Google__ The Missing Manual - Kevin Purdy [38]
NOTE
If you’ve installed the Google+ app on an iPhone or Android device, your Google+ settings page will include a “Who can start a Messenger conversation with you?” setting (shown previously). This relates to the Google+ group-message feature called Messenger; you can get the details on Starting a Messenger Session (Apps Only).
The Other Notification Settings
Farther down the Google+ settings page is the “Receive notifications” section, where you can turn checkboxes on or off for each of the things that could trigger a notification.
NOTE
If you haven’t set up a cellphone to work with Google+ (Text Messages) or installed the Google+mobile app, you won’t see the Phone column pictured here. If you have set up a cellphone to work with Google+, you need to turn on the SMS radio button in the “Set delivery preferences” section of the settings page before you can turn on checkboxes to make Google+ notify you via text message.
The settings are divided into four categories. Here’s what each setting means, and a few suggestions on whether to leave them on or turn them off:
Posts and mentions of my name. These control the notifications that get triggered when someone specifically refers to you or responds to your posts or comments:
Mentions me in a post. As you learned on Mentioning People in Posts, people can mention you in their posts by adding @ or + signs in front of your name. Only turn this setting off if you get a lot of strangers tagging you.
Shares a post with me directly. You’ll get this kind of notification if someone specifically enters your name in the +Add box (described on Other posting tips) before sharing a post. As with the previous setting, you’ll probably want to keep this one turned on unless you’re being spammed by more people than you care to block.
Comments on a post I created. Go ahead and leave this one on, since people can’t see your posts unless you share them that way (Writing a post while viewing your main stream).
Comments on a post after I comment on it. This notification setting is perhaps the trickiest. If you leave it turned on, you’ll get notifications when someone adds their two cents to a post you left a comment on—but not if you just left a +1. It’s safe to turn this setting off if such notifications annoy you, because if people really want you to notice their comments, they can mention you. If just one post you commented on is causing a flood of follow-up comment notifications, you can simply mute that post (Blocking, Muting, and Reporting Posts).
NOTE
If you’ve set up your cellphone to work with Google+, you can technically turn on the checkboxes in both the Email and Phone columns to receive email and text-message or mobile app notifications for each kind of happening, though that’s probably excessive for most people.
Circles. You guessed it—this category, which includes only one setting, controls notifications related to circles:
Adds me to a circle. This, more than any other notification, has the highest potential for making you say “Enough, already!” If you keep a low profile online, then you might only see notifications about friends and people you know adding you to their circles, which is fine, since the notification gives you an easy way to add those people to your circles. But if you’re getting so many of these types of notifications from strangers that they become distracting, turn this setting off; you can always find out who’s added you by heading to your Circles page and clicking the “People who’ve added you” heading (Adding People to Circles).
Photos. Since photos can fall anywhere on the spectrum between “worth a thousand words” and “incriminating,” you can have Google+ notify you about lots of photo-related actions:
Wants to tag me in a photo. People in your circles can tag you in photos without your permission (though there’s a way to change that; see Tagging Photos). And