How to: Keep up with Social Media News

 

Ever log onto your computer in the morning and sift through your Tweet lists of favorite folks, your Facebook news feed, your RSS feeds, and wonder where the time just went? I know I do! We also need to keep in mind that as social media marketers the landscape changes every day. If you take a two week break from Twitter… you would’ve missed that Quora had blown up so much and wouldn’t have realized that it can now be used as a marketing tool, and that maybe your competitor is? That’s the value prop of staying on top of the most trending and important news, so you don’t miss the stuff that you *really* need to know while not getting bogged down or distracted by LolCats and…. this kid. Luckily, for me – and you – there are some applications made for just that. Making it easier for us who are ravenous for information and actually able to absorb it all without the hassle and time wasting. Efficiency is one sweet concept and here are some helpful ways to start rolling with more time on your hands…

Trunk.ly: A “personal” search engine for all of your links…how cool is that? Basically, Trunk.ly takes all your links that you share online, in any capacity (Twitter, Facebook, Posterous, delicious, Tumblr, wordpress, instapaper, and RSS feeds), and makes them easily searchable for you at a later time. This would be super helpful for those who curate content and want to refer back to links in order to curate more easily and in a timely manner. Trunk.ly is the answer and you can sign up online for free.

 Instapaper: You have 5,000 emails in your inbox, your friend just posted pictures from last night and you need to make sure you de-tag yourself, your sister just shared an awesome YouTube video, and you are catching up on Twitter about the Tweetup you missed…when do you have time to read all those awesome blog posts? Instapaper helps you breathe a little easier. Basically a simple way to save articles to read when you have time – whether at your computer, on your iPad, or your smartphone. News at your fingertips, when and how you want it. Isn’t that how simple and awesome life should be? I think so! Sign up with Instapaper online for free.

Cadmus: Ever miss a whole day from being on Twitter and feel out of the loop?  Cadmus will help you “catch up.” This nifty app will group similar posts into conversations and puts the most important at the top of the list for your convenience. In addition it will find the trending topics from within your friends and the “@mentions” from your stream and groups them in convos for your convenience. This also helps with content curation. See what Tweets you should ReTweet from your community – build stronger relationships when you shine the light on others with RT’s and “hat tips.” Cadmus is great concept and free to sign up online.

 Flipboard: Too lazy to check all the sites you have a profile for? Wish you could sit on your couch with your iPad and have it all fed to you on a platter? Or want your Social News (from the platforms you care about) on the go, and at your fingertips with the ease of flipping a page? Flipboard is the “flip” master. Known as the social magazine – it allows you to “flip” through news, photos and updates your friends are sharing on Facebook and Twitter. Basically this sweet magazine gives you an easy-to-read and access layout so you don’t have to sift through information and updates nor do you have to go from one site to the other. It’s all in one place. Now that’s “flippin” awesome — and so is the free download.

Packrati.us: I know I share a lot of links and sometimes I wish I could easily find and go back to them. Packrati.us will bookmark all your Tweets that contain links for you. That sounds pretty helpful, doesn’t it? It will bookmark links you share, links others share with you as well as the Tweets you “Favorite.” To put it simply,Packrati.us is a Twitter + Delicious app. However, now it also supports Historious,Instapaper, Pinboard.in, and Diigo accounts. Sign in through Twitter and be a “pack-rat” with you links. Easy as 1, 2, 3.

 my6sense: Going at full speed ahead, coffee in hand, from one meeting to the next, from dinner party to Tweetup to conference to family get-together to bed to gym to doing it all over again? The hustle and bustle can be fun and rewarding, but it always leaves us little time on our hands. My6sense realizes that and makes it so you have your Twitter, Facebook, news, blogs and RSS on your iPhone,Android and/or other mobile device. This nifty app automatically filters your Twitterstream so that the tweets containing your most relevant content (links) are presented first due to its relevance ranking system which is made to be fully compatible with the most popular platforms like Facebook and Twitter (among others). Free app for your “on the go” pleasure.

Reeder: Love your Google Reader but wish you could access it while you’re bored on the train or waiting for a doctor’s appointment to begin? This app is basically your Google Reader but an on-the-go version for your iPhone and/or iPad. On top of this easy on the go quality, the app also allows you to send to Instapaper (see above for details). save to Delicious, post to Twitter, and email to friends. Sounds pretty convenient and useful to me. This app is available in the App store for $2.99 for any of your apple devices.

Take a few minutes out of your crazy schedule to breathe, decide on an app (or two or three) that you like, throw them on your iPad or iPhone or whatever you prefer, take it with you when you head to your next busy appointment, and see how much more convenient and easy your life has become at the touch of a download/sign-up. Let me know what you think of these “time-saving” options for having your social news where you want it, and when you want it.