Posts Tagged ‘social media’

How do you bookmark your cool sites?

Friday, March 20th, 2009

Since I just wrote about Social Media, I figured a post on social bookmarking would be appropriate. I’m curious how you keep up with cool sites you run across. How do you store resourceful sites and are you able to easily track back to those sites on a moments notice? Personally, I use StumbleUpon which recently updated its look and functionality and is great for finding, tagging, sharing and re-locating sites you’ve previously discovered. I’ve heard about del.icio.us, Foxmarks (which I also use), and Digg.com, but have lately heard more about sites like Reddit, Furl, and Slashdot.org. I’ve even tried keeping up with cool links via Twitter by adding them as favorites, but I’m not sure that will be efficient in the future.

If you’re not using anything to bookmark your links, I’d highly recommend StumbleUpon. It’s super easy to use, is a great way to find more cool sites, allows reviews and tags and displays them very nicely as well. Check out this interface:

Just a few 'graphic design' sites I've bookmarked

A small bit of my tag cloud

So, what else out there is worth checking out? What social bookmarking service do you use and why?


Further Linkage:

20 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites
The Top Ten Social Bookmarking Sites on the Web

From One Social Media Junkie to Another

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

So, you’re an addict too huh?! There’s bound to be a support group for people like us.

Thanks to Stabio Boss for compiling these logos.

Flickr photo from Stabilo Boss. Many thanks for compiling these logos.

With so many social media venues to subscribe to or sign up for, how on earth are we supposed to get any work done? There’s Flickr (photos), YouTube (video), Vimeo (video), Twitter (communication), MySpace (communication), Facebook (communication), LinkedIn (communication – professional), Digg (news), StumbleUpon (link sharing/bookmarking), Hubspot (news – marketing), deviantART (art), del.icio.us (link sharing/bookmarking), WordPress (blogging), Hi5 (communication), Last.fm (music), Foxmarks (bookmarking sync), TweetDeck (tweet organizer)… and a crap-ton more (these are just the one’s I’m more familiar with).

How do we know when to stop following, uploading, searching, subscribing, watching, clicking, saving, tagging, bookmarking and commenting? I assume the answer is ‘never’ since these choices allow us to learn, research, organize, share, keep up and even procrastinate. If this is the case – how do we manage? How do we properly distribute our social media time?

I currently use Twitter (via TweetDeck) to keep up with design insights, events and friends, Foxmarks to keep up with RSS feeds of blogs, Flickr to upload and view interesting photos, YouTube to find awesome 80’s songs/videos (and to procrastinate), Facebook to keep better tabs on my friends (and their birthdays, photos, and ‘info’), StumbleUpon to organize, tag and find awesome links I run across, LinkedIn because I figured it was more professional than Facebook or MySpace, and WordPress for this post you’re reading now.

If you’re not a junkie yet, good for you. Or maybe you’re just unaware that you do have a problem. If you’re still in denial, Wikipedia defines ’social media’ as follows:

Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies that is intended to facilitate communications, influence and interaction with peers and with public audiences, typically via the Internet and mobile communications networks. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).

Source: Wikipedia

Social Media is taking up too much of my time. What do I do to cope? How do you manage your social media habits? I thought about having “Twitter Tuesdays and Thursdays”, “WordPress Wednesdays”, “Facebook/Flickr Fridays”, “StumbleUpon Saturdays/Sundays”… and give Monday a break? Oh, I’m sure something will come along…


To fuel the fire:

50 Social News Websites: A List of General and Niche Social Media Communities
Top Social Media Sites
List of Social Media and Social Networking Sites
Social Media Websites
How to Leverage Web 2.0 & Social Media Sites…
Wow, Social Media is a lot like High School!!