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50 Great Apps for Your iPad

10.07.12

Wondering what apps to install on your iPad? Here are 50 of the apps I’ve installed on mine.

Take a look, and add to the list in the comments.

Business/Productivity

Pages – Word processor. Sadly, not very compatible with MS Word (go figure) but suffices. $9.99.
Keynote – Presentation tool. While I haven’t tried this yet, I’m hoping that this app may stop me from having to lug my laptop around to presentations. $9.99.
Numbers – Spreadsheet tool. Enough said. $9.99.
Dragon Dictation – Speech-to-text app. Makes dictating notes and ideas easy, and lets you text/email them quickly when you’re done. Free.
Evernote – Wonderfully intuitive and easy to use. Integrates with the other interfaces (web, desktop, Blackberry etc). Free.
LinkedIn – Sadly just an iPhone app for now. Hoping an iPad-optimized one is released soon. Free.
Skype – It’s just an iPhone app right now so the interface isn’t great, but it lets you chat and call so who cares? Free.
GoToMeeting – Lets you log into online meetings while on-the-go. Great way to save multi-task while travelling. Free.
WebEx – Like GoToMeeting – lets you log into online meetings. Having both of these free apps will cover you for most meetings. Free.
Dropbox – Lets you sync and share files online and across computers. Free.
Dictionary.com – Dictionary for your iPad. Free.
Adobe Ideas 1.0 – Sketchbook for your iPad. Great for jotting down ideas. Free.

News/RSS

GoodReader – Integrates with Google Docs, Dropbox, box.net and other services. Lets you download and read multiple file formats including MS Office, iWork, HTML, images, audio, video and PDFs on your iPad. $0.99.
Reeder – The best pure-play RSS reader I’ve found so far. $4.99.
Pulse News Reader – This app alone has doubled how much news I consume. I sit down with this app and a cup of coffee every morning. $3.99.
Instapaper – For all those posts you don’t have time to read in the office but want to later. $4.99.
NYT Editors’ Choice – It’s the NYT. Free.
BBC News – Great mobile interface for catching up on the latest news. Free.
NPR – Another great news app. NPR content, in magazine format. Free.

Social Networking

Twitterific – My favourite Twitter app for the iPad so far. Great interface. Free, or $4.99 for premium version.
HelloTxt – Lets you update multiple social networks from one app. Free.
TweetDeck – Interface could use some work, but still a good app. Free.
TweetAgora – If you find yourself wanting to filter events out of your Twitter stream, this client is for you. Just an iPhone app for now, but hopeful that they’ll release an iPad version soon. Free.
IM+ Lite – Integrates with multiple IM and social network tools. Free or $9.99 for upgraded version.
WordPress – Reasonable interface for this iPad app, but editing features currently not as good as the web experience on a computer. Free.
Darkslide – Another iPhone app; good for uploading photos to Flickr and browsing your friends’ latest photos. Free.
Facebook – Still no iPad interface for this, which is surprising as Facebook could do great things with a bigger screen. Free.

Media

Air Video – Converts and streams video from your computer, as well as being a nice interface for the iPad. Best $2.99 you’ll spend.
Remote – Neat for controlling iTunes on your computer from the iPad. Free.
Shazam – Figure out what that song on the radio is. Free.

Reading

iBooks – Apple’s e-reader app. Almost no books available in Canada, but a nice interface if Apple ever decides to notice we exist up here. Free.
Kobo HD – Another nice interface, but this one has books available too. Free.
Kindle – App for Amazon’s e-reader. Free.
Stanza – Another nice e-reader app. Free.

Location-based

TwentyThree – Lets you access and update multiple location-based networks from one app, and see where your friends are. $0.99.
TripIt – Popular app for organizing trips and seeing what your friends are up to. No iPad version for this yet. Free.
TripCase – Like TripIt, another app for organizing and coordinating trips (note: associated with Travelocity.ca, which is a Thornley Fallis client). Free.
Plancast – Let your friends know where you plan to be. Free.
Foursquare – iPhone app for the popular location-based social network. Free.
Gowalla – iPad app for the location-based social network. Free.
Google Earth – Excellent port of the tool over to the iPad. Free.
Kayak – Pulls in prices from numerous travel sites, including Travelocity (#client). Free.
OpenTable – See which restaurants near you have tables available. Free.
Urbanspoon – Check out reviews and ratings of restaurants near you. Great when you’re travelling in a new city. Free.
Google – Suite of Google apps. Free.
AccuWeather – Great, easy-to-use interface. Free.
WeatherBug – Condenses a mind-boggling amount of information into a clean interface. Free.

