Have you become hooked on Google Plus and have a tough time staying fully active on other social networks? Friends+Me is a cool app that will help you syndicate (repost) your public G+ posts to other networks to help you stay active across the board. This post takes a detailed look at Friends+Me and some of the ways to use it.
Update Sept 26, 2014: For the sake of complete transparency, I want to announce that, after almost one year as a Friends+Me user, I just canceled my payment subscription, removed my social profiles from the Friends+Me dashboard and deleted my Friends+Me account. I left Friends+Me because I believe it was time for me to slow down the automation and kick personal content sharing up a notch.
I think Friends+Me is a very cool automation tool, they’ve treated me well, and it does exactly what it was designed for. I’m not completely against automation, as long as it’s just used as a supplement to real interaction, sharing, and content curation. Friends+Me worked well for me but I believe I’m getting far better results now with the techniques I outlined in the following two posts:
Swayy – Great Content Discovery Tool For Your Buffer Schedule- Content Discovery Tools Part 2
In these two posts, you will find several other great tools for discovering and sharing content, along with a little automation as far as scheduling, that may take a little more time but definitely yields better results.
About Friends+Me
Friends+Me is the creation of Alois Bělaška and it’s a Google Plus app that takes your public Google Plus posts and sends them to other social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Tumblr). You have full control (See “Complete Sharing Control” below) of which networks all or a particular post is shared.
Who Can Benefit From Friends Plus Me?
It’s really personal preference on how much of same content we want to post on the various social media sites but this is certainly a time saver for those that want to post across the board on consistent basis and are short on time. Personally, I think reposts shouldn’t be the only thing we share on the other networks but I love to repost certain shares from G+.
A side benefit to Friends+Me is that it brings followers of your other networks to your Google plus account. Personally, I think Google Plus is becoming more and more important and most of us should be building an Empire there.
NOTE: One thing I’ve been doing for shares such as a blog post, where I want a direct link to that blog post, is including the link within the Google Plus post itself.
Supporting Social Networks
Friends Plus Me is still growing and Alois says he will continue adding destination networks to the app but, as of now, your public posts from your Google Plus profile or Google Plus Page/s (paid accts) can be shared to the following networks:
- Facebook profiles
- Facebook groups
- Facebook pages
- Twitter profiles
- Linkedin profiles
- Linkedin groups
- Linkedin pages
- Tumblr Blogs (Both public and private)
Facebook: Shared G+ posts behave differently depending on the post and destination social network. For example, if I share an image post on Google Plus, which is then reposted to Facebook, that shared post on Facebook will include a link to my G+ post. This is a fantastic way to build your Google Plus following!
Twitter: Now, on Twitter, that same image post (not mine but shared on G+) will include a link to the original image (The person I shared the image from) rather than my G+ post. This is fine but you should be aware of that in case the reason you sent it to Twitter was to bring tweeple back to your G+ profile or page. You’ll need to repost your own content from Google Plus to accomplish that.
Tumblr: Tumblr behaves differently as well by including links to both. If you click the picture, you will go to the original source the image was shared from. If you click the shortened click to read more link, you will be taken to your Google Plus post.
LinkedIn: Reposts to LinkedIn show nicely and link directly to the blog post.
Pricing
I’ve been using the free version of Friends+Me for about 3 months and just recently upgraded to the Standard version. I upgraded because I want to share more than 40 public posts and I want to do that from my Google Plus Page, not my personal G+profile.
Prices right now are:
- FREE – 40 reposts per month and shares from your Google Plus profile only.
- STANDARD: $29.99/yr or $2.99/Mo – Unlimited reposts, up to 3 Google+ Pages and Bit.ly support.
- UNLIMITED: $49.99/yr or $4.99/Mo – Unlimited reposts, unlimited Google+ Pages and Bit.ly support.
Complete Sharing (Reposting) Control
Okay, this is pretty cool; Friends Plus Me uses designated hashtags to control if and where your posts are reposted. There are standard hashtags already set to go and you can also create custom hashtags as well.
The first thing you should do is setup your default destination accounts. This will automatically repost to those default social networks every time you post publically, unless you use a hashtag to route differently.
I’ll attempt to include the control hashtags but it’s going to look more complicated than it really is. Keep in mind, the hashtags can be combined and it doesn’t matter in what order. For example, the hashtag #f is for Facebook and #t is for Twitter; so if I want to send to both Facebook and Twitter I simply add hashtag #ft or #tf. Now that post will be sent only to Facebook and Twitter and ignore the other connected networks, for that Google Plus post only.
