Google+If you want to migrate your Facebook contacts to Google+ (and I highly prefer Google+ “Circles” for a much cleaner experience), then Facebook doesn’t make it easy for you. You’re in for a headache. Unless you know the loophole I’m about to show you. :D

Why Migrate to Google+ From Facebook?

  • Ease of use.
  • Better organization and privacy settings.
  • Currently no ads, useless games, less noise in general (for now!).
  • Networking with others is much easier in this platform.
  • Just ’cause.

Personally I find it much more stable and easy, and the less noise, the better. I’m particularly social myself and networking is far easier to accomplish here than on Facebook. Anyway, Facebook ads bug me to no end with the noise (though I’ve been a fan for a long time).

Whatever your aim, if you want to check out Google+ and use the “Circle of friends” feature, but don’t know how to export your Facebook friends, this is how it’s done the painless way. At this point I’ve ported mine and my wife’s contacts over on both our accounts, and it’s not as intuitive as you think.

Google+ is still too new, and Facebook doesn’t want to lose the business. Enough jibbering, let’s get down to brass tacks, I’m still writing my book and need to get back to business.

How To Export Facebook Friends To Google+

1. You’ll need a Gmail and a Yahoo! mail account, both free. I’d suggest you use a Yahoo! mail account that either has contacts you want to import into your Google Circles, or a blank one that doesn’t have contacts.

2. Sign into the Facebook account you want to export your contacts from.

3. In another tab, sign into your Yahoo! mail account. You’ll be taken to the Yahoo! homepage, just navigate to “Mail” and then to “Contacts” shown here.

Yahoo! Mail

Yahoo! Mail Import Feature

4. Once there, choose the “Tools” and then “Import” to find the “Import From Facebook” icon shown here.

Using Yahoo! Mail to Import Facebook

Import Facebook Contacts Into Yahoo! Mail

The cool thing about Yahoo! is that they also integrate with any of the following under “Others” – all of which you can add to your Google+ account:

  • Hotmail / Windows Live / MSN
  • Gmail / Googlemail (Uh…nevermind!)
  • AOL
  • Orkut
  • A desktop email program (Outlook, AppleMail, etc…)
  • Aim.com
  • Comcast
  • EarthLink
  • Freenet.de
  • Laposte
  • Verizon
  • Web.de

Not too bad, Yahoo!.

4. Once the import is complete (it takes seconds), you’ll see the following screen. Just click “view imported contacts.”

Importing Facebook Friends to Yahoo! Mail

Showing the Next Step in Yahoo! Mail

5. Save the import as a “Yahoo CSV” file to your desktop by choosing “Tools” and then “Export” shown here.

Exporting your Contacts As Yahoo! CSV

Exporting Your Contacts as CSV

6. Go to your Gmail account – Not your Google+ Account! Right now, this doesn’t seem to work in Google+ just yet, so use Gmail to import the Yahoo! CSV file. To do that, go to your “Contacts” and then “Import” in the sidebar of Gmail.

Importing Facebook Friends to Gmail From CSV

Import Facebook Contacts Into Gmail

Yes, I’m using a silly theme, so it makes my Gmail dashboard look slightly goofy.

7. Then the Import Contacts dialog box opens up, here you just select the file from your desktop.

Selecting CSV For Contacts to Import

Showing the Import Screen in Gmail

Again, my dialog box is themed so it looks darker than yours may, otherwise it’s typical Gmail.

Tip: If you want to keep things separate and delete these contacts later, you can – just be sure to “Add To Group” and label them as “Facebook” or whatever.

Grouping Facebook Friends Together in Gmail

8. Now you navigate to Google+. In the top-left of your Gmail you should see the name of your account.

Finding Google Plus From Gmail

Accessing Google+

Here I’m back to my primary Gmail account so the theme’s changed, but you can see the James+ in the header. You can also access it by your profile picture in the right side of your Gmail header, where you’d also choose to sign out or sign into another account, under “Circles.”

9. Once in Google+, navigate to the “Circles” tab.

Finding the Add Contacts Screen

Showing Google+ And The Add Contacts Feature

10. From here, you select “Find and Invite” and your Gmail contacts, which now include your Facebook contacts, and you can add them all to whatever circles you want to add them to. If you have a ton of contacts, just add your contacts to their circles a little here and there, and you can select more than one contact at a time.

Also, you can put people in multiple “circles” if you want.

Adding Contacts in Google Circles

Add Your Contacts To Circles Here

Hold On! There’s an “Import From Yahoo! or Hotmail Feature!” Why the 10 Steps?!

Don’t kill me. That presently didn’t work for either my wife or me, so until that bug is hashed out, this is the way to do it. There IS a Chrome extension that used to work but is being contested by Facebook, so right now I’m not sure if that extension works or not. It’s in the Chrome App store thingy. (I don’t use Chrome, though.)

That’s it for now. I didn’t want to actually have to migrate another person’s accounts over, so from now on, if anyone asks my help, they’re getting this tutorial as a link. I have a book to complete.

As always, thanks for reading.

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