Miscellaneous

Epicurious – Recipes. On your iPad. Free.
Craigsphone – Craigslist for iPad. Much better interface than the web version. Free.
Digital Photo Frame – Another logical use for the monstrous storage capacity of the iPad – load your photos and off you go. Free

What about you? What apps have you liked so far?

Posted in: miscellaneous, tools

Tags: iPad, miscellaneous, tools

14Comments

SocialScope Incorporates Foursquare, Twitter Lists

09.12.08

SocialScope, the BlackBerry app billing itself as “a mobile inbox for your social networks,” has released a new version (v0.9.5.81-0) of its beta application.

The primary changes in the new version:

Foursquare integration (now alongside Twitter, Facebook, Flickr)
Twitter lists

If you aren’t aware, Foursquare is a location-based social network combining geographic context with gaming elements. I’m fascinated with it thanks to its myriad marketing opportunities, but unfortunately there’s no way to use it on a BlackBerry right now aside from a less-than-satisfying mobile site (there’s an app in closed beta testing right now, but I haven’t received an invite yet).

The new SocialScope app almost negates the need for a stand-alone Foursquare app entirely. Using the Foursquare API, the app accesses your BlackBerry’s GPS functionality to determine your location (no news on how it works on older models) and lets you check-in to places quickly and easily.

(Note the built-in typo in the standard “off the grid” messages)

While SocialScope has supported creating groups of users in the app itself for a while, the latest update also supports Twitter lists, allowing you to display your pre-created lists, add to existing lists or create new lists from scratch.

SocialScope has already won its place as my BlackBerry Twitter app of choice due to its user-friendly interface and easy integration of other social networks, but this easily cements its spot.

Posted in: Twitter, mobile, social media, tools

Tags: mobile, social media, tools

21Comments

Face-Off: Twitter Apps For BlackBerry

09.09.29

If you’re anything like me, you probably find it easy to burn a lot of time on Twitter. It’s addictive – you get into a conversation and before you know it, it’s 10 or 15 minutes later.

One of the ways I get around Twitter overload is by doing a lot of my tweeting from my BlackBerry – heading to and from meetings; when I’m grabbing lunch; on the way to clients and so on.

Trouble is, there are plenty of these applications around. This is a quick whip-through the best three Twitter applications I’ve used:

TwitterBerry

TwitterBerry was the first Twitter application I tried for the BlackBerry. It had been a little while since I tried it before writing this post, and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the changes I observed.

Pros

Single purpose app – does what it says on the tin
Easy to set up and configure
New user interface lets you reply to Tweets without leaving the timeline view
TwitPic integration

Cons

According to reports from other people, TwitterBerry can suck the life out of your BlackBerry’s battery
Slow to refresh updates
TwitPic is only available when viewing pictures – can only push to TwitterBerry, rather than pull photos in

ÜberTwitter

From the moment I installed ÜberTwitter, I enjoyed its streamlined interface and more advanced options. Note: ÜberTwitter made a controversial (in some peoples’ eyes) move to introduce ads into its application a little while back, and has now released a paid ad-free version on top of the free product.

Pros

Scrolling auto-refresh is a nice touch
Support for multiple Twitter accounts (just one at a time)
Allows you to take/post photos and to post videos from within the app
Comprehensive menu options, although it can be a bit overwhelming for beginners
Search function is very handy
Ad-free version available for those wanting to avoid pesky ads
Plenty of configuration options (though see cons for the flip side…)

Cons

Auto-refresh can get irritating when first loading the application
Keeps flipping back to the default Twitter account; irritating if you’re trying to stick with one for a bit
ÜberTwitter can be a big memory suck on the BlackBerry – I found my device crashed or hang frequently, requiring a hard reset. Only avoided by setting the app to not run in the background (nullifying the option to have notifications of new Tweets)
GPS enabled on posts by default; unaware users may not like this
Configuration options seem to go on for ever – overwhelming for new users

SocialScope

SocialScope is the new kid on the block. Still in closed beta testing (and tightly controlled – they wouldn’t give me any invites to hand out along with this post), access is limited right now but will hopefully open up soon. SocialScope currently integrates with Twitter and Facebook, but bills itself as “a mobile inbox for your social networks” so I wouldn’t be surprised to see more tools added.

