Feb 17, 2009
Marketing Trends: What’s Does it Take to Find a Great Social Network Application?
My colleague, Jean Ann Van Krevelen recently wrote a post about “Using Applications is Social Network Profiles.” She writes, “Social media platforms, particularly social networking sites, have made the use of profile applications an integral part of the user experience. And while some of these apps are fun, there are others that can really increase the functionality and effectiveness of your marketing efforts.” I agree with Jean Ann 100% that applications are an extremely useful tool for social network profiles, and over the past few weeks I have spent a great deal of time evaluating and testing a variety of applications on Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn, in order to develop a better understanding of the variety of applications out on the web.
The results of my evaluation was rather disappointing. I searched through hundreds of applications on Facebook, MySpace, and Linked in only to wind up dissapointed in the quality of work and variety on applications. On the three sites, LinkedIn has the best applications by far, and the small number of applications they offer tells me that they are interested in providing quality applications, not quantity (like Facebook & Myspace). Facebook, on the other hand, has thousands of applications, but many of them have extremely poor quality, functionality, and design, and are not worth wasting your time for.
To help you sort through the abundance of options, and weed out all of the junk, I am creating a list of some of my favorite applications on the three social networks that will provide real value to your profiles.
My Favorites
- LinkedIn Polls - LinkedIn Polls allow you to easily find answers to your business and market research questions.
- Company Buzz (Developed by LinkedIn) - Every second thousands of people are sending out messages about topics and companies through twitter. Company Buzz lets you tap into this information flow to find relevant trends and comments about your company. Install the application and instantly see what people are saying.
- SlideShare - With SlideShare on LinkedIn you can check out the presentations of your colleagues, find trusted experts, and share your own presentations with people in your network. It’s a great way to share your portfolio, resume, or presentations, market your ideas to other people, and learn from other people.
- TripIt - See where your entire professional network is traveling and when you will be in the same city as your colleagues. Meet up at the next industry event or re-connect with old friends. Add the My Travel application to display your current location, upcoming trips and travel stats within your network.
- WordPress - Connect your virtual lives with the WordPress LinkedIn Application. With the WordPress App, you can sync your WordPress blog posts with your LinkedIn profile, keeping everyone you know in the know.
- Business Cards - With this application, you can create a Facebook Business Card, attach your Business Card to Facebook messages, and promote your service offerings by creating a customized business card signature.
- Simply RSS - Simply RSS provides an easy way to add feeds to you profile. It supports all versions of RSS, two major versions of ATOM (0.3 and 1.0) and a number of other namespaces.
- Poll (built by Kresma Design) - This is the premier polling application on Facebook. This application will allow you to create polls for your Facebook pages and Profile pages, allowing you to gain valuable market research from your user group.
- YouTube Video Box - YouTube Video Box is the best way to share your favourite YouTube videos on Facebook. Quickly find videos with our integrated search, show off your favourite videos on their very own profile tab, import your favourite videos from an existing YouTube.com account and much more.
- MyFlickr - Flickr photos meet Facebook with the My Flickr app. With My Flickr, you’ll be able to display your Flickr Photos and Photosets to your Facebook friends for them to comment on with or without making them leave Facebook.
MySpace - Let me start this list by first saying that of the three social networks, MySpace’s applications scored the lowest in my book, due to poor quality, lack of functionality, and disappointing design. Because of that, this list is much shorter than the above recommendations.
- Poll Daddy - This application will allow you to create polls for your MySpace pages and Profile pages, allowing you to gain valuable market research from your user group.
- RSS Reader - RSS Reader add your Blog RSS feeds to you profile, allowing to to have a live feed from your blog right on your main profile page.
- YouTube Favorites - This application will allow you to display Youtube Favorite Videos, Artist Vids, and more on your profile.
- Happy Flickr - Happy Flickr displays your Flickr photos on your profile. This app requires that you have a Flickr account.
So there are a few of my favorites - Do you have some applications that you love? Let me know by leaving a comment!