Keep in mind, ONLY Public posts can be reposted. Private posts or those sent to only certain circles will not be reposted. Also, if you DO NOT want a public post shared to any network, you simply add the hashtag #ns or #noshare.
The current designated control hashtags are as follows:
- Twitter: #t
- LinkedIn: #l
- Facebook: #f
- Tumblr: #u
- Don’t Repost Anywhere: #ns or #noshare.
Custom Control Hashtags
As an example of how you can use the custom control hashtags; I setup a custom hashtag named #all that will send a public post to all of my connected networks, including my Facebook personal profile. I did this because I removed my public Facebook profile from my “Default destination accounts”.
Friends Plus Me Setup Tutorial (Video)
Scheduling Google Plus Posts
As of the time of this post, there’s no scheduling option in Friends+Me but the app creator Alois Bělaška says it is in his future plans.
There is a way to schedule Google Plus posts right now by using the free Chrome extension Do Share. One of the cool things about Do Share that once the extension is installed in your Chrome browser, you’ll be able not only to schedule your posts on Google+, you’ll also be able to schedule reshares of other people’s G+posts.
Note: I haven’t been able to get Do Share to upload an image when creating a post through the extension. It shows the image just fine on a reshare but simply won’t connect when adding an image of my own. This may have something to do with my system or setup because I haven’t seen where others are having the same issue.
Flashpaste Professional
I’ve been using Flashpaste Professional by Softvoile for years. Flashpaste is a simple text and clipboard utility that I use for everything from passwords to email signatures. I bring it up because it’s also very handy for things like the control hashtags used by Friends+Me. Actually, it’s handy for any network that uses hashtags but I’ll stick to the topic at hand for now. I have Flashpaste setup on all of my computers to bring up the text paste utility when I push “control” and “I”. I scroll to the hashtags folder, select the appropriate hashtag and I’m in business.
What Are Your Thoughts?
Are you strapped for time too? Are you hooked on Google Plus yet? Is Friends+Me something that could help you? I’d love to see your comments about Friends+Me of sharing content across the various social networks. Click the appropriate tab below to comment with WordPress, Facebook or Google Plus.
Resources:
Friends+Me
Friends+Me on Google Plus
Friends+Me Users G+ Community
Using Friends+Me To Repost From Google Plus (Hangout Video)
About Brian D. Hawkins
Hi Brian,
I was using an extension called Extended Share to do this but it stopped working months ago and I haven’t been able to find a replacement until now.
Thanks for sharing this and I will check it out and let you know how it goes. Right now I have my Facebook page and my second Twitter account connected but that might change.
Have a great day Brian. Chat soon!
Yeah, let me know Ileane. I’m still working to make sure posts and shares aren’t going out from multiple sources myself.
I looked into this service the other day. For someone who really spends a lot of time on G+ at the expense of other SM platforms, this could be a really great service. I’m not ready to go there yet though. I remember when using the #fb hashtag on Twitter would send your tweets to your FB account if they were linked, but I eventually realized they were different platforms to be used in different ways and I stopped linking the two. Right now, I am thinking the same about G+ and the other platforms. Thanks for sharing.
I don’t remember that Tom but it must have been cool. It’s true though, this is best for those that are active in Google Plus. 🙂
Well, this would be easy to use. But I don’t want to pay money for automation. It’s just not my thing. Google + does need some sort of self poster when you write a new blog post. I just go to my own share buttons on my blog and share them. It seems to work best for me. I just wish they had something that made submitting to social bookmarking sites like stumbleupon and reddit easier.
Sure Scott, I use those same button and Friends+Me sends that post off to other networks. With that said, it’s certainly not for everyone and it still takes work. Thanks for watching us live yesterday, it’s always nice to get your questions. 🙂
I love the idea Friends+Me is an app that will help me syndicate my Google Plus post. I will be using this tool! Thanks for sharing.
Let me know how it goes for you Nancy. Try the free version for a while so you can get a feel for how it’s going to work.
Thanks for an informative and valuable post, Brian. I learnt a lot. I regularly use several social networks but hadn’t been aware of Friends+Me. I will check out the free version and look at upgrading later.
All the best,
Susan
I hope it helps Susan, thanks.
Hey Brian, fabulous post on Friends plus dude………. It contains very valuable information as now a days being on social network is very important.