Pros

Tabbed interface keeps you organized and allows access to screens without needing to use the menu
Facebook and Twitter integrated in one interface
Support for multiple Twitter accounts
Less of a memory hog than ÜberTwitter – my BlackBerry has rarely crashed since switching
Lets you easily associate a Twitter account with a BlackBerry contact – adds the username to that person’s address book entry
Replying to messages takes you to a threaded view which lets you easily track conversations
Search option is useful
Notification of new Tweets means it’s easy to know if you should check in to view conversations involving you
Intuitive, context-sensitive menu makes navigation through the app a breeze

Cons

Facebook integration can be irritating – re-authentication bug means you need to log out then back in rather than just re-entering password
Only supports a single Twitter account
Has a habit of hanging while uploading photos, requiring a full (i.e. remove the battery) reset of the device to access the app again
Access is limited right now during the closed beta testing, but that won’t be the case forever

Conclusion

Each of the applications has their pluses:

TwitterBerry’s simplicity makes it a reasonable option for beginners;
ÜberTwitter’s multiple accounts and comprehensive options make it a good choice for power users;
SocialScope integrates Twitter and Facebook in an easy-to-use application.

For me, though, SocialScope wins the battle hands down. The intuitive interface, the user-friendly layout, the integration of Facebook and the easy access to photos makes it an easy winner.

ÜberTwitter certainly puts up a good fight, as evidenced by the response to my quick Twitter query (below). However, for me the additional functionality provided by SocialScope is overwhelming.

There are lots of other mobile interfaces for Twitter out there – Slandr and Dabr (hat tip: Mathew Ingram) – both web-based interfaces – are two examples. Do you use a different way of accessing Twitter on the go?

What do you think?

Twitter friends' favourite BlackBerry Apps for Twitter

Response to question: "What's your favourite Twitter application for the BlackBerry?"

Posted in: Twitter, tools

Tags: mobile, tools, Twitter

35Comments

Brands In Public: A New Reputation Management Tool

09.09.23

If your company matters to people, they are talking about you.

There’s nothing particularly new about this; this has been the pattern for hundreds of years. However, one difference with the advent of social media tools is that people are now able to talk to dozens, hundreds or thousands of other people instead of the few they used to.

There are plenty of tools to help companies listen to what people are saying. While I often talk about Radian6, there are plenty of other tools out there, both free and professional.

Today Seth Godin’s Squidoo launched a new service named Brands In Public.

As Seth says:

“You can’t control what people are saying about you. What you can do is organize that speech. You can organize it by highlighting the good stuff and rationally responding to the not-so-good stuff. You can organize it by embracing the people who love your brand and challenging them to speak up and share the good word. And you can respond to it in a thoughtful way, leaving a trail that stands up over time.”

Brands In Public provides an online dashboard that pulls together the latest news and conversation about a brand from sources such as Google Blogsearch, Google News, Yahoo! News, Twitter, BackType, Google Search Trends and Quantcast.

Where Brands In Public gets more interesting is that if a company decides it wants to sponsor its company page (for $400 a month) it gets control of about 2/3 of the screen real-estate on the page. It can highlight blog posts, run contests, post videos or whatever it likes. In case of an issue, the company can quickly respond without needing any technical skills, the ongoing maintenance requirements of a blog, or IT’s go-ahead to create a new page on your website.

All the time, the regular searches continue in the right-hand column, uncensored and unfiltered.

So, while the Molson page features a Twitter search, the Molson blog and a quick poll on how people feel about the brand, the Allstate page includes YouTube videos from various channels along with content from multiple blogs (disclosure: Molson Coors Canada is a recent client; Allstate Canada is a current client).

There’s nothing complicated about Brands In Public; in fact Seth takes pain in his post announcing the service to note that it’s deliberately simple. “It’s simply a place for your brand to see and be seen, to organize and to respond.”

A few thoughts from me:

The interface is clean, friendly and easy to use.
Right now there’s no search function – the pages seem to be limited to a scrolling list. Presumably this will change as the service is built out and the volume of pages increases.
The FAQs indicate that the service will remove a company’s page if they request it. However, as they note, “Your fans might be disappointed though.” What’s more, the lack of a comprehensive list of companies may inhibit the growth of the service.
If brands haven’t yet invested in a social media presence, they’re unlikely to make this their first step due to the lack of control of the searches. To those who have already invested, they don’t need this presence as they’re already out there.
Brands In Public provides an easy way for companies to be part of the conversation – an entry level solution – but at a premium price. As TechCrunch noted, $400 per month is a pretty hefty price point for a series of automated searches and a few dashboard modules.

