I found this article, “How to Publish your Blog or Website to Google Currents.” I found myself a bit excited for something new to share with all my clients and friends.
Google is now offering a new service. It’s called “Google Currents.”It claims to take information from your websites or blogs & lets you view them in a magazine style on just about any mobile device. You can download Android & iOS versions of Google Currents’ app right from the website once you log in.
This app does have a very pleasing look. It’s not too busy, seems easy to use, and claims to be accessible offline. You can setup the app to download your currents automatically, automatically if Wi-fi, or manually. So, if you’re concerned that the app will eat up your data package on your cell phone, or if you only have Wi-fi, then it will still work for you. This makes it very nice for your mobile subscribers to stay up-to-date with your content.
I decided to try to set up my website in the Google Currents Producer. Right off the bat, I’m told that I need to log in using Google Chrome. This does not please me. I’m not much of a Google Chrome fan, but I proceed, trying to keep a positive outlook on this new product.
Once logged in to Google Currents, it asks you to give your Edition a name and description. So I figured well, my whole website should be viewable here, let’s try it. So, I enter the name of my website and list its URL, Hafner Designs, http://hafnerdesigns.com. I will admit that this took some time to become accustomed to the process. It allows you to insert an image for a splash page and an edition icon. I added my logo, but it didn’t show up. I assumed it didn’t meet the size specific dimensions. You are able to add contents such as RSS feeds, Google docs, HTML articles, photos, YouTube videos and updates from social media sites. You can also add Google Analytics to keep track of the visitors using mobile devices.
I was not too impressed when I added my website URL and Google Currents immediately sought out my blog. It publishes nothing more than my blog. In and of itself, publishing my blog is fine, but I really intend the whole site to be visible. They do say you can put your “website” up there. So that was a failure. Benefit of the doubt here though… I did list my RSS Feed URL for it’s method of receiving information.
You would think with Google unifying all it’s Privacy Statements so that all Google sites shared the same common statement, that they would figure out how to allow you to use the same Content Ownership Verification code across the board. They don’t. I now have 3 “google*********.html files on my website. They verify for 3 different functions; Google Webmaster, Google Analytics, and now Analytics for your Google Currents.
I am still tweaking my website for Google Currents. I think it works well and may turn out to be a useful tool. I’m still working at getting the social media to post. The iOS app doesn’t seem to allow me to do the logins of all my social networks until I’m ready to share. Then when I do share, I have a blank post. Perhaps we’re still a little buggy.
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