You could be forgiven for thinking that Ripples is just another new feature that makes little difference to social networkers (the new ‘activity’ tab on Twitter, anyone?), but you would be wrong. Ripples can give you an inordinately powerful amount of information if you use it correctly. It’s not the most straightforward of features because of its capabilities but it’s something you ought to be using as part of your marketing strategy.
What’s it all about?
Aptly named after the famous ‘ripple effect’ of consequences caused by a single action, Ripples is a visual representation of the effects caused by a single post, comment or link posted on Google+. It’s an interactive diagram which highlights the spreading of a post as it’s shared by users across the network. Clicking on the dropdown menu to the right of any post will allow you to select ‘View Ripples’. Doing this regularly will allow you to see who is sharing your posts, where they are being posted to and the frequency with which they are being viewed. Imagine the power this brings!
At first, certainly on popular posts, you’ll be presented with a cluster of circles that looks a little overwhelming. But simply hovering over certain circles will allow you to zoom in and see the sharing that is going on within those circles. This information is further broken down for you by Google+ as a pie chart which illustrates your top ‘Influencers’.
Read on to find out exactly how to do that.
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