Google+ Changes Privacy Settings for New Posts…A While Ago

For those using Google+, have you noticed the new share settings? They appear to have been modified months ago. For some reason, I didn't notice until recently. Instead of posting publicly by default, they seem to have switched so that posts are available to my circles only. There's an option to make posts public, but it needs to be set before clicking the share button.

I'm not sure why it took so long to notice this issue. Similar problems have occurred with other social networks, like Facebook, so it seems like I would be more mindful of who sees my posts. I guess I'll have to chalk this up as a learning experience.

For what it's worth, the policy looks to have changed in October. My last public post was made on October 15, 2012. Unfortunately, there isn't an option for making those previous posts public—besides re-sharing them all.

Making Future Posts Public

From what I've read, the visibility setting for new posts is based on the previous one submitted. If your last post was public, the next one should follow suit. If that's the case, however, I'm not sure what happened back in October. All my posts to Google+ prior the switch were public, but I digress. To make sure a post is public, there's an option for indicating the visibility (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Public Post Marker

If the visibility setting isn't marked as "Public", change it as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Choosing the "Public" Option

Conclusion

The problem with posts being shared with the wrong people isn't limited to Google+. As referenced earlier, Facebook has randomly changed who sees my posts. Instead of defaulting to all my friends on Facebook, occasionally it selects a subset of them. The moral of the story is to avoid being dependent on the default. You never know when it will fail or do something unexpected.