How To Invite Up To 150 Contacts To Google+How To Invite Up To 150 Contacts To Google+

As fine-tuning to its social beta project Google+, Google recently changed its invitation feature. Here's how to easily invite multiple friends and contacts at once, even if you don’t have their email addresses.

Start by logging into Google+ . Click the Invite Friends button.

On the screen that comes up, you have the option to invite your friends one at a time. But the easier way is to use the custom link Google provides. Share the link anywhere online and when folks click on it, they'll be able to start their own profiles and accounts in Google+.

The link Google provides is long and ugly, so I like to shorten it first. There are a lot of URL shortening services out there, but I prefer the Google URL shortener. Paste the Google+ invite link into the shortening field and click Shorten. Then hit [Ctrl][C] to copy the shortened link.

After you have the shortened URL, start sharing it. Here's an example of sharing it on Facebook--the Google+ rival.

Increase the number of visitors to your website or blog by sharing Google+ invites.

When your friends or readers click on the shortened Google+ invite link, they'll go to the Google+ homepage.

Invitees sign in using their Google Account credentials. If they don't have a Google account yet, they can create one first.

Right now you're limited to inviting 150 people, but this new invite function is efficient and much easier than inviting people individually.

For more on the recent announcement of the new Google+ invite feature, check out Google+ Opens the Invite Flood Gates.

Based in Seattle, Steve Krause is a senior contributor at BYTE. Follow him @krausesteve or email him at [email protected].