Chrome Extension Adds Facebook, Twitter To Google+

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Chrome Extension Adds Facebook, Twitter To Google+

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday July 19, 2011 @12:56AM from the simplify-your-life dept.

An anonymous reader submitted a story about Start G+, a really sweet Chrome plug-in that I've been using for several days to blend Facebook and Twitter into my Google+ Page. It's worth a look. It's a bit buggy, but if it lets you close a tab or two, it's worth it. FTA: "Computer programmer Zane Claes has created Start G+, a Google Chrome extension that adds useful features to the Google+ social network. It lets you easily import your photos from Facebook, as well as post to Facebook and Twitter within Google+. In short, it's designed to make the process of transitioning from Facebook to Google+ as smooth as possible."

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OK The pool is on. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2011-07-19 01:00 · Score: 1

How long before FB bans this extension, (assuming there is some way they can)? 5$ for less than one week.
Assuming the extension is completely on the browser side and they can't identify it, how long before FB changes the API and style sheets to break the screen scraping? 5$ for less than one week.

--
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
1. Re:OK The pool is on. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 01:24 · Score: 0
  
  You're on! Here's my $10, FB won't change anything that fast.
2. Re:OK The pool is on. by Dan667 · 2011-07-19 02:15 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  once you start just playing defense you are just waiting to lose.
3. Re:OK The pool is on. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 03:59 · Score: 0
  
  Agreed. I didn't think G+ would have much of a chance until Facebook got all defensive. It's like telling children not to drink from the fountain and they look at it with renewed interest....
4. Re:OK The pool is on. by Archangel+Michael · 2011-07-19 04:58 · Score: 1
  
  I don't quite see it that way. Defense is okay, if it is part of an overall strategy. However, what Facebook is doing is called "Prevent Defense" which doesn't prevent anything.
  
  --
  Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Finally! by Narnie · 2011-07-19 01:01 · Score: 3, Funny

I'll have something to look at on Google+!

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greed@All_Evils:~#
How long till Facebook break it? by kai_hiwatari · 2011-07-19 01:02 · Score: 0

I give it 24 hours before Facebook does something to break it.
1. Re:How long till Facebook break it? by jasper_amsterdam · 2011-07-19 01:26 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not sure they can do that. If they have an API for (mobile) apps to integrate friends streams and such, I doubt they could specifically interrupt this (unless they use the lawyers to do so. Then again, Google has been for opening data where fb has been for shutting it up, so the best thing would be to do the same, and integrate G+ into your fb stream (but that would be accepting them as equals).
  
  --
  Let's put the genes back in Genesis.
2. Re:How long till Facebook break it? by DaVince21 · 2011-07-20 03:58 · Score: 1
  
  I am pretty sure that Facebook can disallow/block/ban access to individual apps. They'd have to if they were to have any sort of protection against abusive apps, of which there have been plenty.
  
  --
  I am not devoid of humor.
Safari Extension Please by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 01:03 · Score: 0

While it's nice that there's a Chrome extension for this, I want one for Safari. If this becomes available, I'll be a very happy camper.
1. Re:Safari Extension Please by Ngarrang · 2011-07-19 01:05 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  You have my sympathies for having to use Safari.
  
  --
  Bearded Dragon
2. Re:Safari Extension Please by dingen · 2011-07-19 01:17 · Score: 1
  
  What's wrong with Safari?
  
  --
  Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
3. Re:Safari Extension Please by hansraj · 2011-07-19 01:21 · Score: 1
  
  Do you use Safari?
4. Re:Safari Extension Please by dingen · 2011-07-19 01:29 · Score: 2
  
  I use it every day. I also have Firefox, Chrome and Opera installed, but I prefer using Safari for most of my browsing needs. I don't think other browsers are bad or worse than Safari, but none of them feel as clean, focused and fast to me as Safari does.
  
  --
  Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
5. Re:Safari Extension Please by hansraj · 2011-07-19 02:57 · Score: 1
  
  Oh that explains it. Using safari can impair your hearing. Everyone else heard a whoosh ;)
6. Re:Safari Extension Please by dingen · 2011-07-19 03:10 · Score: 1
  
  Too bad you're too busy playing a comedian to answer my question.
  
  --
  Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
7. Re:Safari Extension Please by DaVince21 · 2011-07-20 03:59 · Score: 1
  
  In this context, what's wrong with Safari is that it doesn't have this extension.
  
  --
  I am not devoid of humor.
This didn't take long by Marneus68 · 2011-07-19 01:04 · Score: 1

That will be a good reason for me to update Chromium. Maybe. Or I'll just wait until someone make the same kind of thing for Firefox.
Transitioning Is Easy by Ngarrang · 2011-07-19 01:04 · Score: 3, Insightful

Just ignore anything from FaceBook and Twitter, and start anew. Treat G+ as a chance to wipe away the sins of the past.

