More and more people are testing the new waters of Google Plus and reluctantly leaving Facebook behind. I’m going to teach you how to make the move easier by transferring your Facebook friends to Google Plus in a few simple steps. Please note that the initial part of this post will show you how to do this manually but I have also included automatic methods below using 3rd party software. So let’s bring those friends across from the dark side!
The Manual Way:
Step 1
Go to login.yahoo.com and sign in with your Facebook account by pressing the Facebook button. You will need to pass a standard Facebook confirmation page too.
It may seem strange going to Yahoo but bear with me!
Step 2
You will now need to go to address.yahoo.com after confirming the Facebook /Yahoo link. While under the Contacts tab, look for the Tools drop down menu and then click Import…
This will all make sense in the next step!
Step 3
You will now be given the option to import contact from a variety of sources, in our case we want Facebook so click on the logo and then press Ok to begin the importing process.
Your Facebook contacts will be processed and added to the Yahoo profile.
Step 4
You will now need to export these contacts into a CSV file by going back to the tools drop down menu in Yahoo and selecting Export… (note that this won’t be able to new users until 14 days has past). Once you have downloaded the .csv file:
Go to your Gmail account > Click Contacts from the left side of the page > Now click on the More drop down menu and select Import…
Browse and select the file you exported from Yahoo and hit Import to add the contact to Gmail (and therefore you Google account).
Almost finished!
Step 5
Simply go back to your Google+ profile, check the circles tab and your newly imported contact will appear under the Find and invite category.
Note: If you struggle with the above steps then I highly recommend checking the easier alternatives below.
The Automatic Way(s):
- Facebook Friend Exporter – If you are familiar with Chrome Extensions then this might save you a great deal of time. It is simply the case of installing the extension, logging into Facebook, hitting the Export Friends! button towards the top right of your page and then the rest is self explanatory. I will warn you that it can take a while if you have a large number of friends however.
A few more clicks and those Facebook friends will be converted to Google contacts.
- Google+Facebook – This is an extension / plugin compatible for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. While not exactly a method of moving Facebook friends to Google+, this cool bit of software allows you to view your Facebook stream while viewing your Google+ account. You would still have to manage certain parts of the account Facebook side but you can still keep an eye what’s happening without having to navigate from your Google+ profile. Check the picture below to see what it looks like.
Keep an eye on what your Facebook friends are doing while you enjoy Google+
- Friends to Gmail – A nice piece of software which allows you to authorise your Facebook account and turn all friends into a .csv format making it easy to import into Gmail (and therefore Google+ automatically). If you are unsure on how to import .csv files into Gmail then take a look at Step 4 above on the manual method.
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