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Social media overload. Or not?

Happy Wednesday! Boy, time surely flies by. Weekend is over, Monday blues are gone (for now) and we are looking forward to upcoming weekend.

Update: I have a wonderful giveaway set up for you over on the food blog. International readers are welcome to enter as well 🙂

The Husband and I often talk about social media. It’s the hype these days, if you haven’t notice it.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry has Twitter & Facebook accounts. But what about other social media tools that are making a difference in my life? I mean, they truly rock my world. Or socks. Whatever.

Pinterest

Well, I have been on a very good mood lately. Mainly because I’ve been spending a ridiculously amount of time on Pinterest. If you are not, well, you are missing out 😀

Blogging reminds me of the days where I used to pen my thoughts in a diary, stumble upon cute shoes in magazines and making a call was a total luxury or an issue of affordability. There weren’t any tools those days to share my thoughts secret crush, bookmarks etc.

There are many interesting things I love while browsing the Internet, and often “bookmarking” doesn’t cut it. I mean, how much do we actually browse through the bookmarks, searching for the shoes that was bookmarked the other day?

Well, that’s when Pinterest comes in. It’s a virtual board where you can PIN whatever images that you can refer too anytime, without hassle. Create as many or little boards as you like.

Simply put…

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard.

… it  lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

Are you pinning on Pinterest? Hit me up! I have some invitations to give out, so if you need instant access into member’s registration, let me know 🙂

Google +

Though Google launched it as a “field trial period”, Google Plus totally made it as a trending topic and talk of the town on similar social networking sites, internet and the blogging world.

With G+, you can:

create circles (groups) where you share different things with different people.

have hangout visibility

instant photo uploading

use sparks to search stuff you are interested in

turn different conversations into one simple group chat by huddle.

Considering this is an “invite only” social networking tool, I have 150 Google Plus invites to give out. Let me know if you need any. Not that it is something major you are missing out on (hint: my personal choice is definitely Facebook).

Instagram

It’s a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures.

Snap a photo with your iPhone, choose a filter to transform the look and feel, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr – it’s all as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented.

Some of my Instagram photos:

Instagram has a major limitation – it’s available only to iPhone users. Add me (username: KiranTarun) if you are using Instagram.

Klout

It measures based on your ability to drive active by creating content and engaging others via influence. Klout score measures data using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare to determine true reach, amplification and overall network score. Surprisingly, not many people are on Klout.

So tell me, what is your favorite social media tool? Any new discoveries lately?

{ 19 comments }

1 Destination Infinity August 10, 2011 at 1:49 PM

I am not familiar with the above social networking tools except google+ that you have mentioned here. I think both FB and Google+ will stay on and grow for different reasons. I don’t use anything other than these two. Right now all my efforts are concentrated on blogging!

Destination Infinity

2 Kiran August 12, 2011 at 11:12 AM

DI,
There is just too much of social networking tools out there – I get so overwhelmed by it at times. By far my favorite tool would be Twitter, Faceook and Pinterest.

3 Kankana August 10, 2011 at 2:26 PM

Great post. Much required for someone like me who sucks at all these. I recently started on Pinterest and it’s so much fun .. love that concept. Klout.. i find it boring, Google+.. yes i am there, haven’t used it yet and then Instagram .. getting addicted to it 🙂

4 Kiran August 12, 2011 at 11:34 AM

Kankana,
Thanks dear, glad it helped! Thought Klout is a different tool altogether, it is an essential marketing tool for companies who are hiring social media enthusiasts/blogger to measure their social networking presence. It’s an important tool, albeit very boring 😉

5 Carolinaheartstrings August 10, 2011 at 8:46 PM

Great post. I learned a lot. Thanks.

6 Kiran August 12, 2011 at 11:38 AM

CHS,
Glad you did honey 🙂

7 Jeffrey Scott August 11, 2011 at 10:32 AM

Never heard of Pinterest. Might have to check that out. However, I do use bookmarks quite frequently. Even have them sorted into into groups. Always wondered about Instragram as I’ve seen others use it. But I don’t have an Iphone so I guess it’s not for me. I’m on Google+ but have not really used it much. Maybe I will at some point. Sometimes it takes me a while to get motivated to try something new out.
Have you ever tried Stumble Upon? It’s kind of a social media, which helps you find new and interesting websites.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/Jeffrey-Scott/

8 Kiran August 12, 2011 at 11:43 AM

Jeffrey,
I am on Stumble Upon and it’s great discovering new and interesting websites. Thanks for sharing. You should try Pinterest, it’s addictive – in a good way, I promise 😀

9 Jeffrey Scott August 12, 2011 at 11:48 AM

I’ll look into it. I’m always looking for something new to try. Thanks.

10 Kiran August 26, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Jeffrey,
There’s no harm in trying Pinterest – let me know if you need an invitation 🙂

11 Jeffrey Scott August 26, 2011 at 12:31 PM

I have started to try it. I was able to get an account. Thanks for the suggestion.

12 nikkiana August 11, 2011 at 11:53 AM

Pinterest is beginning to grow on me. I wasn’t too sure about it at first, but I’ve found it’s a good place to pin pictures of witty signs that I find on the Internet.

Google+, I feel mixed about… but largely because I find I feel very mixed about the whole micropost/link sharing sort of format. My attention to Facebook and Twitter has been waning, and since Google+ is so similar, it’s doing little to really captivate my attention.

13 Kiran August 12, 2011 at 11:48 AM

Nikkiana,
Welcome to Chatterbox and thanks for commenting! I am glad you are finding great use of Pinterest – truth to be told, I’ve had enough with traditional bookmarking. How many folders do I continue making, right? 😀 I share the same sentiments about Google+.. The idea is so similar to twitter and facebook, I don’t hang around much.

14 Radhika @ foodfor7stages August 11, 2011 at 11:59 AM

Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with these social media sites. Still I love it because it helps to connect with like minded people. I personally like pintrest, it is a genious concept.

15 Kiran August 12, 2011 at 11:49 AM

Radhika,
We all feel the same honey. There’s just too much out there. We just need to chose what works best for us. I concur with you about Pinterest. Not only it’s a genius concept, its so streamlined 🙂

16 Harsh August 17, 2011 at 5:40 AM

Woww… Only heard of google plues before reading this post … Didn’t like it very much …

Pinterest looks interesting … or may be it is so because you need an invitation to log in 😛 😛 … Invitation please 😉 😉 >> harsh707s@gmail.com \m/
Harsh recently posted..The First Module “Blues”

17 Kiran August 26, 2011 at 1:17 PM

Harsh,
I agree with you on Google plus. I am much happier with Facebook at the moment. Sending you the Pinterest invite shortly 😀

18 Reema March 5, 2012 at 10:23 AM

Too many social media things clutter up my time, dedication and real life. So I just use wordpress, facebook and twitter. May try out pinterest to see what the hype is all about.
Reema recently posted..Bangalore Chronicle

19 Kiran August 26, 2011 at 12:54 PM

Jeffrey,
You are welcome. I am so glad you are trying Pinterest! Can’t wait to know your opinions on it.