Category — Geek Tips

(Beware of social networking overload - Careers- msnbc.com)

My sentiments exactly!!  Just today I was remarking how I felt overwhelmed by all the social networking tools available and then stumbled upon the article (link above). Choices are endless and you get the feeling like you just don’t know which ones to direct your time.  For me it’s the same feeling when you have too much clutter and disorganization in your home and don’t know where to begin to clean it up.  

You’ll laugh, but today I woke up and was like, “I need to organize all my social media tools and I want all my avatars and usernames to match.”  So that’s what I proceeded to do today.  Maybe a little anal I know, but I feel better.  For more advice I turned to “Personal Branding Guru” Dan Schwabel to see what he suggests.  He sticks to the following 12 networks.  

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Flickr
• del.icio.us
• Technorati
• Twitter
• Upcoming
• MyblogLog
• Slideshare
• FriendFeed
• StumbleUpon

Looking at the list I agree with most of his choices and hopefully I don’t feel the need to even use that many.  A few of them I’m unfamiliar with and a I subscribe to a few not on the list.  

How are you feeling about the plethora of social media tools?

I’ve signed up for a few I never ever go to like digg, Tribe, and stylehive.  I’m starting to take a real look at which ones I use the most and deactivate the ones I never check.  So far my list of tools I use somewhat regularly are the following. 

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• YouTube
• Flickr
• and I’d like to add LinkedIn to the bunch. 

The following idea dawned on me the other morning getting ready for work and I decided to put it into action to see if I liked it.

I’m currently doing freelance work and I joined the project during the last month. I had to catch up fast and since I’m “on the go” a lot, I need to keep many new phone numbers handy at all times. At first I put them in as I usually would by first and last name or company. It dawned on me one morning, in order to keep all the numbers grouped together, I should put an abbreviation of the project or company in front of the name. That way all the numbers will be grouped together since it’s always alphabetical.

So let’s say for example you work for Merrill Lynch. I suggest starting every number with “ML” then the name. So for instance you might put “ML John Smith cell” or “ML Human Resources.” And so far a week into implementing this, I gotta say I dig it. So give it a try if you think it might be a good tip for you too.

I have a great recommendation for you mac users out there, one application that will store ALL your logins, usernames, and passwords for every site you visit completely securely. There’s been a lot of buzz about 1Password on many sites recently so I decided to check it out and it definitely lives up to the hype. I’ve been using it for a few days now and it’s a lifesaver. No more clicking on “Forgot Password?” Click here to check out a quicktime demo.I never did quite understand how keychains worked in Mac OSX. 1Password makes managing your passwords so easy. The only password you’ll ever have to remember is the master password for the program. I didn’t think I had that many logins but in less than a week I already have 27 logins saved in 1Password.1Password highlights include:

• retrieves username/login & passwords for all websites you visit (email, myspace, facebook, blogs, accounts, ebay you name it!)
• securely stores all your credit card and financial info.
• allows you to write secure notes that are accessed only when you launch 1Password.
• you can create multiple identities for auto-fill on sites.
• backup and sync to .Mac and multiple computers. (I have 2 computers and it’s syncs perfectly).
• works across multiple browsers (safari, firefox, camino and more)
• can generate complex passwords for your logins so you’re sure to protect your identity.
• works on your iPhone too.

One of my favorite blogs Unplugged did a great write up with screenshots. Check it out.