Last week Google launched a new search feature for their Google+ social network. Basically, it adds groupings, tags, etc. and makes the network all searchable so that you can skim through all of the content generated on Google+.
So what’s the first thing I did? I did a few simple searches through Google Explore to see if I could find any books and book-related content that was of interest. I really wasn’t looking for people “curating” (like pinterest or tumblr), but for real content that harkened back to the days of book blog rings and such.
So I clicked on the “Explore” button up top…
and searched for “Books”. I was thankful for the Google Explore displayed all of the books-related tags that I could follow and check out.
Early on I found these not worth following because of all the ads, spam and sales pitches:
- #free
- #eBooks
- #kindle
- #kindlebooks
- #author
The rabbit holes I really enjoyed falling down through Google Explore were:
- #Reading
- #BookReview
- #AuthorInterview
- #BookLovers (the best of the bunch)
As you can see, once you click on #BookLovers you’re presented with a whole new slate of sub-categories and tags to click through. As new as the feature is (and as under-used as Google+ is) it’s not hard to quickly separate the signal from the noise and find folks worth following. From there it’s a single-click to add them to a new (or old) circle to keep up with them.
When I next have a few free moments I’m going to click around with category, subject and book genre searches. Hopefully those will yield more leads to books worth reading. So check it out and let me know if you find any bookish folks worth following.
