Thing 8: Social Media Management Tools

Thing 8 is Social Media Management Tools. I have both Facebook and Twitter apps, but use Facebook more often than Twitter. I am not a big tweeter anymore, but used to use it quite frequently. I also manage the social media streams for my library, so have to keep up with any changes to both of these platforms for work.

I use the Facebook app multiple times daily. I don't often post to Facebook (try to limit my posting to once per day or even less frequently than that), but I do like to see what others post and what's trending. The only things I don't like about the app are that the in-app browser for following web links is kind of annoying in that it won't let you go back in the same way a normal browser does, and I also don't like all the posts about Game of Thrones (oh, wait, that might not be a problem with the app...).

In order to make Twitter more useful for me personally, I need to unfollow a bunch of stuff I first followed back in 2008/2009 when I joined Twitter. The main problem I see with all social media is that it's only as good as who you follow. I have to spend time curating the people I follow so that I get posts and updates I really care about, otherwise it becomes a vast wasteland of useless or annoying posts.

Thing 7: Content Saving & Sharing

Thing 7 is Content Saving & Sharing. I have been using Pinterest since 2012, and recently downloaded bitly.

Pinterest is probably one of my most-used apps. I have been keeping track of books I've read each year (2012, 2013, 2014) by pinning the book covers, and find my recipes board really helpful when I'm struggling with what to eat or buy at the grocery store. I also have lots of outfit ideas pinned, because my goal was to stop buying lots of new clothes and just figure out how to wear the stuff I already own in a new ways. I keep a wish list of things I'd like for gifts, as well as a secret board with gift ideas for others.

Bitly could become very useful, so it's one of the few apps that I'll probably not delete. I like the idea of saving links from work or home and being able to access them anywhere via the app.

Thing 6: Creating & Editing Docs

Thing 6 is creating and editing docs. I downloaded CloudOn, Quickoffice, and SignNow. I didn't find CloudOn or Quickoffice any easier to use or more intuitive than the Google Drive app I already use for editing documents. I could see potentially using SignNow in limited situations, but don't regularly need to sign electronic documents.

One semi-related note: when downloading new apps, I find it annoying that I must make a login for each app. Very fews apps I've downloaded DON'T require some kind of login or username creation. Sometimes I am forced to connect these apps with my Facebook or Twitter, or make an independent login. The independent login is usually the selection I make, because I don't like apps even having the option to post to Facebook or Twitter for me (even though I am careful not to select this option, I've had it happen anyway with rogue apps), but it's always the most cumbersome option to create a new login just for a simple app. It seems that many of the apps also make you 'confirm' that you want to use your e-mail to login, so you must go into your e-mail and confirm before you can do anything with the app.