What do you think? Is this a useful tool for brands?

Posted in: monitoring, social media, tools

Tags: listening, monitoring, reputation, social media, tools

15Comments

Coordinate Multiple Twitter Accounts With CoTweet

09.07.23

If you work on a multi-person social media team, you’ve likely encountered issues coordinating responses to online conversations. You’ll spot a mention of your company and reply to it, only to find that another one of your colleagues has already replied, or that there was a reason they hadn’t done so.

Tools like Radian6 accommodate built-in workflow management to help teams to coordinate interactions across multiple platforms. However, they have their shortfalls.

Now we have a new kid on the block. CoTweet, which bills itself as “a platform that helps companies reach and engage customers using Twitter,” is a solution for companies managing teams of employees across multiple Twitter accounts.

I participated in CoTweet’s closed beta testing period, but it recently emerged into open beta meaning you can sign-up and try it yourself.

Some of CoTweet’s key features:

Multiple accounts – nothing that tools like TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop don’t already offer, but a must-have nowadays for large companies and agency types/power-users like me who need to juggle several profiles.
Multiple users – CoTweet lets you invite multiple users to Tweet from an account. You can coordinate who’s “on duty” at any time, and assign tweets to other users (which triggers a notification email).
Conversation threads – one short-coming of some other systems is that they don’t allow for threading of conversations over time. CoTweet rectifies that, allowing you to see conversations between your team and any person over time, see which tweets have been replied-to and ensure you don’t contradict an earlier response from a team-mate.
Integration with bit.ly – TweetDeck and the like let you use bit.ly to shorten URLs and an even link them to your bit.ly account, but CoTweet integrates the analytics from bit.ly into its interface.
Web-based – while I have no problem with downloadable clients, there are plenty of people around who don’t have that luxury thanks to restrictive IT policies. CoTweet is browser-based, so there’s nothing to install.
Cotags - CoTweet defines Cotags as “short signatures that allow you to identify yourself as part of a message while sharing an account with multiple people.” It provides transparency as to who is tweeting when multiple people could be posting. We’ve manually entered “[initials]” for our clients in the past; CoTweets lets you automate that so you never forget.
Persistent search – TweetDeck’s key feature early-on was its integration of persistent searches into your interface. While CoTweet doesn’t quite do that (you need to go to a search screen), it does provide persistent searches that are fully integrated into the interface.

Overall, CoTweet is a powerful new tool for companies managing multiple Twitter accounts and users.

What are your early impressions of the service? What stands out for you, and what would you change?

Posted in: Twitter, social media, tools

Tags: agency, business, social media, tools, Twitter

17Comments

8 Talking Points On Twitter Follower-Building Tools

09.07.03

Earlier this week I wrote a post about follower-building services on Twitter, warning about the dangers and how people may perceive you if you use them.

It felt a little bit like preaching to the choir.

Amy Mengel made an excellent point in the comments to that post:

“Unfortunately the people on Twitter who promote these schemes and have tweet streams full of nothing but the garbage you outlined above probably won’t be reading this post and getting the message!”

This made me think – did I target the post correctly? I came to the conclusion that in that case, no, I didn’t. If the people reading this site already view follower-building services that way, they’re more likely to be the people talking others out of these tools than the ones using them.

With that in mind, here are a few suggestions on how to approach people using follower-building services and help them to re-think their approach to their followers (which, it seems, we all agree isn’t a good one).

How to approach

Approach delicately: No-one likes to be backed into a corner publicly. Consider approaching them privately.
Give them a way out: Ask questions instead of pointing the finger.

Reflective questions

Benefits: What benefit do you get from using this follower-building tool?
Relationships: Do you think they the people following you through this tool care about what you say? Do you care about them?
Spam: Do you know this tool is filling your Twitter stream with spam messages? Have you looked at your stream recently?
Noise: Have you noticed any change in the value provided by the people you follow (if they’re using an auto-follow-back tool)?
Perceptions: Have you thought about how the people who see those messages perceive you?
Trust: Given that they’re already spamming your Twitter account, do you really think you can trust this service with your login?

As I said before, you really aren’t hurting anyone but yourself if you use these tools, so if self-reflection doesn’t get the point across, I would likely leave the conversation there. Still, hopefully these points will be helpful.

