Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application

The latest data on browser trends from Sitepoint show that more people browse the Web on smartphones than use Internet Explorer 6 and 7 combined. Those two old clunkers have been the bugbears of Web developers for years, requiring sites to degrade as nicely as possible to that least common denominator of browsers. But it’s a new world now; 6.95% of Web activity in November 2011 was on mobile browsers, and only 6.49% was on IE 6 or 7.

For a long time webdesign for businesses has had to be backwards compatible with older browsers but now we need to look forward to new trends and mobile is a big one.

Several times in the last few months trusted services have changed their Terms of Service without notification leading to uproars from the users. This article is a blessing because it gives pointers on evaluating ToSs according to what the companies actually need to do their jobs.

Using a social media web site Ex. Twitter, Facebook and now Google+ is a common place activity for many, but every time a new social media site comes online the same discussions surfaces and the same comments are made about rights grabs, privacy concerns and the need to lock your personal information & photos offline to preserve your ability to protect your work/business. This later concern is one photographers repeat every time a new site comes online and its often backed by erroneous information or a simple lack of understanding of the Terms of Service ToS of the new web site.

via How I Evaluate Terms of Service for Social Media Web Sites – Google+ » JMG-Galleries – Jim M. Goldstein Photography.

The basic premise is like Facebook, where you follow people to see what they post, post your own stuff and make comments. Where Google+ shines is it’s stripped down interface curtesy of a former Apple designer. The variety of content is distracting enough, the simple display makes it far easier to focus and read through quickly. They’ve also been updating the looks of their other services similarly to good effect.

Circles

The second best thing they’ve done is called Circles. Instead of lumping everyone you follow into a single “Friends” category, you can separate them into groups or Circles. There are some everyone starts with like Family, Friends, Acquaintances, and the default Follow for people you don’t know. You can also create your own Circles, for instance I have one for fellow librarians and one for designers whose work I like.

Putting people in Circles let’s you customize privacy settings. So you can just allow people in your Family and Friends Circles email you or only your friends have access to those photographs you don’t want strangers to see.

Possibly the best part of Circles is the ability to use them to filter your stream, so on days you don’t have much time you can just scan the posts of the important people and when you have time you can catch up with the others.

Not Perfect

I do have a wish list. First, the ability to crosspost with other networks, so I could post something on Google and have it automatically linked on Twitter. It’s still in testing and I imagine that feature in on the list of things to implement as it becomes more stable.

Next, the killer feature, is an “Unread” setting. My biggest hate with Facebook is that it’s like a constantly running waterfall that I can’t keep up with. I don’t read Twitter using the webpage for the same reason. I like Google+ on the web except I can’t tell how much is new and which of my Circles said it at glance. They do have a blue line that borders the unread items but the fact it took me three days to notice means it’s a little too subtle. And I need numbers I can use to make decisions at a glance. I don’t always have time to sit and read and the ability to see that there’s nothing new from my family and friends would let me skip it with a clear conscience until I have time to catch up. This may also be on the to-do list or they may plan on allowing external software to do it like other social media services do. Either way, the first company to offer me this feature will get my loyalty and maybe my money.

Bottom line for me is that I actually like and use Google+, unlike any other social network except Twitter.

Pros

• Clean interface
• Different levels of intimacy with customizable privacy settings
• Stream filtering by Circles

Wishlist

• Social network crossposting
• “Unread” items list

I’m personally looking forward to the multi-site ability as I have several different blogs using WordPress. Keeping up with blog and plugin updates on all of them can be a little tiring. I expect it will be a lot of work to set up but worth it in the end.

I’m planning to use the custom post type option to redo my portfolio in a more accessible manner.

The addition I’m not anticipating but I should is the ability to name your administrator account whatever you want. For years the first account created by WordPress was called “admin” by default. Hackers have been taking advantage of it to try to crack WordPress-based websites. There have been tutorials to change the default user name but these have been hacks needing you to make changes directly in the database. Letting people create personal ids at installation makes the site far more secure with no scary hacks needed.

I’m listing some useful tutorials for WordPress 3.0 and others that work for earlier versions too.

• WordPress 3.0: Checking out the New Menu System
• Adding Post Thumbnails To WordPress 3.0
• Using HTML5 elements in WordPress post content
• How To Create “Search By Category” Functionality In WordPress
• How to Add Post Thumbnail to your WordPress RSS Feeds
• 10 Resources To Help You Create A Killer WordPress Options Page
• 25+ Extremely Useful Tricks for the WordPress Functions File

Well, yeah.

My account syncs with my phone and my computer and there’s web access. Nothing else I have does that. I use it for blogging ideas, a todo list, a grocery list, a wishlist, gift ideas, and pretty much any other information I want to keep track of. It’s like what the Notes app for the iPhone should have been.

There’s a built-in interface for emailing notes to friends and several ways of organizing notes. You can put notes in different notebooks instead of categories and/or use tags. The search feature goes through the full text so organization isn’t even necessary if that’s not your thing.

Recently, I started keeping my recipes in Evernote so I could check them at the grocery store. I’ve made that notebook public because several of my friends wanted to try them. I’ve also taken the RSS feed from it and they are now shared other places as well.

