My Massive Google+ Blogroll

My Massive Google+ Blogroll

Screenshot of Google Plus Profile for Bryan Ruby

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+

Content Management / Web Design / Content Strategy

Digital Marketing / Customer Experience / Social Strategy

IT, Information System, and Software

Technology

Lifestyle / Living / Spiritual / Fine Art / Writings

Weather

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.