Tag: Hootsuite »

Writing has always been a passion of mine because it allows me to express myself. Although while writing is something that I'm passionate about, I also enjoy expressing myself through various other forms like drawing, scrapbooking, and graphic designing. Recently, one area of interest in particular has caught my eye: embroidery. Not just the process of actually embroidering items, but creating digital embroidery designs for others to stitch out with their machines.

Since I own virtually everything Apple, iOS apps have become a major part of my life. There are many apps that I use for my own personal amusement, but most of the apps that reside on the home screen on my iPhone and iPad are there to help me run my small business online. Not only have these apps helped me to get started in doing what I love, they continue to help my business to grow larger.

My main go-to app is Etsy. I set up an Etsy shop a little over a year ago, and it has helped me to achieve more than I could imagine. Most use the Etsy app to browse for unique and handmade items to buy, but there’s another side to Etsy that few know about. With Etsy, I am able to view the essentials about my shop such as orders, revenue, and views, and I can also communicate with buyers through conversations directly on my iPhone. I receive notifications instantly, which ensures that my customers are always getting quick responses. Etsy even allows me to add new items to my shop, change its appearance, and do virtually everything the website offers. My favorite feature is that the app makes a “cha-ching” sound with each sale that I make, which always brightens my day.

Add HootSuite to the ever-growing list of apps with iOS 7 support!

The catch-all social media app that combines Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Foursquare is now fully compatible with Apple's new OS, so no worries about updating and losing functionality. Naturally it's also received a facelift. So now it works on iOS 7, and it looks good in iOS 7. I mean look at it. Look at it!

Let's face it, there are entirely too many social networks out there. In fact, there is a whole cottage industry of companies who try and help keep your online presence in check by organizing all your networks and presenting information in an easily-digestible manner. A leader in this arena on the iPhone is HootSuite, and as of today the service is now available on the iPad.

HootSuite allows users to keep track of Twitter updates, Facebook and Foursquare check-ins without having to constantly jump between apps or visit multiple websites. The service fully integrates almost all of the features of each network without the extra hassle of using their "official" apps. Also, the extra real estate afforded by the iPad creates room for more columns, so prepare for absolute information overload.

HootSuite has been available on the iPhone for over a year so it's great to see the app finally available for Apple's tablet. Nearly all those who have tried out HootSuite have loved it, as it does a great deal to help sort out and categorize what could otherwise be an overwhelming amount of Tweets, status updates and check-ins. If you can't keep things straight now then maybe it would be wise to unfollow a few people and trim down your Facebook friends list. Come on, you never talk to half those people anymore anyway, are they really still your friends?

The larger question raised by the need for services such as HootSuite is have we taken the social networking phenomenon too far? HootSuite only currently supports three social media sites, but there are plenty more where that came from. We're nearing the point where we all spend so much time cultivating our online image that we have to wonder what sort of hit our actual social skills are taking. Are we just creating a new way to communicate, or have we forgotten how to actually talk to one another? I don't have time to answer that right now, I just got an @reply and need to follow-up.