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Recently in this forum, i have been gratefull for some very good advice on the use of email and twitter.Having listened to the CT podcastst on Social media i am happy with the advice on Twitter that i have found to date. Although with caution i know twitter can be used for both personal and prival use, I accept the idea that separate accounts can be better for these two activities. Especially since i know that in some companies, supporting your employer, even when "views are my own";, merits a separate accound to those more human personal tweets.

My latest concern is with my use of GMAIL and Google+. Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter appear to be embedded in our lives and although Google+ appears to have some popularity, to me it does not appear to fit into a specific part of my life. I must say that i am a big fan of GMAIL. I have now got used to it and enjoy using it more than any other free email app i have ever used. But with Google+ attached and the rising popularity of YouTube with companies, I must admit that I am at a loss.

I must say now that I do not feel compelled to link with everyone I like using every possible tool, especially when both personally and professionally LinkedIn , Facebook and Twitter appear to service my needs. But now we come to Google+ and YouTube. As they are now closely linked and widely used by companies including my current employer, I feel compelled to consider how to use Google+ if at all.

In my personal life , I feel happier to use twitter to connect with some groups/companies/organizations that I have some form of none-professional relationship with. For Facebook I have just a few. but LinkedIn I save just for professional business. Google+ appears to be more like twitter than anything else and I would be tempted to use it as such, especially as now know what it means just to follow someone on Google+.

Having given plenty of background and explained my own feelings my question is this.
Can anyone please recommend what may be considered a tried and tested approach to using Google+ for professional and personal purposes. I have studied a few personal and company profiles and found them open to view their members and wonder if this would create the same situations/potential conflicts as may be possible with twitter.

As always any comments or views would be most welcome.