Not that I don’t already have enough social media distraction in my life but I’ve recently been checking out Google Plus as an alternative (or at least additional) option to Facebook. As I’m sure all indie writers are now well aware, Facebook’s recent changes have essentially made any posts authors make to their Facebook “fan” pages virtually impossible to see unless the writer is also willing to pay to “boost this post” (in other words, pay for advertising). As an author relatively new to the game, this didn’t sit well with me after working to bring people to like my author Facebook “fan” page. After finally reaching a respectable number of likes on my page, I learned that only a tiny fraction of those people who like the page will actually see what I post there. The result being, I’ve found myself using Facebook less. I will say, though, at least I’m not alone. I had to laugh the other day when a writer mentioned that not even her husband saw her recent post on his timeline.

So, this made me curious about Google Plus. Yes, I’d heard the rumors about it being a ghost town but I figured I might as well check it out. I have to say, it really does offer some nice features such as creating circles allowing you control who sees what. Google Plus also offers quite a bit more control over what you post there, such as the ability to edit after the fact and use formatted text to make your posts look more professional. Now, it’s back to square one. After getting people to like my Facebook author page, how do I get them to follow on Google Plus? The major obstacle being that most of them are probably only on Facebook.

I’d love to hear from others on this. Are any of you other writers or readers checking out Google Plus too? What do you think?

By the way, here’s my page on Google Plus. I’d love it if you followed me there.