This is a guest post by Jay Thornton.
Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, WordPress, YouTube, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, flickr, Gtalk, Twitter and the host of other various and random social networking tools to keep us more connected than ever before.
We now know within minutes if the Pad Thai at the corner shop looks good, even before your cousin takes a bite. A story on Martian ice crystals that was posted by a 17 year old in the Ukraine is the most popular blog on the internet this morning, thanks to Digg, and for some reason, three people I work with are listening to Devo on last.fm… and feel the need to share.
The level of information is staggering by all accounts, but we still feel the insatiable need to stay connected to it all. The question now isn’t which networks to choose, but how to maximize your impact and make it as efficient as possible. Enter the next generation of multi-tasking tools. These are some of the ways that I try to keep my head above water.
The Tools
Ping.fm – Born of the need to post the same information to multiple social accounts (originally Twitter and Tumbler, oddly enough), this handy web tool allows you to post identical content to over 40 social networking sites simultaneously. I’ve got mine tied to Twitter, Facebook, Gtalk, MySpace, LinkedIn and Blogger, currently, and I really like that you can utilize the drop down menu to only update statuses, micro-blogs, or blogs. Set up is quick and easy, and it’s as easy to use as any one of the social networking sites it updates.
Splitweet – For those of us that can’t get enough of the twittersphere, I offer Splitweet. This web based tool has proven very useful in managing both my personal and corporate Twitter accounts simultaneously while tracking brand mentions all on a corporate computer on which I can’t install desktop applications. The auto-update is a nice feature. I typically keep it running behind my email on my secondary monitor and drop in periodically to comment, reply, and update.
TweetDeck – I recently posted a poll on my blog asking for your favorite Twitter desktop application, and I got a resounding (read ‘unanimous’) TweetDeck response. I include this tool in the line up for that reason, and it’s ability to post to both Twitter and Facebook, all while tracking buzzing topics via TwitScoop. Ease of use is there, and by all accounts, it seems to be the crowd favorite among this type of tool. I would like to see multiple account support in future versions though. For this feature though, honorable mention goes to Seesmic Desktop, but I’ve only just installed it, so a full review will have to come at a later date.
Flock Browser – The social networkers dream browser and intentionally geared to that 90th percentile of Internet user that really uses the web. Flock comes out of the box with full integration for a multitude of social networking sites. It might make your brain sweat a little though. With the side bar streaming people updates, the media bar streaming the latest from YouTube and six tabs covering everything from you blog comments to your latest victory on Mafia Wars, there is always something.
These are the tools that guide my social life. What are the tools in your arsenal?
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