My Massive Google+ Blogroll
After nearly eight years of being a Google+ user, the time to say goodbye to the social network is almost here. For those of you that never saw the value of Google+, I don't expect you to fully understand what hardcore users (I'm one of them) will be missing when the platform is no more. I think Mike Elgan's article probably describes Google+ best when he explains it as a place "where smart people gather for long, detailed and interesting conversations" without the streams being "algorithmically filtered" like most social networks. For me personally, I was able to meet a lot of people on Google+ that I wouldn't have known otherwise on "hit and run" sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
At this point and time, many of the Google+ refugees are scattering and fleeing to any number of social networks (many I never heard of until recently). Instead of following these former Google+ users to their social network of choice, I've decided to follow them via their blogs. I've spent the past week looking up the profiles of every G+ user I followed and note if they maintain a blog or personal website. I'm not sure how much value this effort will have to others, but in the end I did this for me. This is simply my way of saying goodbye to Google+ and recognizing my desire to stay connected with the G+ community through their blogs.
Attached below is a list of people I followed on Google+ that currently maintain a blog or personal website.
Influenced me via Google+
- Mike Allton - https://bloggingbrute.com/
- David Amerland - https://davidamerland.com
- John Battelle - https://battellemedia.com/
- Chris Brogan - https://chrisbrogan.com/
- Marques Brownlee - http://mkbhd.com/
- Jason Coward - http://jasoncoward.com/
- Matt Cutts - https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
- Felicia Day - http://feliciaday.com/
- Mike Elgan - https://elgan.com/
- Eli Fennell - http://elifennell.com/
- Seth Godin - https://seths.blog/
- Sammy Hagar - http://www.redrocker.com/
- Natsumi Hayashi - http://yowayowacamera.com/
- Alexander Howard - https://digiphile.info/
- Jeff Jarvis - https://buzzmachine.com/
- Guy Kawasaki - https://guykawasaki.com/
- Leo Laporte - https://leolaporte.com/
- Casey McKinnon - http://www.caseymckinnon.com/
- Matt Mullenweg - https://ma.tt/
- Tim O'Reilly - https://www.oreilly.com/tim/
- Phil Nickinson - http://www.moderndad.com/
- JR Raphael - https://www.jrstart.com/
- Kevin Rose - https://www.kevinrose.com/
- Darren Rouse - https://problogger.com/author/darren/
- Liz Strauss - https://www.successful-blog.com/
- Danny Sullivan - https://dannysullivan.com/
- Kas Thomas - http://asserttrue.blogspot.com/
- Steven Vaughan-Nichols - http://practical-tech.com/
- Sarah Rhea Werner - https://www.sarahwerner.com/
- Wil Wheaton - http://wilwheaton.net/
- Jason and Nikki Wynn - http://www.gonewiththewynns.com/
Content Management / Web Design / Content Strategy
- Joe Audette - https://www.joeaudette.com/
- Jared Bitner - http://jeradbitner.com/
- Steve Burge - https://steveburge.com/https://twitter.com/SusanBeebe
- Tony Byrne - https://www.realstorygroup.com/About/Team/3-Tony+Byrne
- Brian Clark - https://www.copyblogger.com/author/brian-clark/
- Patrick Coombe - https://patrickcoombe.com/
- Kristy Dalton - http://governmentsocialmedia.com/author/kristyfifelski/
- Dries Buytaert - https://dri.es/
- Brice Dunwoodie - https://www.cmswire.com/author/brice-dunwoodie/
- Andrew Eddie - http://eddify.me/
- Loz James - https://www.contentchampion.com/content-champion-blog/
- Liz Jostes - https://www.elirose.com/author/lizjostes/
- Jen Lampton - https://www.jenlampton.com/
- Reinis Fischer - https://www.reinisfischer.com/
- Lisa Frame - http://lisa-frame.com/
- Yoav Givati - http://yoavgivati.com/
- Ruud Hein - http://ruudhein.com/
- Mike Johnston - https://www.cmscritic.com/author/mjohnston/
- Greg Knaddison - https://www.knaddison.com/