--
Bearded Dragon
1. Re:Transitioning Is Easy by DevConcepts · 2011-07-19 01:15 · Score: 1
  
  It's the internet! Your sins will always be there!
2. Re:Transitioning Is Easy by Ngarrang · 2011-07-19 01:24 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  It's the internet! Your sins will always be there!
  I will give you that, yes. But, G+ is chance to create all new sins!
  
  --
  Bearded Dragon
3. Re:Transitioning Is Easy by jasper_amsterdam · 2011-07-19 01:27 · Score: 1
  
  Until I succeed in transporting my friends, I will appreciate the integration.
  
  --
  Let's put the genes back in Genesis.
4. Re:Transitioning Is Easy by Nursie · 2011-07-19 01:32 · Score: 1
  
  Not true!
  Earlier today I went looking for some stuff I read about 8 years ago. It was a site about an AIM chatbot called vixenlove, who had a very limited vocabulary, pretended to be a 16 year old girl and logged all chats straight to the website.
  It's gone. There are a couple of forum posts referring to it, and archive.org has the index page and nothing else. Unless there's some other magic internet recording service I don''t know about, something has disappeared!
  (I agree with the principle, you should treat everything you write on the net as if it was going to stay there forever, because it might)
5. Re:Transitioning Is Easy by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 02:10 · Score: 0
  
  Some are viewable here (order by date, oldest-newest, for best result).
6. Re:Transitioning Is Easy by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 04:05 · Score: 0
  
  And start with the new sin of trusting the biggest advertising company on the planet, and biggest expert on data mining with all your personal data.
  Which is exactly the old sin.
  FAIL.
7. Re:Transitioning Is Easy by Nursie · 2011-07-19 05:10 · Score: 1
  
  Now why did I not find that. I must be losing my edge. Thankyou!
8. Re:Transitioning Is Easy by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 05:57 · Score: 0
  
  Bullshit! That's the myth that is mindlessly perpetuated. After a job relocation, new heavy responsibilities I stopped posting to various fora and mailing lists, and lo and behold when I peaked in again my uncommon full name (surname, first name) had been surpassed as the number one hit by a high school kid. All my past posts had been un-archived mostly, but those sights had ran out of space, been neglected, or been allowed to lapse for lack of drive space, or jettisoned in the assumption that what user searches for old shit anyway?!
  Come on, even here on /. I can't find shit that I read 3, 5, 9 years ago, try as I might.
  Yeah, but Googs, and Facebookz are different you say. I doubt it. Sooner or later more crud will accrue, more boppers will show up, more esotericly named brethren will show up or connect from the sticks, your whitebread, low brow, high fallutin nyms will be reused by someone else, and Facebook will likely go the way of other media: eclipsed. Permanence is rare.
  Seriously. Think for yourselves. Check out any old pen names. They're unindexed now, or found singly after pageS of search results. Connections to be made from those hard work and difficult. And I can sabotage those if they're so intrusive on my life now.
9. Re:Transitioning Is Easy by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-23 01:56 · Score: 0
  
  This is what I've been doing. I got fed up with facebook a long time ago, right about the time I realized I had 300+ FB "friends" and all I ever saw in the feed was "John needs help tending his farm!" and "Mary sent you an energy pack!".
  In Facebook's defense, it isn't their fault I'm a social failure. Meh.
But Google Apps users... by AngryNick · 2011-07-19 01:09 · Score: 2

...still can't use Google+.
1. Re:But Google Apps users... by donstenk · 2011-07-19 01:30 · Score: 0
  
  They are handing out invites on the linked page ...
  
  --
  Dennis Onstenk
2. Re:But Google Apps users... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 01:34 · Score: 0
  
  Thats interesting news given 3 of my 4 Google+ accounts with Google Apps accounts.
3. Re:But Google Apps users... by redemtionboy · 2011-07-19 01:47 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  No one needs 4 G+ accounts. That's selfish. Quit hogging the internet.
4. Re:But Google Apps users... by JLennox · 2011-07-19 01:50 · Score: 1
  
  Strange... I have no problems closing those tabs w/o this plugin!
5. Re:But Google Apps users... by AngryNick · 2011-07-19 01:51 · Score: 2
  
  It's not a lack of invites, it's the:
  
  "Oops... you need a Google profile to use this feature. Google Profiles is not available for your organization."
  
