Tag Archive for 'linkedin'

I’m now using the new Seesmic Desktop 2 app. Here’s why.

Published on September 15, 2010 in Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, business and social media. View Comments

All the social media news right now seems to be about the New Twitter features. I just want to take a moment away from that to say that I’ve now started using the new Seesmic Desktop 2 app on my Mac, for my desktop social networking needs. So far, I’m impressed with it, enough to keep using it on a daily basis.

It has to be said that I do still visit the individual social network web interfaces on a regular basis, but I’m finding that there are some really useful aspects to the new Seesmic Desktop version.

I’ll spare you the full rundown of features as that’s been well covered elsewhere, but here are the main reasons why I’m liking using it a lot. I have been a user of Seesmic Desktop since the beginning; well, from even before Seesmic bought the Twhirl desktop Twitter client and developed the app into what it is today.

  • One change that I wasn’t sure about, especially running on a Mac, is that the new version uses Microsoft Silverlight platform, rather than the previous Adobe Air. I needn’t have worried about that. It’s seems to run okay, no problems there.
  • I really like the ability to be able to post and view messages from numerous social networks in the one tidy interface. The usual timelines I have open at one time are: Twitter (2 different accounts), Facebook, Linkedin, Google Buzz and Foursquare. This does of course take up a whole monitor in screen real estate but it’s very useful to have them all in the same place.
Seesmic Desktop 2 accounts
  • It’s more than a little useful to be able to select any number of services to post any new message to, without using a service such as Ping (which is also included as one of the accounts by the way).
  • There’s a full set of features available for each network. For instance, for Twitter accounts it’s possible to view favourites, send DMs, reply, reply all, follow, unfollow, block/report spam, retweet, quote, favorite a tweet, add to Twitter Lists, copy messages and translate.
  • I like the ability to be able to add my bit.ly account API key to the app, so I can track data on shortened links I post to the various services.
  • I like the addition of the Seesmic Desktop 2 Plugin Marketplace, which will no doubt be added to over the coming months. There are already some interesting plugins in there. For instance, when you add the Klout plugin, every tweet in your Twitter timeline displays the Klout score of that tweeter.

Seesmic Desktop 2 Marketplace

Okay that’s it. As I said, there are many more features but those are the ones that make it worth using for me. Have you tried it yet? What are your thoughts on it?

Worth switching to Seesmic for iPhone from Twitter for iPhone? Yes. Here’s why.

Published on May 24, 2010 in Facebook, Twitter, clean tech, environment, mobile and social media. View Comments

I was a big fan of using Tweetie, then I started using the replacement Twitter for iPhone app after Twitter recently bought the app and took it over. There’s no doubt, it’s a great app, there’s much to like about it. You can easily move between multiple Twitter accounts (if you have more than one), access and manage your Twitter Lists, make and save Twitter searches, upload and tweet out images, shorten URLs within posts and more.

So if I like it so much, why have I just made the switch to the new Seesmic for iPhone? Well for me, here are a few of reasons that make it worth it. Keep in mind that I haven’t tried Tweetdeck or Hootsuite or any other similar app, so I’m willing to be convinced if you think any have better features than this.

1. The biggest reason is that it’s not only a Twitter client. You can operate multiple Twitter accounts, your Facebook account, and a Ping.fm account from the app. The Ping.fm account access really opens it up to a lot of different network accounts.

Seesmic for iPhone

2. You can hit the reply or compose button on one account and then choose which account, or multiple accounts, the message will be sent from. This is something you can’t do with Tweetie/Twitter. I find myself wanting to do this quite a lot.

UPDATE: Scratch no. 2. In comments tomtubbs has pointed out that you can actually do this in Tweetie. In all the time I was using Tweetie and Tweetie 2, I never realised you could do this. Doh! Or is this a fairly new feature? It’s still good you can do this in Seesmic too though.

3. You can easily move between accounts or saved searches by swiping the screen sideways. This is a small but nice little time saver when reading messages across accounts.

5. If you have Ping.fm set up, you can select a Ping group to send a particular message from, while the composer is open no less. This is a great feature!

I’ve now set my Ping account up with additional groups, so that each service is a group of one. This means that if I want, I can individually select my Google Buzz, Friendfeed, Flickr or any other account to send messages from, all at the time of composing a message.

Seesmic Ping

Loic from Seesmic has said that they plan on adding Foursquare at a later date too, so hopefully you’ll be able to check in and send messages via Foursquare, as well as seeing your Foursquare activity timeline.

6. You can send tweets to Evernote, which I use on a daily basis. This is a handy feature if you want to read an article later that someone has linked to, for instance.

One downside to the Seesmic for iPhone for me is that you can view your Twitter lists but you can’t manage them from the app. Twitter for iPhone is great for this and I hope Seesmic adds this functionality.

Those are my reasons for using it instead of anything else at this point. Do let me know if you are using something you think is better.

On having social media URLs on your business card

Published on March 18, 2010 in Facebook, Twitter, business and social media. View Comments

Yesterday I was going about the process of updating and ordering new business cards, so I decided to ask this of my Twitter Followers and Facebook Friends: “Do you have your social media URLs on your business card? Which ones? Twitter? Facebook? Linkedin?” Obviously, this is more for people who conduct their own business, rather than for those that have jobs, but sometimes not. Quite often people have both.

As expected, I received a variety of responses. Among them, @zjjtrans mentioned that he will put Linkedin on his next card, as it’s more for for business. @hjortur has included his blog, Twitter and Linkedin URLs. Barry Saunders said he just has his Skype name and website URL, as he doesn’t want people to start with his twitstream. @FabianPatterberg said he doesn’t have any on his card yet, but believes Twitter would be the most useful, and that having Linkedin on your card sounds a bit needy, and Facebook too private.

In short, each to their own. I think whether or not you want the extra URLs on your business card really depends on HOW you are using each profile. If you use them mostly for business purposes, like in the case of a Facebook Page for your business or organisation, then you are most likely going to want them on your business card.

I think many people use their social media profiles for a bit of both, as I do (with the exception of Linkedin). With the rise and rise of a more social, human web, the line between personal and business is becoming fairly blurred online these days. How often do people send you private work–related Facebook or Twitter messages now? For me, it’s quite often. People know I use them both for work purposes so they feel comfortable doing this.

I think it’s also worth pausing to ask yourself: if people Google me for work purposes, what are they going to find? Is it going to help me in business, or hinder? I know quite a few people who use different usernames on Twitter for their more personal and candid musings.

For the record, I’ve put my mobile number, email, blog, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin URLs on my new card. What’s your take on the whole crossover between personal and business on the social web?