North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

On Sat, May 2, 2015 at 5:47 PM, fuwa fuwa usagi <fuwafuwausagi@muchomail.com
> wrote:

> Lawrence not Larry  :(
>
> Thanks, Fluffy, how did you know :-) never liked Larry. A 60's friend,
RIP, companion on the hot and dusty trail & Woody Guthrie admirer renamed
me Larindranarth Lama
for my interest in Tibetan culture and the Indian mystic Sri Ramakrishna.
Dirtfarmer suits me.

I expect this event will either increase traffic in and appreciation of
ibiblio's mailing lists (thanks ibiblio!) or drive more into the wasteland
of farcebook.
The nafex list uses Google Groups for archive mirroring and Sites for extra
list info and resources so I do not think we will be affected.
For those in the list who have Blogger blogs or Google+ pages here is an
update and good advice:

Google+ Is Being Phased Out Slowly. What This Means for Bloggers
http://awesomelytechie.com/google-plus-phased-out-bloggers/
Google may be slowly phasing out all its social media. This means that
Blogger and Google+ will go away. This will be good for Ello and those who
still run email-based (mailing lists) discussion forums. Non tech/industry
web forums will not likely fill the gap because of the interface.

For Ello users I am hoping Ello developers will implement new and useful
features that directly replace the most valuable ones in Google+. Topical
or group accounts are available. I grabbed @ellofarm.
Maybe someone here would start @ellofruitandnut.

Here's more:

Google+ Is Being Phased Out Slowly. What This Means for Bloggers
http://awesomelytechie.com/google-plus-phased-out-bloggers/

"Google Plus came on the scene, and we all collectively tilted our heads
trying to figure out what a circle had to do with anything.

Since its debut, early adopters have tried to convince us that Google+ was
fetch, especially for bloggers. However, the word on the Internet streets
is that the big G is phasing out its social network. This means Google+
will be dissolving into two separate entities: Google Photos and Google
Hangouts."

"1. Diversify your traffic sources

For the handful of you who have sung Google+’s praises at conferences and
to your blogger friends about how much traffic you get from it, it’s time
to spread your traffic around a bit. You should never rely on just one site
or one source of traffic for your blog anyway, especially one as
wishy-washy as Google, since it seems like they change the rules every
single day. Start ramping up your efforts and your presence on other social
networks. Some of the same people who you’ve connected with there are
elsewhere online too.

2. Migrate to WordPress

With the news of Google+ shutting down, there’s been chatter about what
Google product is next to get the axe. Good ol’ Blogger could very well be
the next to get the boot. You’ve probably been told that you need to move
over from Blogger to WordPress for a host of different reasons, but this
should light the fire under you.

As a newbie blogger, the Blogger platform is a great start. But if 2015 is
the year to step your game up, you have to move on to bigger and better
things. A self-hosted WordPress site allows you the freedom to do more with
your site than you could under Google’s strict terms of service and
platform limitations.

3. Export your data

Because I was never sold on Google+, I never truly built out an audience on
there. I posted links and a couple pictures, but that was it. However, if
you’ve been busy, be sure to export your assets. Although the network will
be splitting in two (Google Photos and Google Stream), if you plan on
learning the ropes for both, you may be fine. However, things like your
Insights for your brand’s page, you’ll want to capture those numbers so
that you still have something to show for future partnerships.

4. Use Google’s other products

The fact of that matter is, Google is still the Magic Konch of the
Internet. So just because this product is going away doesn’t mean you can’t
benefit from others. Become more familiar with Google Analytics, start
vlogging on YouTube, and play around with Hangouts. Those are products that
Google has an easier time convincing people that they work, because they
do. What you were achieving on this network, you can achieve on the other.

As of right now, there’s no definite shut down date for Google+. But you
should start your strategy to move on from it now rather than later. You
don’t want to be the one who gets dumped."

-- 
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
sites.google.com/site/avantgeared
plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
Ello: @ecoponderosa <https://ello.co/ecoponderosa>
Twitter: @ecoponderosa <https://twitter.com/ecoponderosa>
Reddit: ecoponderosa