  Sure, I can create an account and hope they can hook it up with my Apps account one day, but that plan didn't go so well when I tried it with Voice...or Picasa...or Buzz.... I think I'll just wait this time.
6. Re:But Google Apps users... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 01:54 · Score: 0
  
  When I try to register with my Google Apps account it states that my Organization haven't activated profiles and I need one to register.
  But I'm the administrator and there isn't any option to activate profiles in my Google Apps Control panel...
  So how did you do it?
7. Re:But Google Apps users... by nedlohs · 2011-07-19 02:04 · Score: 1
  
  Clearly you have super powers. Congratulations. Pitty you use them for such useless crap.
  The rest of can't because google says it is incompatible and they're "working" on it.
8. Re:But Google Apps users... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 03:39 · Score: 0
  
  I do not have one yet, I have not gotten an invite yet, still waiting...
9. Re:But Google Apps users... by Solandri · 2011-07-19 05:12 · Score: 1
  
  In case it isn't clear, OP means Google Apps for Domains, where you link up your domain with Google Apps so that e.g. instead of logging into gmail.com, you login to mail.mydomain.com and get the Gmail interface. For some reason it seems to be the red-headed stepchild at Google and is last to get all the cool new features they release to the general public. When I first got my android phone, I couldn't even use the gmail app to login to my Apps for Domains gmail account.
10. Re:But Google Apps users... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 07:31 · Score: 0
  
  It's because Google Apps for Domains doesn't yet allow to have a "Google profile", which is needed for Google+. Google Profiles for Google Apps for domain have been announced in march and AFAIK Google+ for businesses (not sure this is related to Google Apps for Domain) is currently in trial.
  Can't wait.
11. Re:But Google Apps users... by Mr.+Sanity · 2011-07-19 08:03 · Score: 1
  
  Hey, some people *do* need 4 G+ accounts. How else will they ever have a circle with at least 4 people in it otherwise?
12. Re:But Google Apps users... by seussman71 · 2011-07-22 02:36 · Score: 1
  
  There's actually a way you can link your gmail account to your Google Apps account - you still won't get the option to go to Plus from your domain e-mail hub, but you also won't get those annoying "This account is not authorized" type notes when you want to do something in plus, but have been checking your domain mail.
  1. First, log into G+ or Gmail with your gmail login.
  2. In the settings menu (gear icon, upper right), go to Google+ settings
  3. Click on the menu item for Account Overview
  4. For me, they changed this page (may be the same for others), so I had to click the link near the bottom that says, "Visit the previous version of the Google accounts screen "
  5. On that page, near the top, look for "Multiple Sign-in"
  Turning that on will allow you to fairly seamlessly go back and forth between your @gmail account and your @domain account. Once I did that and logged in under each, I haven't had too many problems getting right over to plus without having to log out and log back in under gmail.
  Hope that helps...
I'll think I'll pass by Vinegar+Joe · 2011-07-19 01:10 · Score: 1

Thank you very much.

--
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
1. Re:I'll think I'll pass by Jawnn · 2011-07-19 01:18 · Score: 1
  
  Hey! Some of us don't have real lives and must substitute interacting with this or that social networking tool for real social interaction, ...and thus believe this is "stuff that matters", you insensitive clod.
FB will ban it soon... by mathfeel · 2011-07-19 01:18 · Score: 2

since it's been acting like an jealous ex ever since G+ showed up...

--
The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the 'social sciences' is: some do, some don't
1. Re:FB will ban it soon... by Ngarrang · 2011-07-19 01:46 · Score: 2
  
  since it's been acting like an jealous ex ever since G+ showed up...
  And so they should. I mean, when someone is a valid thread to your dominant position, the SOP is do everything in your power to protect your position, thus insuring that you remain in power. It's worked for so many companies! /sarcasm
  
  --
  Bearded Dragon
2. Re:FB will ban it soon... by whoop · 2011-07-19 03:26 · Score: 1
  
  Sure, as Mohamed Mansour has seen. He made a Facebook friend importer for Google Plus, which was quickly shutdown by Facebook. That post gives a great overview of how Facebook is scrambling to keep their data!
3. Re:FB will ban it soon... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 05:15 · Score: 0
  
  Their problem is that their entire position is only being enabled by their user-base. Anything they do now to "protect" their position will most likely involve hurting the user experience. It is the users that initiate the transfer of their data. If they block that, then they are most definitely going against said users' wishes.
The internet is awesome by For+a+Free+Internet · 2011-07-19 01:22 · Score: 2, Funny

With the intrenet, I havemany frenids. They likje meandI like them. We like eachother, andwe areon face book. The placewherecool peopleareon hte intrenet. Awesome.