What other talking points would you suggest?

Posted in: Twitter

Tags: follower, tips, tools, Twitter

12Comments

Scribnia Helps You Discover And Review New Blogs

09.06.26

A little while back, a few people drew my attention to Scribnia. I glanced at it at the time, but unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to dig too deeply. In a way I’m glad that I didn’t, as since then I’ve watched it grow into a very useful tool and I think my opinion is better informed now.

Scribnia describes itself as “a rating and discovery engine for bloggers and columnists” that lets you “find better writers online.” For once, a company’s description of itself is spot-on.

Scribnia, at its base level, lets you find new blogs and sites to read based on the sites you like. It determines those preferences by letting you rate and review other peoples’ sites.

When you rate a site, rather than only giving a grade along a simple scale, Scribnia asks you to rate authors along several criteria. These criteria vary depending on the type of site the author writes for. If you review my site, for example, you will be asked to rate me on:

Technology - from exclusively e-marketing through to print and billboard
Approach - from low budget through to high budget
Radicalness - from mainstream through to maverick

This means that each review gives a good amount of context along consistent criteria, along with the open-ended input that the reviewer also gets. This gives it multiple factors to consider when recommending sites for you, and that’s Scribnia really gets interesting.

Useful recommendations

Right out of the box (or login, I suppose), Scribnia will recommend authors similar to any that you view, based on the reviews other people have given of those sites.

The image on the right, for example, shows the recommendations when you look at my profile. You can see that it recommends Seth Godin, Drew McLellan and Maria Rayez-McDavis – all authors in a similar field to me.

However, Scribnia really begins to shine once you’ve added a few reviews yourself. At that point, it begins to recommend other sites for you to read based on the reviews you’ve given – based on the sites you like. In my case it recommends Stuart Foster and Connie Bensen (who I already read – if I like I can note that and it will recommend more) and Ryan Stephens (who is new to me – I’ll now check out his site based on this recommendation).

Features that add value

I’ve only scratched the surface of Scribnia in this post. There are plenty of other features, such as:

myScribes - which lets you aggregate the content from authors you like in one place and rate individual posts to obtain even better recommendations in future
In-depth author and publication recommendations – in case you want to dig deep
Blog widgets – to feature your ranking on your site (see my sidebar)
Sribup – an odd name for a simple feature which lets you easily tweet about an author you especially like

Conclusion

If I have one quibble about Scribnia it’s that it feels like a bit of a hug-fest. No-one seems to write anything but positive reviews (I feel the same pressure on this) in order to avoid offending anyone. Essentially, the universally positive reviews reduce the value of that side of things. One way of solving this might be to add an ‘anonymous’ review option, but that itself has downsides.

Still, this doesn’t reduce the usefulness of the recommendations that you receive, which to me are one of the most useful parts of this service. Even if you only ever write nice things, if you only write reviews about people you genuinely admire then you will receive useful recommendations.

I like Scribnia. I find it useful, and its usefulness is growing over time which is good to see. If you haven’t checked it out and you’re looking for new inspiration, it’s worth a look.

What do you think?

Oh, and if you feel like writing a review of this site, please do. I’d love to know what you think (good or bad)!

Posted in: social media, tools

Tags: blogs, community, review, Scribnia, social media, tools

6Comments

TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop: Racing To The Bottom?

09.06.17

Twitter was buzzing last night as the latest version of free Twitter client TweetDeck was launched, to fairly universal acclaim.

Mashable has a detailed run-down of the new Tweetdeck features, and a good comparison of the new version with its closest competitor, Seesmic Desktop. In a nutshell, the big-name new features are:

A new TweetDeck iPhone app;
Support for multiple Twitter accounts;
The ability to synchronize accounts across multiple computers and the mobile app;
The option to save groups and searches for future use when removing them from your screen.

There’s plenty more, but those are the key functions from my perspective.

Amidst the geeky excitement of a new, improved application for use with Twitter, though, I have one concern:

Are these free apps racing themselves to the bottom?

Is this race for new functionality going to eventually drive these free services out of business?

Here’s my thinking:

Right now neither TweetDeck nor Seesmic Desktop generate revenue from their apps.
Neither ‘main’ app seems to have a critical mass of users. Fickle audiences flit back and forth between the applications as one gains advantage over the other.
Minimal barriers to entry mean that, at any time, a new application could emerge to challenge the big two (as Seesmic Desktop did, out of the ashes of Twhirl, not so long ago).
Only “power users” will get a lot out of these features. I certainly appreciate the feature, and the power users are the ones with a loud voice, but most people frankly don’t need multiple accounts.
If either app tries to charge users without introducing a killer, unreplicable new feature, users will simply switch to the other.

