Dustin Stout

Social Media Images

Evergreen Google Plus Productivity Social Media Images

  • The Essential Guide to Sharing Images Online

    Sharing images online is getting easier and more commonplace every day. With sites like Google+ and Pinterest putting such huge emphasis on great imagery, it’s never been more important to growing your online presence to know how to share great images with your growing audience.

    In this new series I’m going to attempt to tackle the many aspects of sharing images online from legality and etiquette to original creation and best sizes to use.

    Why This Is Important

    To get noticed online you have to give people what they’re looking for. Photos, memes, infographics, inspirational fitness quotes and other visual stimuli are what’s grabbing people’s attention. Moreover, these are what people are sharing more than anything else. Good visuals spread like wildfire.

    Knowing that visuals spread fast, it’s important not only to know how to do them well, but also to do them right. Sharing images responsibly and with a bit of developed skill can help accelerate your online presence and open opportunities and communications that you wouldn’t have had otherwise.

    So let’s not just share images online, let’s share them like a boss!

    sharing images online like a boss

    The Table of Contents

    This post will serve as the anchor (or table of contents) for the series. I’ll update the links below as I publish each piece in the series so that you will always be able to come back and easily navigate to the piece you want to read up on.

    The working list of topics I have in mind are:

    I may add some to the list or change some of the current topics listed as the series progresses. This should serve as a basic outline though so you know what to expect.

    In the comments below I would love it if you told me what questions, comments, or curiosities you have about the topic. Is there anything specifically you want me to cover? Any methods in which you want me to cover a particular topic?

    Well, what are you waiting for?

  • How To Create A Meme The Easy Way With Google+

    Did you know that you could easily create a meme using Google+? It only takes a few simple steps and you can create a piece of potentially viral content.

    First, let’s define what a meme is:

    meme /mēm/

    • An element of a culture or behavior that may be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation.
    • An image, video, etc. that is passed electronically from one Internet user to another.

    Well, that doesn’t really tell us a whole lot. Here’s my working definition of a meme:

    meme – A funny picture that includes an equally (or more) funny caption. (Better meme definition here.)

    Here’s an example:

    apple maps iphone 5 meme

    Take an image, throw a funny caption on it and tah-dah! You have a meme! Let’s not overcomplicate things.

    How to Do It

    Google+ has an onslaught of great photo editing tools, but this one tool makes it super easy to create a quick meme yourself! Here’s what you have to do:

    1. Start a new Google+ post and upload an image to it.
    2. Hit the little “text” icon underneath the photo once it uploads.
    3. Write your hilarious caption.
    4. Hit “Share”.

    Congratulations! You’ve just created a meme! It’s that easy with Google+! Here’s one I made with the same baby image I used for the top of this post:

    baby google+ meme

    Not too shabby! And just an FYI– the photo doesn’t have to be beautifully Photoshopped beforehand. That’s just something I had to do because I’m OCD.

    *Note: This function is not available on the Google+ mobile app.

    Pro Tips

    A few Pro Tips to make it sure it looks great:

    • Stick to only the top and bottom lines. Only use the middle if it doesn’t get in the way of the image.
    • Try not to make it too long, less than 7 words per line.

    So go grab a funny photo, think up something quirky and witty to caption it with and post it! Then tag me in the post, +Dustin W. Stout, so that I can see it too!