Social Media Advisors

We are Social Media Advisors, a Social Media Speaker, & Custom WordPress Site design.

Social Media Advisors

Google+ Hangouts Come to Mobile Devices [VIDEO]

Social Media Advisors

Today Google+ released many new features for it’s users in addition to opening up to a Beta state that is now available for all users with no invitation required.  Of these new features, the one that I think is the biggest and also my favorite is the ability to now do a hangout from your mobile device.

So far the update is only for Android phones, and so I immediately downloaded and installed on my device.  I then gave it a quick demo test with a few of my friends.  Unfortunately, it seems as if there is a glitch in either the app or within my device as whenever I use the front facing camera I am sideways in the Google+ mobile hangout.  If I switch to my rear facing camera the video seems to be fine.

I see this another major step by Google at taking market share from the iPhone devices.  Facetime has been a huge success for their devices but is only available on Apple devices.  Google+ on the other hand will be available across all platforms it appears in the near future.  The one issue they may face is that there are so many different devices running so many different versions of their operating system.  Unlike Apple that allows everyone to update to the newest version, The Android system only is updated when the phone manufacturer allows an update to be done.

Here’s quick demo video.

I see this new feature coming in very handy over the next few month as I have several events at which I am presenting as a social media speaker.  This way I will be able to have plenty of face to face interaction with not only my family, but also with my clients.  The one issue I have had so far with Google+ hangouts is that it required a connection via a computer on wi-fi.  With the addition of Google+ mobile hangouts, this issue has been resolved!

What do you think of Google+ hangouts new mobile version?

How to Install a WordPress Plugin

Custom WordPress Sites, Social Media Advisors, WordPress Tutorials

Keeping up with my recent series of WordPress tutorials, today I bring a very simple tutorial on how to install a WordPress Plugin.  I get asked this question a lot by my clients that I have built a custom WordPress site for when they may want to add something else after we have finished the build and design.

How to Install a WordPress PluginThere are multiple ways in which you can install a WordPress plugin, and in this tutorial I cover the two most common ways.  The first is by visiting the WordPress plugin directory search while logged into your site.  This way is probably the easiest way and quickest.  You simply find the plugin you want and click install.  After installing and a quick click of the activate button, you are off to the races of setting up the specifics of the plugin.

The second way I talk about is if you find a plugin somewhere outside the directory, or have already downloaded it from the WordPress plugin directory.  When you do this, you will have a .zip file of the plugin saved to your hard drive.  In this instance, you need to go to your plugin screen and click the upload.  You will actually upload the .zip file, so don’t open the zip file and try installing that.  If you do, it will not work.

Here’s a simple screencast that walks you through how to install a WordPress plugin either of these ways:

Two Important Reminders

Always remember before you start installing any new plugins to your site to first backup your custom WordPress Site!  The last thing you want to do is have your entire site go down because of a bad plugin that you install that destroys everything.  If you have a backup done before installation, you just need to restore to the older version.   The second thing to remember, is the importance of keeping all of your WordPress plugins up to date on your custom WordPress site.  By not keeping these up to date you can open yourself to a whole lot of other problems and issues.

If you have questions about how to install a WordPress plugin onto your custom WordPress site, feel free to ask in the comments below!