Social network fatigue. If you spend a significant amount of time online, as I do, you’ve probably experienced it too. Not just the ‘should I share this on Facebook or Twitter or both?’ question, but the ‘how can I possibly keep up with all this and still get anything done?’ question.
I love social media. I really do. But sometimes it can get a little overwhelming, and I’m always trying to find something to bring together the various places I ‘live’ online in a way that makes it easier. I tried RockMelt, but it just didn’t work for me. I’ve tried Hootsuite and I use Tweetdeck, but I’ve still felt like there should be something better.
Google+ Is a Step In the Right Direction
In my early review of Google+, I noted that there are some great features with that new platform that make staying connected more seamless. I can segregate my ‘Circles’ to allow me to focus on friends sometimes and professional connections others. I can easily access my other Google applications, like my calendar, documents and Gmail. I can even video chat with multiple friends.
Certainly, there are still improvements to be made with Google+, and where it fits into the social media landscape over the longer term remains to be seen. The comparative advantages G+ has are probably short-lived, as other social networks (yes, I’m talking about Facebook) are likely to replicate them in short order. (The one advantage that isn’t possible to replicate is the integration of all the other Google applications.) But what makes me most happy about the launch of G+ is that it definitely ups the game on the personal front for social media. (There is no ‘business front’ on Google+ yet.)
Another Platform That’s Also (Mostly) a Step In the Right Direction
I recently discovered the Nimble Social CRM platform, which is available through the Google Apps Marketplace. It looked interesting, so I downloaded it a few days ago and have been experimenting with it a little since.
Nimble is a lightweight web-based CRM (customer relationship management) platform designed for small businesses. I think that Nimble has some real potential, and in many ways is just what those of us who are active online need.
Contacts, calendars, emails and social conversations are all in one place with Nimble. No need to jump around from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn; you can see it all right there. Did that Tweet prompt you to remember an email you needed to respond to? Hop right into your mail.
Nimble just came out of beta, and while it appears to be pretty robust already I’m sure there are improvements still to come. (Like including Google+, I hope.) Nimble pulls together the places you live online into one cohesive platform. And it allows you to respond easily to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn (or any combination of the three).
Plusses
- Nimble allows you to bring in contact information for everyone in your email accounts, plus Facebook, Twitter and Linked In if you want.
- You can easily find contacts’ other social profiles, see their latest social stream, and even connect with their companies’ social profiles. When you click on a contact, you can see what they’re sharing across all three social networks.
- I can – if I choose – see all of my email accounts in one place plus my social feeds. (See minuses for the downside.) This puts Tweets, Facebook messages, LinkedIn messages and email all in one place.
- You can post a status update to the network of your choosing right from one screen.
- There’s a built-in task/event manager with the calendar.
- You can search all three social networks at once to see what’s being talked about online. A search can be saved if it’s something you frequently do.
- Using tags, you can build custom groups on the fly.
- You can see your Facebook stream without the ads! (This makes me wonder how/why Facebook allowed this.)
- The company says that Nimble Contact will always be completely free to use. It plans to roll out additional features, including a team version ($10 per user per month), Nimble Sales ($19/user/month) and CRM ($29/user/month).
Minuses
- I miss (sorely) the ability to assign labels and move things to folders from my Gmail accounts. (Yes, I know that’s not necessary with Gmail, but I just feel better if I’ve filed stuff away. Perhaps Nimble will finally break me of this unnecessary habit.)
- I’d like to be able to use WiseStamp for my email signatures because I can easily include links to my social profiles, my website and my blog.
- Nimble only allows you to bring in one calendar.
- Seeing all my messages in one place is simultaneously wonderful and horrifying. The potential for overwhelm is pretty big, though I’m planning to continue testing Nimble to see if it makes me more efficient.
Overall, I think this platform is potentially very useful to those who spend a lot of time online. I liken it to Google+ in that I think it raises the bar for systems that allow us to integrate our online lives a little more easily. Give it a try, and let me know what you think in the comments.