The #yearofcode Google+ Community Resource Page

I normally create a resource page first, and then a Google+ Community - but in this case it's the other way around. That means, thankfully for the reader, this post can be concise.

Anyone can join The Google+ #yearofcode Support Community, there two messages that I will post here.

About Welcome to The Google+ #yearofcode Support Community created by Mike Downes. This group does not form part of the yearofcode.org, rather it's for those who wish to understand what coding involves. It's a place for discussion, to share your stories and learn from each other. 

Find Google Help Fast - What do 87 shares and 36,000 views tells us?

On 9 Feb 2014, I made a simple post at Google+ as I was fed up giving people the same links over and over again. It had this slide and text:

Find Help for Google Stuff fast There are 519,000 results athttps://support.google.com so to find ANYTHING by googling 1, Support 2, 3, .. like support youtube comments or support blogger domain .. This is the No1 way I find stuff .. #googleit #support #help

I have an altruistic rule with myself than I find or

A slide I made from watching a YouTube Help Video

create something useful to me, then it will probably be useful to others. But there's catch - the really useful stuff, goes unnoticed by 99% of the people.

One example is the brilliant series of +YouTube Creator Academy videos made recently. They have like tiny views compared to what they should be getting. Take a look at the last six videos with +Rachel Lightfoot and +Yury Polnar where views are 1,331 to 2,722. 

What I'm getting at here is the busy life we lead, the uncontrollable urge to click on something when we shouldn't and the irresistible temptation to walk away, when we know we should stay. Bottom line, a video (or post) gets a million views in a day or just a few.

I never ever post anything for the views - I do it usually, to teach somebody something. It's a bit like my own FAQs - I want to be left alone, so if I can help people answer themselves - great.

It took a day to get 80 shares and I declared give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.

My Take Away When people get stuck, they often panic a bit, get fed quickly and become impatient too. Even if one person reading this could just stop and think - Google, support and read the results - I will be very happy.

Autonomy Did I tell you about the friend I had in teaching who had the latest iPhone? She showed me the latest features are how wow it was. But when she was late for a city centre appointment - she was late, defaulted to what she knew and rushed to find a copy of the local AtoZ Map. We all know the iphone and google maps would be there faster than she could say OK Google .. 

UK Police Social Media Survey Feb 2014 One Year On Twitter Facebook YouTube Google+ by Mike Downes

One year ago, I made a post looking at how UK Police Forces were using Social Media (14 Jan 2013).

Welcome to the annual Feb 2014 Survey where you will find six charts and a video. If I were you, click on the first image and scroll through the charts (they should open in a light box), then have a read of this text if you need to.