- Boris Kraft - http://www.betterfasterbigger.com/
- Ivo Lukač - http://ilukac.com/
- Stacey MacNaught - https://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/blog/
- Scott Meyer - https://scottdavidmeyer.com/
- Ron Miller - https://byronmiller.typepad.com/byronmiller/
- Alexei Raiu - https://alexrayu.com/
- Alan Rosenblatt - https://medium.com/@DrDigiPol
- Jason Siegel - https://jasonandco.com/
- Jen Simmons - http://jensimmons.com/
- Ileane Smith - https://ileanesmith.com/
- Thomas Svenson - http://www.tsvenson.com/
- Ryan Szrama - http://ryanszrama.com/
- Seth Gottlieb - http://www.contenthere.net/
- Brian Teeman - https://brian.teeman.net/
- Thomas Tenkely - https://www.dolphinfree.net/
- Robert Vining - https://www.robertswebdesign.com/
- Luke Wroblewski - https://www.lukew.com
Digital Marketing / Customer Experience / Social Strategy
- Susan Beebe - https://susanbeebe.com/
- Christine DeGraff - http://www.christinedegraff.com/
- Rand Fishkin - https://sparktoro.com/blog/
- Peg Fitzpatrick - https://pegfitzpatrick.com/
- Jay Gilmore - https://jaygilmore.ca/
- Robert Headley - https://medium.com/@robertheadley
- Michelle G Held - http://www.metrony.com/
- Pauliina Jamsa - https://internationaldigitalmarketing.com/
- John Jantsch - https://ducttapemarketing.com/blog/
- Kristina Johnson - https://newworkinggirl.wordpress.com/blog/
- Tina Reed Johnson - http://tinareedjohnson.com/
- Craig Kanalley - http://www.craigkanalley.com/
- Leo Laporte - https://leolaporte.com/
- Mary Mangold - https://wildwebwest.com/blog-2/
- Matt McGee - http://www.mattmcgee.com/
- John T. Meyer - http://johntmeyer.com/
- Jessica Obermayer - http://jessicaobermayer.com/
- Petr Passinger - https://devnet.kentico.com/users/3734/petr-passinger
- Lubor Ptacek - http://www.luborp.com/
- Rebekah Radice - https://rebekahradice.com/blog/
- Rick Ramos - http://www.rickramos.com/
- Jeff Sauer - http://www.jeffsauer.com/
- Larry Sheckell - https://www.searchmavericks.com/blog/
- Craig Smith - http://expandedramblings.com/
- Mark Traphagen - https://www.stonetemple.com/author/mark-traphagen/
IT, Information System, and Software
- Chris DiBona - http://dibona.com
- Wayne Dyck - https://www.imaginedreal.com/
- Anthony Ferrara - https://blog.ircmaxell.com/
- Matt Farina - https://www.mattfarina.com/
- Tyler Harms - https://harmstyler.me/
- Chris Heald - https://chris.heald.me/
- Ben Lloyd - http://www.tech-write.co.uk/blog
- Greg Lloyd - http://tractionsoftware.com/rs/ca%20::blog%20a%28grl%29
- Troy May - https://www.pcsympathy.com/
- John Mancini - https://info.aiim.org/aiim-blog/author/john-f-mancini
- Rastin Mehr - https://www.rastinmehr.com/
- Matthew Weier O'Phinney - https://mwop.net/blog
- Will Oremus - http://www.slate.com/authors.will_oremus.html
- Tim Ottinger - http://agileotter.blogspot.com/
- Brian Proffitt - https://community.redhat.com/blog/author/bkp/
- Gideon Rosenblatt - https://www.the-vital-edge.com/
- Bryan Ruby - https://bryanruby.com
- Patrick J. Santry - http://www.santry.com/
- Jared Smith - https://jaredwsmith.com/
- Kimberly Unger - http://www.ungerink.com/
- Dave Veffer - https://www.crunchfocus.com/
- Will Vincent - https://willvincent.com/
- Jan Wildeboer - https://jan.wildeboer.net/
Technology
- Veronica Belmont - https://medium.com/@veronica
- Amanda Blain - https://www.amandablain.com/
- Dana Blankenhorn - https://twitter.com/danablankenhorn
- Roger Cheng - https://www.cnet.com/profiles/rogercheng24/
- Jonathan Feist - http://www.androidpenguinlife.com/
- David Gewirtz - https://www.zdnet.com/blog/diy-it/
- Louis Gray - https://blog.louisgray.com/
- Jason Hiner - https://www.jasonhiner.com/
- Jason Howell - http://yellowgoldmusic.com/blog/
- Sven-Erik Knoff - https://www.fotoknoff.no/
- Amanda Kooser - http://www.amandakooser.com/
- Selena Larson - https://www.selenalarson.com/
- Richard MacManus - https://ricmac.org/
- Rick Manelius - https://rickmanelius.com/
- Natali Morris - http://natalimorris.com/
- Nixie Pixel - https://www.nixiepixel.com/
- Wayne Rash - http://waynerash.com/
- Susan Scrupski - http://itsinsider.com/
- Paul Sikkema - https://movingsnow.com/
- Wayne Sutton - https://socialwayne.com/
- Ed Tittel - https://www.edtittel.com/
- Lance Ulanoff - http://www.lanceulanoff.com/
Lifestyle / Living / Spiritual / Fine Art / Writings
- Paul Allen - http://www.paulallen.net/
- Rod Azlan - http://www.rodazlan.com/
- Lisa Bettany - https://www.lisabettany.com/
- Guido Bibra - http://blog.bibra.eu/
- Colby Brown - https://www.colbybrownphotography.com/
- David John Butler - http://davidjohnbutler.com/
- David M. Cheney - http://davids-ruminations.blogspot.com/
- Ric Dragon - http://www.ricdragon.com/
- Ron Chusid - http://liberalvaluesblog.com/
- Amira Elgan - https://gastronomad.net/
- Heidi Fowler - https://onecreativemommy.com/
- Alex Galiano - http://www.alexgaliano.com/
- Nick Gondoras - https://wearablefitnesspro.com/
- Kate Imbach - http://www.kateimbach.com/
- Heidi Kruse - http://krusesworkshop.blogspot.com/
- Andrea Kuszewski - http://andreakuszewski.com
- LLoyd Lemons - https://www.lloydlemons.com/
- Michelle Li - https://www.michellelitv.com/
- JC Little - http://www.theanimatedwoman.com/
- Erik Minter - https://www.erikminter.com/
- Michael Mixon - https://mixpixviz.blogspot.com/
- Tim Mulcahy - https://timagesgallery.blogspot.com/
- Larry Pollock - http://larrypollock.com/
- John Pozadzides - https://onemansblog.com/
- Nathan Schock - http://nathanschock.tumblr.com/
- Laura Scott - https://lauralisscott.com/
- Lou Smith - https://www.lousmith.co.uk/
- Jeff Sullivan - http://www.jeffsullivanphotography.com/
- Thomas Umstattd - https://www.thomasumstattd.com/
- Nicole Wakelin - http://www.nicolewakelin.com/
Weather
- Spencer Adkins - https://spenceradkins.weebly.com/
- Shawn Cable - http://wxlab.com/blog/
- Brandon Heberton - https://www.weather5280.com/
- Ted Keller - http://tedwkeller.com/
- Jeff Lutz - http://ministry-weather.com/
- Brad Panovich - http://wxbrad.com/
- Jennifer Rukavina - http://breedingextreme.blogspot.com/
- James Spann - https://www.alabamawx.com/?author=2
- Amy Sweezey - https://amysweezey.com/
- Ryan Vaughan - http://ryansmorningblog.blogspot.com/
About my Google+ Blogroll
The criteria I used for Google+ users to be listed in this blogroll:
- I had to have followed the person on Google+.
- The person had to have been an active Google+ user with at least one post from 2015 onward (disqualified a number of my friends).
- The person followed maintains a blog or personal website. While personally owned blogs were preferred, blogs on company sites and blog-like platforms such as Medium or Blogger were acceptable.
- For a bonus, I've also linked the name of the Google+ user to their Twitter accounts. While I value blogs over social media, I still recognize the value of using social media for micro-blogging).
Because I required the Google+ user to have a blog or personal website, not everyone I followed on Google+ is on this list. For instance, the actress Jeri Ryan has 4 million followers on Google+ (and 300K followers on Twitter) but was not included on this list because I couldn't find any evidence that she maintains a blog or personal website.
If I made a mistake and you should be on this, please let me know. If you're on this list and wish a correction or even removed from the list, please let me know that too.
Finally, please note that the inclusion of people on this list or links to their content is not an endorsement of the person's website or ideas. People and what they post on their websites and Twitter accounts will change over time or their site can be taken over by a domain squatter. If the link to their Twitter account or blog takes you to something that is very objectionable, please let me know and I'll consider removing them from this list.