Evernote has put a great deal of effort into making sure your information is available where and how you like it, which makes it the most useful web service I use (Twitter is a close second.).

Why Widgets?

One of the things that it seems every WordPress theme must have these days is areas where users can use widgets or small, predefined pieces of code that users can use to add custom functionality to their site. On this site I use one to list my recent tweets and another to display design bookmarks, a third links to my recent posts. Widgets are so popular because they make personalized coding easy for users. I didn’t have to worry about any PHP or javascript to use them once I set up the widget sidebar.

How’s it Done?

1. First you create a file called functions.php in the theme folder.
2. Then you paste in the following code:

    'Widget Bar',
           'before_widget' => '
   	<li>',
           'after_widget' =&gt; '</li>
   ',
           'before_title' =&gt; '
   <h3>',
           'after_title' =&gt; '</h3>
   ',
       ));?&gt;

   • If you’re only putting in one sidebar, you don’t have to name it but it makes it easier to keep them straight if you have multiple ones. I use two. One for my index page and one for the rest of my site.
   • To make a second (or more) sidebar, just duplicate the code and give it a different name.
   • The html can be modified to whatever you need.
3. Now you just need to insert the sidebar wherever you want the widgets to show up (not strictly in the site’s sidebar). Just paste this code where you want the widgets, changing the name to the one you gave it in the functions.php file.

   <ul></ul>

That’s it! Just install the widgets you want as plugins and set them up under the Appearance pane.

The first thing I noticed when I opened it for the first time was that the info pane is back on the right side. Yay! Having it on the bottom was hard to read. Although the wood background I’ve loved since I first got it now bothers me and I miss the option to change imagery it used to have.

There’s a link to the iPhone app on the iTunes store in the preferences. Once it’s installed on your device you get an option to use a dummy library or sync your own. Connect your phone to your computer and open the desktop application. Your device shows up in the left-hand pane on top under your list of libraries. A screen like the one in iTunes pops up and there is a code you have to enter to link the two libraries. Then you can sync and import the data from your  desktop to your device. You can import all the items or just selected shelves.

In the mobile app you get all of the content you specified plus the people you’ve loaned stuff to and what they have. There’s a built in search function but unfortunately the library content isn’t available to the iPhone’s overall search function.

There isn’t a way to add content on the go or edit the content but you can email records or follow a link to Amazon. The visual design is entirely consistent with the desktop application while also being appropriately formatted for mobile use. I’d like a little more customization ability but it’s good for a first release.

The basics are you create an account and start following other people, friends who have accounts, celebrities, businesses, etc. You then receive their posts in your Twitter feed. Some of them follow you back and they receive your posts, or tweets. You can tell the world how much you liked a movie or advertise the car you’re selling. You can have conversations with other Twitter users and anyone else can jump in. There is also a private messaging function for things you don’t want in the public domain.

There are a myriad of ways to use twitter. Street vendors in San Francisco post where they will set up daily. Layer Tennis is a design competition that tweets when new entries are posted. Many people post when they add new posts to their blogs. Some websites use it to directly communicate with their audience. I use it daily for discussions with my friends. We often plan get-togethers with it. I also find it useful for keeping up with the general news in the world as well as interest-specific news. Sounds a lot like blogs. Part of the popularity of Twitter is that it is very easy for fast short updates where full blog posts feel like too much work or too formal.

It can be a great networking tool as well as a fun time-waster. Businesses search for their names and communicate with customers who have problems, bloggers advertise new posts, I have my twitters posted on my website so there is always fresh content. There is a great article on getting started with Twitter on ProBlogger.

Like blogs before it, the only way to really understand Twitter is to use it. Search for a topic and read what other people are saying. Then create your own account and start talking too.

Evernote is my external brain. There is a desktop app for Mac or PC, an iPhone app and a web app that all sync automatically. There’s even a Thunderbird extension that sends things to your account. Text, audio, or photo. It’s searchable, taggable and has categories.

Bookshelf is an e-book reader specifically for iPhone and the iPod Touch. It supports a lot of file formats (no DRM), including all my MobiPocket formatted files from Webscription.net. The best part is the customization options. There are a number of color themes and you can set the font and the size for what is easiest to read for you.

Any time I mention e-books, someone goes “But I like paper”. I like paper too but paper is heavy and bulky to carry around. I can fit a dozen books on my phone, which is backlit for low-light situations and always have something to read when I have to wait. Plus, with Webscription.net’s free library and low prices I can save money and a tree.

Mah Jong is an old favorite game of mine and Moonlight is the best execution of it for the iPhone. There are several layouts and a free as well as a pay version.

Sudoku is popular all over these days and Big Bang’s web version for the iPhone was the most popular option. The installable version is still good, though there are a couple of changes I would like.

Yes I’m a Twitter addict. All my friends are too so it works out to help us keep up with each other. I’ve tried several different Twitter clients for the iPhone, including Twitterific which is my desktop client but I’ve only fallen in love with Tweetie. It loads quickly (moreso than the website) and gives you access to all the normal Twitter functions.

There are lots more great apps and I’d love to hear your favorites.