Showing posts with label content sharing. Show all posts

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Collect, Organize and Share Your Favorite Content with Zootool

Sometimes I often wonder, just how many methods do we really need for saving and organizing bookmarks, images and videos from the web? You would think that just one would be enough, but every time I come across something new I wonder if it could be better than what I’m currently using. That’s exactly how I felt when I came across Zootool; it’s a visual bookmarking tool that also integrates social media for instant sharing.

Pick Your Tool

Zootool has a bookmarklet, which is called the “Lasso.” It allows you to quickly save images, videos and web pages while browsing. This is the easiest way to get started using Zootool, but if you prefer they also have an unofficial Chrome extension, Firefox Addon and even a Safari extension. If those aren’t enough, there are many other tools and integrations listed on their Tools page.

Connect Your Social Profiles

You can add links to your other profiles right on your Zootool profile. Supported sites include: Delicious, Facebook, FriendFeed, Tumblr, Twitter and many more! Some profiles are used for sharing your Zootool content while others are just used as a simple link to your actual profile on that site.

Adding A Bookmark

I am using the Chrome Lasso extension and when I click the browser button, I am given the option to pick the image that I would like to use. Unfortunately, you can only pick one image to represent your bookmark. Once you pick the one you want, you’ll be give the option to add a title, description and tags. You can set you the item to public or private.

Don’t miss out on the other tabs along the top that give you sharing options. Clicking on Twitter lets you customize and post a tweet, as does clicking on Facebook, Email and More. The More options lets you add the item to Delicious, Tumblr and/or FriendFeed (if you’ve added those to your profile).

Each tool does something a little bit different, so depending on which one you’re using your options may differ.

Stylish Profiles

Honestly, I really like the clean look of the profiles on Zootool and the way that they’re set up (see for yourself). Your content is in the large column on the left, while a search bar (to search through your items), bio, social profiles and following fill up the right. Clicking on an item takes you to full view and lets other users add comments, share it and “like” it.

Discovering other content is also very easy with the public timeline on the home page and the search options. As soon as you add a new item (and have it set to public), it will appear right on the homepage. Find other people is pretty easy too and you can even find your Twitter friends (who are already using the site) by connecting your account.

While Zootool has been around for awhile, I think it is a very handy tool. In addition to my other tools that I use for keeping up with what I find on the Web, I think it’s a keeper. How about you?

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Sprred Makes Publishing Web Content Quick and Easy

Sprred is an quick and easy way of publishing content across the web. You can add text and links as well as upload photos and videos. You’ll then get your own Sprred page that you can name yourself. On your page you’ll have separate tabs for each type of content and a homepage that shows your content in a timeline format.

The site is broken down as follows.

Home

Here you’ll find the dashboard where you can manage and publish content. You can also update your name and Sprred title from here as well as connect your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts.

Sprred homepage dashboard.

Manage

This is where you can manage your content: blog posts, photos, videos, links. You’ll be able to delete and edit content. If you add text, you will have a separate tab for it on your Sprred page; the same goes for photos, videos and links. Note: The tab will only show if you have added that type of content to your account.

Profile

You will have both a personal and professional profile. The personal profiles shows basis info like gender, birthdate, bio and interests. The professional profile is where you can enter education and work info. Both profiles can be viewed on your Sprred page under the info tab.

Settings

Here you can edit your account settings and also setup your autoposting accounts (Facebook and/or Twitter).

Sprred rich text editor.

Quick Upload

There is where you can add new content. There is a rich text editor that can be used to apply styling to your text. You’ll be able to add a title to your text and link and tags to all content. There are three publishing options for each type of content: publish now, save as a draft and make private.

If you’re familiar with the site Multiply, then you’ll notice many similarities between the two; Sprred seems to be a simpler version (of Multiply). Unlike Multiply, Sprred does not have themes/templates which would be a nice touch. There also isn’t a way to find friends or connect with new users, so the site feels kind of lonely. A few additional features would definitely make Sprred more enjoyable. What do you think?

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Collaborate, Snip and Share Content from Around the Web with Snipi

Snipi is “the smartest way to collect, organize, share and collaborate on your interests by grabbing content from anywhere on the web”. It lets you snip images, videos and products with a simple browser tool. If you happen to use Firefox, you can download a cool toolbar that will let you drag and drop content (within the browser itself) from anywhere on the web. For all other browsers (Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome), there is a bookmarklet; the bookmarklet can alternately be used on Firefox as well.

The browser I tried Snipi on for this review was Safari. I went to an item on Amazon.com and then clicked on the bookmarklet. The window below is what was displayed when the window first popped up.

Add to Snipi via Amazon.

As you can see, it lets you cycle through different image thumbnails that you can use (very similar to sharing a URL on Facebook). You can also add a title, description, price, tags and select a category for the item. For some items, you can choose to save it as a shop item (product) or photo. Whichever one you choose will affect how you can share the item across the web and where it will be displayed on the site.

On the right side you’ll see an area named “Streams”. If you are a member of other streams then you can choose to add items to those streams. So while you can join random streams with total strangers, this feature is really great for collaboration with a few friends and large groups as well.

The “Twitter” section is for sharing on Twitter. You will, of course, have to connect your account beforehand in order to share. A downside to this is that Snipi does not use Twitter OAuth (just yet). You will need to enter your Twitter username and password.

Finally, there’s the “FB/WP” area. Here you can share on Facebook (if supported) and/or WordPress (if supported). While on Amazon and filing the item under shop, I got the messages: “Facebook does not support Shop mode” and “WordPress only supports Photo mode”. So, I was not able to share my item on either of those sites.

Once you’re done, you can choose to view the item on Snipi or continue what you were doing. If you view it on Snipi, you will see that there are many options there as well. You can edit the item, share it, view other items on its list, flag it and like it. There is also other info displayed like an overview, reviews, comments, and price comparisons (remember, this is for a shop item).

Snipi item view.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of Snipi; you can do so much more. As you can see, Snipi is not just about snipping content around the web; it’s about building a community and sharing web content with other users and friends. You can see what others have snipped on their magazine-like interface and lets not forget about the ability to search through shop, photos and videos. Have you started snipping yet?

Social Media

Blogger Insight - Social Media