FollowFriday : On any given Friday, thousands upon thousands (maybe even millions) of Twitter users enter the hashtag #FollowFriday (or #FF), followed by one or more “mentions.” The idea is for users to share the names of other “interesting people” that they follow and think you should too. These recommendations serve as positive comment cards for the digitally inclined.
JumpstartMyPC.com has decided to bring FollowFriday to our blog. Read on and, if you are so inclined, add these “interesting people” to your own list.
Every once in a while, I stumble onto a product that just makes life easier. Rapportive, defined as a social CRM tool for Gmail, is the most recent add-on to find it’s way onto my PC. Rapportive (available for Firefox and Chrome users) replaces the advertising space in individual emails with up-to-date social networking contact information on the people you correspond with.
My first thought was “this looks like XOBNI for Gmail” and, according to the comments and feedback I have read on this product, I am not alone. XOBNI is another fantastic tool, but unfortunately is only available for Outlook users, and a product that I have missed terribly since switching from Outlook to Gmail. Both of these products make it very easy to see what social networking services your friends, family and even customers are using.
Once installed, the social networking information on the person/company that emailed you appears out to the right of an open email. Icons (with links) are provided for services like Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, etc. Simply click on any of these to open the profile page of that individual in a new tab. Below the links you will find a comment area that you can use for keeping track of customers, but I am sure individuals will find some other creative and unique ideas for this space.
Social Networking is the heart of the internet right now. Scratch that, social networking is much, much bigger. Terms like Facebook, Twitter, share, social, follow, fan, etc. are hurled at us, at the speed of light, both online and offline. Every individual and company (including JumpstartMyPC.com) is trying to figure out the “best” way to share information with fans, friends and family. And now, Google has stepped up to the plate with their offering… Google Buzz.
I realize that many of you have already been exposed to Google Buzz, or at least heard the name, and that this article might seem a little untimely. After all, Google Buzz was released about a month ago (February 9, 2010). The reason I waited to comment on Google Buzz was two-fold: 1) The initial reaction to Google Buzz was panic! (early issues with privacy) and 2) I wasn’t sure if I would even use Buzz for personal and/or business updates. Why would I review or recommend a product for the JumpstartMyPC.com audience if it (Buzz) wasn’t a useful tool that would help you get more out of your PC? Well, I finally spent some time with this new application and I think I’ve wrapped my mind around it.
So, you have a question about… anything. Depending on who you are or how you operate, you are probably going to do one of two things. You are going to ask friends, family and co-workers for the answer or you are going to go directly to the internet (specifically Google). Sure, there are other options like phone books and ….. well, I don’t know. I think the vast majority of people in the world will use one of these two options. Now, thanks to Google Social Search, these two methods might begin to merge into one very useful solution.
Google Social Search is a new way to search the web. You simply Google as you always did and a new section will appear in the results, aptly titled “Results from your social circle.” These results will include more relevant, personal web content from your friends and online contacts. These links, images, blogs, etc. are taken from the social networking sites that your friends are part of, like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc. We could explain it further, but this video (by the amazing commoncraft) does it so well.
