Social Media...I'm part of the generation that has almost always used some sort of social media or e-communications. Back in the 1990s, I was on Prodigy (long defunct competitor to AOL, if you didn't know) using their bulletin boards and chat rooms. In the 2000s, I joined the old MySpace; once they became irrelevant, I moved to Facebook (FB). I've been using FB for 5 years and my personal iPad has the mobile FB app on it. I finally joined Twitter and I am becoming familiar with it. This project (and thing in particular) gave me an excuse to sign up and try out the mobile app. I'll continue to use both FB and Twitter since I have friends on one that aren't on the other, FB has features Twitter doesn't (or does better) and vice versa...and if I may interject a little bit of personal opinion...I may Tweet more now that I'm on there since I feel that FB has lost its way. When I joined FB, it really was a place to reconnect with old friends, or as they say "See photos and updates from friends in News Feed. Share what's new in your life on your Timeline." To me it seems like since FB went public a few years ago, it's been just another business (the business of social media!) and they've become a little Orwellian.
Luckily, I can use both FB and Twitter seamlessly as I see that there's ('re) an app(s) for that! Back to that soon.
I didn't realize it, but I'm familiar with GetGlue, which is now TvTag, which is part of i.TV, which I have an app for on my personal iPad. I use i.TV mostly for its listings, but I am aware of it's check-in feature and that you can list your favorite programs, etc.
I've heard of LinkedIn and seen it used. If I were an actual professional rather than a para-professional at my library system or I needed to link up with colleagues world-wide, I'd probably join it. No reason to do so at this time.
Foursquare is fun, so I've heard. If I had a smartphone, I'd probably use it as something to kill time and see if I could become "Mayor" by checking in at a place I frequent. After looking at it a little more though, I do see that there serious uses like tidbits or short reviews of restaurants and businesses along with recommendations, things of that nature. Might be useful.
Alright, on to some new things...
Echofon looks nice, but it is Twitter only and looks to be optimized for smartphones. It can sync across devices but the only device I'd sync with would be a PC at this time...we'll I gave it a go anyway, just to be fair. I'm annoyed by the advertisements (though you can go ad free for $4.99) and honestly, I don't see much of a difference on a tablet. Judge for yourself by taking a look at the juxtaposed photos
I've heard of LinkedIn and seen it used. If I were an actual professional rather than a para-professional at my library system or I needed to link up with colleagues world-wide, I'd probably join it. No reason to do so at this time.
Foursquare is fun, so I've heard. If I had a smartphone, I'd probably use it as something to kill time and see if I could become "Mayor" by checking in at a place I frequent. After looking at it a little more though, I do see that there serious uses like tidbits or short reviews of restaurants and businesses along with recommendations, things of that nature. Might be useful.
Alright, on to some new things...
Echofon looks nice, but it is Twitter only and looks to be optimized for smartphones. It can sync across devices but the only device I'd sync with would be a PC at this time...we'll I gave it a go anyway, just to be fair. I'm annoyed by the advertisements (though you can go ad free for $4.99) and honestly, I don't see much of a difference on a tablet. Judge for yourself by taking a look at the juxtaposed photos
It's nearly the same interface, though navigation is slightly easier on Echofan. It probably would be more sensible on a phone but honestly, I see little difference on a tablet. NEXT!
Tried FriendCaster...uh the Echofan for FB. I like the interface and the ease of navigation and push notifications (for now). I've heard unproven rumors that any FB compatible app is better than the actual FB app due to the fact it would be less of a memory and power hog...not sure about the power hog part but FBs "official" app uses 115 MBs which would be a lot if you were hurting for memory. I did a photo comparison of Twitter to Echofan, so I'll do the same for FB and FriendCaster
FriendCaster is the top photo, FB is the bottom. I guess one last thing to say is that Friendcaster would take a little getting used to, while I'm fully familiar with the official FB app.
As I said way back in this blog, I'd like something I could use on Twitter and FB and manage my tweets and posts, etc. For that I'm trying Buffer and then HootSuite.
Buffer has some neat tools. You can link to many accounts beyond FB and Twitter, you can schedule posts and it even has an analytical tool, you can see if people ate actually viewing, responding, etc. I do see some negatives though. Buffer seems pretty intrusive...you should see how many permissions you have to give it to use it on FB. It also comes with a learning curve. Buffer is just not for me.
Finally...onto HootSuite. It's kind of a jumbled interface and has a little bit of a learning curve, but I think it would be the app for me. I can choose to post to both Twitter and FB or even one and not the other. Its Twitter breakdown makes a little more sense IMO and makes it pretty user friendly. The FB one on the other hand...um...we'll see for yourself.
IDK, the FB part looks like FB on steroids...just too repetitive. Repetitive I say! I didn't include graphic examples but you can swipe to the left and see more...but mine were empty.
Whew! If you got here congratulations...this only took a week, but it was worth it. I'm on Twitter, I explored and learned about some social media apps and I found something that can be used for Twitter and FB. Mission accomplished!
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