To block or not to block - that is the question

Update to blocking feature!

- When User A blocks User B, User B will be removed from User A's circles and User A will be removed from User B's circles.

- User B will be unable to add User A to circles until the block is removed. User B will receive the following message when trying to add User A: "You can't add [Name] to circles."

The Help Center article

Back in the day...

Before, even if User A blocked User B, User A could still exist in User B's circles and that circle relationship could be potentially visible to others. Additionally, since an easy link to the profile existed, User B could easily log out and monitor User A's publicly shared content, which hasn't been the ideal user experience and problematic for harassment and other sensitive issues.

Great update: Thanks for listening again, Google.

Why block someone?

Newcomers to Google+ have been blocking strangers who add them to circles just because they don't understand the principle of Circles.  Blocking in this case is quite unnecessary:

On Google+ anyone can add anyone in their circles and start following the posts.

Those who follow you on the Plus don't see anything you post to your circles, only your Public posts or the posts to Extended circles in some cases. Same goes for business pages.



Blocking someone is quite extreme: 

This means the person won't see any of your posts unless reshared, cannot comment on your threads or participate in a Hangout if you are there.

Or, if they are in a Hangout and you'd like to join, you cannot...

Blocking should only be used on spammers, stalkers, trolls and those losers who suggest sex on the Interwebz.

Block if you feel that someone is a real jerk and you don't want to have anything to do with them. 

If a person just disagrees with you or your views in a comment thread, that is not a reason to block but to discuss and perhaps agree to disagree in a mature way.

You can always unblock someone later.

Who sees your Google+ post?

Let's look closely at the whole posting on Google+ and how the posts are distributed.

One aspect of circles seems to be unclear to many:

Extended Circles

The definition of Extended Circles is "the people I circle and  the people who are circled by people who I circle."

The posts shared to extended circles don't necessarily appear on all those people's streams, but they get permission to see them if they visit your profile.

+John Skeats has written a good post about circles:

Testing the Google+ features

I do a lot of testing on Google+ and because my approach sometimes is a bit unorthodox, I call it "The Dumb Blonde Testing".  Trying to clear things up so that even I can easily understand the results, being a non-techie.
:-)  #JaanaResearch is the hash I use for these.

Ignoring the engagers in your posts

Google+ Etiquette bit that should not have to be discussed, even...

IGNORING

Imagine this: You're commenting on +Bradley Horowitz , +Robert Scoble, +Trey Ratcliff or +Tom Anderson post. You understand that they've got so many shout-outs and responses that they cannot answer. Still they do, sometimes, to total strangers. Happened to me. But you don't really mind as you don't even expect to be answered.

NEW! Google+ Groups or Communities

I have been waiting for this announcement for a year now...

Finally the wait is over: No need to play with the Google+ business Pages and 50 managers anymore when wishing to start a group on the Plus side.

This Hangout will tell you all you need to know about Communities!