Read more on Social Media Strategies

Our circle of friends expands and tightens over time, from childhood, high school and college to new neighbors, friends and business colleagues. Google Plus has a way for you to keep up and modify that circle with a feature called – drum roll, please – circles. The feature is intended for you to share content with the right people and follow content posted by people you find interesting or are familiar with.

No one in a circle can see who else is in the circle, and they also don’t know what you’ve named the circle or how many other people are in it. In fact, the people in these circles might not even know they’re in one. It sounds cloak and dagger, but circles are sort of like a friends list on Facebook or private Twitter lists. The good thing for agents is that you can create a Real Estate circle that deals with – again with the drum – real estate issues and topics, and people don’t have to “like” you or get a “friend” approval to be in your circle and see what’s being posted. So if you use Google Plus like Facebook for your business you’re not getting its full value. By grouping people in circles you can share items of interest to specific people. Where you went on vacation or where you ate last night will only be of interest (maybe) to a Friend or Family circle. A person in your Real Estate circle could care less about that but would be interested in reports, tips, pointers and success stories about the business.

On Google Plus, if a post was shared only with specific people or circles, you’ll see Limited in the top right of the post. When you click on that, you can see the total number of people who received the post. This doesn’t tell you what circles people are in because posts can be shared with multiple circles, combinations of circles and individual people. In many circles, for example, you might include a person in a Colleague circle as well as a Friend circle.

When you share a post you can tell if it has been shared publicly, to extended circles or to a limited group. When you comment on or +1 something in the stream, everyone who can see the original content will be able to see your contribution. If a post was shared with a limited group of people, you can click Limited at the top of the post to see the profiles of up to 21 other people who can also see that content, as well as the total number of people on the post. On posts you’ve created, clicking Limited at the top of that post will show you the profile pictures of everyone you shared with. Only the person who started the post can see this information. If you choose to share with your extended circles in addition to other people, clicking Limited will only show that you shared with your extended circles; specific people won't be identified.

Your extended circles include people in your circles’ circles. Content shared with your extended circles will be visible on your Posts tab to people who have access. For example, let’s say Mike is in one of your circles and Mark is in one of Mike’s circles. You don't know Mike and he’s not in any of your circles. If Mark chooses to have Mike visible on his profile among the people in his circles, and you choose to share with your extended circles, your content could appear on Mike’s home page and be visible to Mark on your Posts tab of your profile. You aren’t able to see a complete list of the people included in your extended circles because it's a collection of people that’s always in flux.

So let’s get started:

Click on the Circles icon in the toolbar above your stream. Scroll over the Drop here to create a circle. Click on Create circle. A pop-up will appear allowing you to name the Circle, add a description and begin adding people. You can choose people by searching through those who you follow or who have followed you. Once you add people, you can create the circle. You can also create an empty circle to fill later by clicking Create empty circle.

To create and share a post:

Click Share what's new in the box at the top of your home page or + Share in the Google bar in the upper right-hand corner. Enter your post. If you have a photo, video or link to include, there are options to click to get that done. Click + Add more people and select a circle or type the names of people who you’d like to share your post with. You might see a pre-populated group of people already in the box. If you’d like to remove a circle or person, click the X next to their name. If you like, you can also lock your post or disable comments by clicking the arrow in the right of the + Add more people box. Click the Share button. People in your circles and people who have added you to their circles are publicly shown by default on your profile. You can choose who appears here and who can see this information.

To edit and modify your circles:

Click Profile on the left side in Google+ or sign in to your Google profile. Click the Edit profile button next to your name. To change who is shown in your circles, click on in your circles on the right side of your profile. To hide this section, uncheck the Show people in box. If you have the box checked you can choose which circle’s members will be displayed in the menu. Select Public or Your circles to choose who can see these people on your profile. When you've made your changes, click the Save button. There’s also a Have you in circles section on your profile. To hide this, click anywhere in the section, uncheck the Show people who have added you to circles box and click the Save button. When you've finished, click Done editing at the top of your profile.

  Get more helpful tips