How to Share Circles on Google+

Shared circles just became available for Google+. Here’s how they work.

First, go to your Circles tab and hover over any circle.

You’ll get the option to share the circle to your timeline. Give it some flavor text and hit the Share button. You’ll note that shared circles have a limit of 250 people.

Note something useful: you can restrict the sharing of circles as you would any other post. Thus, if you wanted to share a circle of influencers with your coworkers, for example, you can do so without the shared circle becoming public knowledge.

Here’s what folks will see in your timeline:

Clicking on it will let them add those people to their own circles.

What are some of the applications of this?

People who are currently hiring: a nice idea for a shared circle of folks who have jobs posted. If they’re using Google+ to post those jobs, you’ll see them aggregated.
Webinar co-presenters: doing a hangout or webinar? Create a circle of the panelists so that people can follow them.
Conferences: got fewer than 250 attendees? Toss ’em all in a shared circle and you have an instant ad-hoc group. (or break up a larger registration list into a couple of circles)
Coworkers: get everyone in the company linked up by sharing your company list with your team.

One final thing to keep in mind: shared circles are effectively posts in your timeline, not persistent links like a Facebook Group. That means if you want to promote a circle, you should either bookmark your original share post or re-share your circle on a regular basis. Want some longevity on your circles? Consider putting a collection of them on your blog so they’re findable over the long term!

What will you be sharing from your collection of circles?

You might also enjoy: