Every time I speak about social media someone in the audience asks me how much time I spend on Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. I explain that I try to be very organized with my time and allot specific spaces of time to these endeavors.
While that is true, I must confess that I am driven crazy by having to visit each site individually to provide status updates, or create a blog entry. I’ve tried to find a dashboard that would let me see all of them at one time. This would eliminate the need to open four different internet tabs.
As I searched the internet I found an April 6, 2009 article about Netvibes.com on DuctTape Marketing so I decided to give it a try. At first I was a little confused. But I kept at it and I have to say that it is so much better than anything else I’ve been able to find. On one screen I see my twitter feed, my facebook updates, my Linkedin updates and my blog roll.
I’ve also added some other modules to track things like the local weather and my stock portfolio.
As far as ease of use, I can update my twitter and my facebook right there on the dashboard. For LinkedIn it takes an additional step. I click on ‘Your LinkedIn Network’ and it opens another window where I can enter an update.
For my blog, it’s the same thing. I click on ‘Seize This Day’ and it opens my blog up in a separate window. I’m logged in so I can add a post right there.
As it stands it’s pretty good. However, today I added an app with Twitterfeed so my blog posts go directly to my twitter account and my facebook account. Once again, a step eliminated. Before I set this up I’d have to go to Twitter and tweet my new blog post. That would feed my facebook updates. Now I only have to post to the blog.
With all of the social media outlets and opportunities, along with all of the other responsibilities on our plates, it can get overwhelming trying to maintain a steady flow of activity. These two applications – netvibes.com and twitterfeed.com have helped me shave a significant amount of time off of my activity – which only helps me get more done in other areas of my business.
For me, part of the lesson is to continue to take a look at HOW I am doing things. Whenever I consider that there may be an easier way, it is in my best interest to look for an alternative. Every day new and interesting applications are being created to help us work more effectively and efficiently. We just have to go looking for them.
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About the Author: Diane Helbig is a Professional Coach and the president of Seize This Day Coaching. Diane is a Contributing Editor on COSE Mindspring, a resource website for small business owners, as well as a member of the Sales Experts Panel at Top Sales Experts.
HootSuite has Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn integration, but I haven’t found anything for blogs. I’ll have to give NetVibes a look.
Excellent article, one of the problems with the websites and tools you’re talking about is that in order to appeal to all kinds of social media users, they have to be so robust they stop being easy to use (which is the point!)
We’re in the process of developing a tool like this, but built for particular industries (Real Estate agents and Mortgage Lenders are the first 2, with many others in the pipeline).
Any thoughts on making our tool better based on your experiences would be much appreciated.
Geoff
I have been using Netvibes as my personalized start page for some time now. I have tabs for different projects, job areas, hobbies & interests, “pause” & spare time activities, RSS feeds, etc.
You could also create a public Netvibes page. If you click on my name you will come to “Martin Lindeskog’s Universe”. I am using Aurora theme at the moment. This theme is automatically changing its style during the day. I recently installed the new Wasabi edition of Netvibes. It has a personal dashboard and smart reader. Apply for a beta invitation: http://wasabi.netvibes.com/
I have to check out Twitterfeed.com. Do you know if Facebook has changed its default setting regarding streaming content from other sources?
Kipp Krukowski
Diane – I was looking for a website that pulled all of these together. Thanks for the article and the screenshot. Also, congrats on your “10 Under 10” COSE award!
credit unions
In present times social media sites are highly used and they tend to provide a big business.They play a major role in all the aspects of our current lifestyle.All the points stated in this post are really awesome and implementing them the social media sites will get more enhanced.
Clayton Shumway
Great post, I’ve been using TweetDeck and it’s worked out OK…next up is Netvibes. Thanks!
ortlieb
thx for the tip. Another day I was wondering that something like this would be eccelent and i look for it and did not found anything. thx for this
Diane Helbig
Interesting comments. I don’t know if facebook has changed their default settings but have noticed that on hootsuite I can now post my tweets to LinkedIn – something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile. My twitter account is attached to my facebook so my tweets have been going there for a while.
I haven’t tried the wasabi beta version of netvibes and need to learn more about the personal pages there – thanks Martin for a look into your personal page.
It is remarkable the speed at which changes are occuring with online applications. It just keeps getting more streamlined and easier to use. Geoff – good luck with your product. I’ll be interested to learn how it goes. I have found netvibes to be pretty robust for me – I especially like that I can blog from there. However, I have specific needs for social media that this application meets. I am sure there are others using social media in various ways and may still be struggling to discover a better method.
Hey Diane,
I get asked that very same question all the time. How long do you spend on this social media stuff.
An the truth is that its possible to spend a lot of time on it. How ever if it is an integral part of your overall marketing the question is how much time should you spend on marketing in your business. Social media seems to have become a key part of marketing so you must allocate some time and effort towards it.
Getting smart and efficient helps a great deal too as you have pointed out. Systems that allow you to say something once really help.
I use a relatively unknown product called MePing which allows me to post to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn all at the same time.