Where does this leave us? Two companies engaged in an endless race for features that benefit very few people, while not being able to monetize their products.

What’s the end game? Being bought-out by Twitter or another company? That’s bubble thinking, not recession planning. I really don’t know the answer.

What do you think?

Posted in: Twitter, tools

Tags: Seesmic Desktop, tools, Tweetdeck, Twitter

23Comments

Five Tools For Drinking From The Firehose

09.05.14

Over the last few weeks I’ve presented to a number of groups around ‘101′ social media topics – how to get started, practical pointers, and ethical issues in social media.

People often express shock at the sheer volume of tools and information out there in social media. It can be overwhelming, for sure.

So how can you avoid drowning in information? What are some of the best ways to filter through the noise and find the signal?

Google Reader

RSS will save your sanity when you start to get involved in social media. Instead of having to check 10, 20 or 100 sites for changes all the time, RSS feeds let you pull all of the updates into one place.

I always look to Google Reader when recommending a particular RSS reader – it’s web-based so it’s cross-platform, it’s available remotely and it’s easy to use. Other options include Feed Demon and Bloglines.

PostRank

If your RSS reader is getting clogged with too many feeds, PostRank may be your saviour.

My “A-list” of blogs alone covers about 50 sites. It’s a rare day when I can get to all of them. PostRank (formerly known as AideRSS) helps to filter your feeds by the level of “engagement” on posts. If you’re busy, just ask for the best posts out of your subscriptions, and read a few. If you have more time on your hands, read a few more. If you use Google Reader, the process is made even easier through PostRank’s Firefox extension, which lets you apply that filtering directly in your reader.

Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck just keeps getting better and has become the automatic choice for many people due to its powerful sorting functionality. If you follow any significant number of people, the volume of conversation flowing through Twitter can be overwhelming. Tweetdeck helps you to manage this through grouping your followers and setting-up searches for the terms that are important to you.

MicroPlaza

MicroPlaza aggregates all of the links posted on Twitter by people you follow, and a list of all the people who posted those same links. You can subscribe to that list via RSS and pull it into your RSS reader, further reducing the effort required to consume all this information. If, like me, you use Twitter to populate your reading list, that can be a powerful tool.

Still, if you follow a lot of people you could drown under that list of links. Fortunately, MicroPlaza lets you create groups of people you trust, aggregate their links and subscribe to just those links. Voila – your own personal newsfeed.

Delicious

Want to avoid having to trawl through the noise to get to the interesting posts? Why not make use of other peoples’ recommendations?

Delicious lets you subscribe via RSS to the bookmarks of other people. Create a network of people who you trust and you can subscribe to that, too. Alternatively, search for key terms that are important to you and subscribe to those results. You instantly have a continuing feed of sites that other people have found sufficiently valuable to save.

These are five of the key tools I use to keep things manageable. What do you use?

Posted in: social media, tools

Tags: RSS, social media, tools

8Comments

Don’t Like What You See? Fix It

09.03.25

Over the last little while I’ve seen numerous people complaining about how some social media tools are becoming “too mainstream” for their liking. For them, as more and more people join services like Facebook and Twitter, they lose their relevance and usefulness.

My response: Social media tools are opt-in, so if you don’t like what you see, fix it.

Recently, I mentioned that I wasn’t a fan of the high volume of automated Alltop tweets in Guy Kawasaki’s Twitter stream… so I don’t follow him. It’s nothing personal; just me controlling what I want to see in my stream. You can apply a similar principle across your social media toolkit. You don’t need to bail completely out of using these tools just because of the way people are using them.

If you don’t like the large number of new people signing up for Twitter, don’t follow them.
If your Twitter stream is too populated for your liking, cull it.
If you don’t want to connect to that long-lost high-school boyfriend/girlfriend on Facebook, don’t.
If someone’s blog has shifted focus and you no longer like it, don’t subscribe.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give feedback to others, or that other people should disregard that feedback. That’s still important.

It does mean that you have the power to control your online experience… so quit complaining and do it.

Posted in: Twitter, facebook, social media, tools

Tags: facebook, social media, tools, Twitter

10Comments