I do believe as writer friend Sharon Hurley Hall aptly explains, Google+ isn’t going away. Apparently, Forbes is not so sure.

Slowly, I increased my use of the platform. I do like the clean look of Google+.

I hope through the next few posts (and your input) that I can fold Google+ into my social media strategy.

Like I always do, I start with baby steps. I simply cannot handle learning all there is in one easy setting. Is there such a thing as one easy setting?

I started with my YouTube connection to Google+. A fine example of me messing up what I wanted to do.

YouTube Fiasco

A while back (who remembers exactly when?), Google forced my hand on tying my YouTube account to my Google+ account.

Okay, so maybe it isn’t big, bad Google’s fault, but we do like to blame them, don’t we?

The truth is it was more about my laziness and not wanting to deal with the issue.

The order of events is somewhat hazy. I blame it on the glazing over of my eyes when it comes to learning a new social media platform. The following is more or less what happened.

1. My YouTube account was set up under Simply stated business
2. I set up a Google+ business page (something I regretted – more on that later)
3. Google commandeered my sign-in to YouTube
4. I had the option of tying my YouTube account to my Google+ business page
5. I stupidly accepted

The stupid choice was mine. The option may (and probably does) work for other businesses. So, why was that a problem?

High Maintenance

I make no secret of the fact that I don’t follow the crowd. If everyone is doing something, I will probably do the opposite. It’s that middle child of seven syndrome.

What possessed me to create a Google+ business page in the first place − especially without fully exploring my options − I have no idea. All I know is there was no way I was going to start maintaining two Google+ pages. My personal page and a business one.

So delete the business page, right? Simple. After all, I had nothing much on it − except my YouTube videos.

Therein lies the problem.

If I deleted my business page, my YouTube videos go with them. Granted, it’s not a huge problem. I don’t have very many videos but the few I have are tied to posts.

There’s the hassle of broken links, re-uploading, changing the links, and in the words of the great Yul Brynner in the King and I ~

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera

I am launching a new site and want to try Google+ Hangouts with videos. So more YouTube is in my future. How could I get YouTube reconnected with my personal page?

Google to the Rescue

I don’t know about you but my experience with getting help from Google is like throwing a pebble in the ocean and expecting it to come back to you.

I did not have much faith in getting my problem resolved. I mentally prepared myself for the laborious task of downloading videos to my hard drive, having them deleted from YouTube, re-uploading − et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I started at this Help page. The statement: If you connected your channel to Google+ over 14 days ago, try (my emphasis) submitting the form via the link below was not encouraging. But, hey, worth a shot.

I am happy to report that Google support did respond (we exchanged a few emails) and they did resolve my problem.

Hallelujah!

• My YouTube account is connected to my Google+ personal page
• My business page is deleted without deleting existing videos

Now on to the next phase of my Google+ education. I still have questions about the YouTube connection.

One thing I don’t like is I can’t have separate YouTube accounts (I don’t think).

I tried in the past to have them under separate email accounts so I could keep business and personal videos separate.Somewhere along the way, they were merged. Probably another mess-up on my part.

For you Google/YouTube aficionados, is there a way to keep different accounts on both platforms?

• I’d like to have videos for this blog
• And a separate platform for my new blog
• They have very different themes

Any suggestions for keeping them separate? Maybe different video platforms. All suggestions welcomed.

Are you an active Google+ user?

How do you like it?

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The next several posts turn our attention to various social media platforms. I would love to hear your point of view. What are your favorite platforms and why?