--
UNITE with the Campaign for a Free Internet because today, our future begins with tomorrow!
What i was Looking For by corvax · 2011-07-19 01:27 · Score: 4, Interesting

There are a few G+ extensions that work with Chrome and Firefox but none that handled both facebook and twitter that works in this manner. It will help those who have slow or stagnant feeds stem the tide while G+ reaches critical mass. Google should allow facebook and twitter users to be added to circles (twitter) (facebook) and have the features of this plugin baked right in. That way when you post from G+ to facebook or twitter users will see an abbreviated post...... and be redirected to G+ to read the rest instead of being allowed to remain in Facebook and twitter to Read the posts. Once enough users are posting this way they will be compelled to switch to G+ because they have to go there anyway to read most posts.
1. Re:What i was Looking For by fortyonejb · 2011-07-19 02:58 · Score: 1
  
  That would be nice, unfortunately FB has already shown they will break/ban anything that G+ does to integrate.
Can access my information... by atrain728 · 2011-07-19 01:27 · Score: 1

...even when I'm not using the application. No thanks. I'm not paranoid, but I see no reason for this application to have access to my information when I'm not logged in.
are social networks a waste of time? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 01:34 · Score: 0

Are social networks a waste of time, like you spend so much time keeping up, you never get any real work done.
G+ Me is handy too by QuantumRiff · 2011-07-19 01:40 · Score: 1

http://huyz.us/google-plus-me/
Shrinks things down to a singe line, similar to google reader. My friend just turned me on to this to the other day.

--

What are we going to do tonight Brain?
Like by 2names · 2011-07-19 01:49 · Score: 1

[thumbs up]

--
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
1. Re:Like by loftwyr · 2011-07-19 04:20 · Score: 1
  
  plus one!
2. Re:Like by 2names · 2011-07-19 05:07 · Score: 1
  
  TouchÃ©.
  
  --
  "I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
news from the future by Gravis+Zero · 2011-07-19 02:00 · Score: 1

Facebook "security update" breaks Chrome extension

--
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Current state of transferring contacts by goldspider · 2011-07-19 02:05 · Score: 1

So what's the best way to transfer contacts now that FB killed the initial plugin?

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"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
1. Re:Current state of transferring contacts by novium · 2011-07-19 02:44 · Score: 2
  
  Someone suggested connecting facebook to a yahoo account. Yahoo pulls all the contacts. You can then connect google+ to that yahoo account, and it'll pull in all of those contacts.
2. Re:Current state of transferring contacts by callmebill · 2011-07-19 02:46 · Score: 1
  
  Sign up for a Yahoo! email account. You can import FB contacts natively through Yahoo. Then import your Yahoo contacts from your Gmail accounts.
3. Re:Current state of transferring contacts by dingen · 2011-07-19 02:55 · Score: 1
  
  I guess when Facebook and Google already know who your friends are, there isn't much harm in sharing your private info with Yahoo! as well.
  
  --
  Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
facebook is not responding by callmebill · 2011-07-19 02:54 · Score: 1

I just tried to import my photos from FB to G+ and got a message from startgoogleplus saying, "Facebook isn't responding to requests from startgoogleplus.com". Looks like they put the kibosh on it in near record time.
1. Re:facebook is not responding by Dynedain · 2011-07-19 03:33 · Score: 2
  
  No, the devs had said that their servers are running at max capacity.
  
  --
  I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
Why not use the Facebook download facility? by Shemmie · 2011-07-19 04:14 · Score: 2

I went to Account > Account Settings on Facebook, and went with Download Your Information.

I've now got a zip file that includes a Photos folder, with sub-folders for all my albums, and all my photos.

I'll now use Picasa to upload them to Google+.

Am I missing something in this being tricky?
1. Re:Why not use the Facebook download facility? by TangoMargarine · 2011-07-19 08:23 · Score: 1
  
  Well, the downloading and uploading doubles the amount of bandwidth you end up using. If there's a way to transfer them straight from one site to the other, that's a more elegant solution. (Not that your way wouldn't work, too.)
  
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How about a Javascript hotkey by C_Kode · 2011-07-19 05:44 · Score: 1

I would just like to have a hotkey to disable/enable Javascript on the fly.
Diaspora by Ender_Wiggin · 2011-07-19 07:17 · Score: 1

With Google+ growing so quickly, why has Diaspora seemingly stalled after like 2 years of development?
1. Re:Diaspora by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-19 07:38 · Score: 0
  
  Because there was no real demand behind it.
Thanks for the tip! by TorqueMktg · 2011-07-25 08:15 · Score: 1

Looking forward to trying the plugin.

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Torque LTD torqueluanch.com