This is a nice tool. I don’t religiously use Google Plus as much as I do Facebook and Twitter, mostly due to the fact that Google’s policies on their content and not being able to integrate their API into adding comments into posts like Twitter and Facebook do through specific plugins.
I’d rather use some of the third party free syndication tools that do the job just as good. Dlvr.it actually seems cheaper then this and you can syndicate more than 40 posts in a month from several social networks.
Thanks Nile, Dlvr.it is a nice tool too. It pulls the feed from our blogs so it’s a bit different but it’s not cheaper from what I can see. Dlvr.it starts at $9.99/mo and Friends+Me at $2.99/mo. Dlvr.it probably is a better option for bloggers that don’t use G+ though.
Thanks for this great post. I use twitter and facebook a lot and social bookmarking sites too such as tumblr, stumbleupon and reddit. Nice if this tool include social bookmarking sites. But I would like to try on the free trial. 😉
That’s good Amelia , don’t forget they have the free version as well. 😉
Am afraid of using paid or premium upgrades to spread my content on different social networks,i prefer free ones because my blog is been hosted on blogger and you know they are very strict.nice write up!
I’m not sure how strict Blogger is Emmanuel but if fear played a role in my blog business decisions, I’d like to think I’d get out of that situation. Just my two cents. 😉
Nice tips. I am liking google + a lot these days and spend more time there than on fb or twitter. synchronizing the 3 is a great idea. Best of luck and keep up the good work!
The same here Melanie, I prefer Google Plus too.
I agree that Google+ is a growing entity and one that I need to spend more time on.
The Friends+Me app sounds like a good idea. Can you customise it with respect to choosing how much is shared, such as excerpts etc.?
You can control where it’s delivered Glenys and, because it’s being pulled from what you posted on Google Plus, you control the content.
Great opportunity to automate the process of providing new links through social media. It’s about time, I wonder if there is a plugin for WordPress that allows you to also make the process completely. What do you think? Great news Brian! Keep it up 🙂
There are a bunch of automation options Michał but, personally, I believe we need to limit that automation if we’re building a real blog; we need to connections and relationships.
Old habits die hard. Of course 6 years ago I did not have a facebook account, or did I? I had a blog that shared photos of my adorable son. Then I felt weird about that and just made a blog about something this is useful to me and hopefully other overwhelmed moms.
Now I have all kinds of accounts and spend quality time just trying to remember the passwords.
This looks pretty cool. I use Hootsuite but don’t like the way it looks when all the windows are open. I do not like a cluttered home or a cluttered screen. lol
Will check it out, already shared this post with a friend whos husband is moving into a brick and mortar store with a Scuba Company . Major leap, but oh boy it sounds fun to me.
A Scuba Company sounds cool to me too Pam, thanks for sharing. Friends+Me is just one option and Hootsuite is probably a nice tool too; I don’t use it enough myself. I certainly understand the overwhelmed feeling when all of the sudden we have another site like Facebook to deal with. 🙂
I have been posting to social media networks manually since i stated my blogging career but i now realise it is very difficult and ineffective. So, i’m sohappy for sharing this because it will be of great help to my socail media marketing. Thanks very much.
I don’t think it’s ineffective Oladayo, posting manually is probably the best option and we should still do some of the along with a little automation. We don’t want the exact same content on every network we use.
Mmm I’m thinking of giving this a go. So the shares are looked upon as genuine? And from individual accounts?
Hey Brian,
I am a fan of Friends+Me. I love this application and so I just became a Standard user. Have no need for Unlimited, but if you have a lot of social media to cover this is BEST.
BTW, I just subscribed to your email and also “liked” you on Facebook.
Anyway, you have done a very thorough walk-thru on your post. Will share this on GooglePlus. And oh, before I forgot, I also subscribed to your YouTube channel.
One thing though that I’d like to see on Friends+Me is the addition of Pinterest. But I know that this is still on BETA and I’m sure he will prolly add this later. Just talked to the admin on Friends+Me community and asked if they will actually do the “scheduling” on this instead of relying on DoShare. DoShare, by the way, is DOWN and I cannot schedule any images there…this is a BUMMER. And so I cannot wait to see his own “scheduling” button here on Friends+Me…he said YES in the future.
Angela
I’ve been using this tool for a month now and find it a absolute timesaver.. Also it has increased engagement across networks… Thank you keep up the good work.