Top Social Website Tools 2007

Social website tools we actively use and recommend

Created by Raj Anand

Raj Anand is the winner of Europe's Young

Entrepreneur 2007 by BusinessWeek, Digital
Future 50 by Revolution Magazine (alongside
founders of Twitter and Spotify), Courvoisier/The
Observer Future 500 (2008), and a finalist of
Sussex Entrepreneur 2008. He is also the author
of Recruiting with Social Media published by
Pearson. At the age of 23, he started his first
business in social media working with major
corporations, the public sector, and start-ups. Raj
attended Sussex University (Brighton, UK),
School of Management at Cranfield University
(Bedford, UK), and Indian Institute of Technology
(Delhi, India).
Out now on Amazon
Aug 2010

“Essential Social Media

knowledge to grow your
business...”

Special thanks for Leif Kendall

RajAnand.biz Raj Anand in partnership with Leif Kendall, Kendall Copywriting

 Social Media Innovation

Recommendation Service

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

 Social Media Innovation
GOOGLE MAPS
Google Maps

One stop shop for maps, reviews,

multimedia and additional links to help you
research venues or make bookings.

Google Maps and UGC link

User-Generated Content (UGC) provides new views of the world. For instance, if you’re
looking for a hotel online, you can check out not just the hotel, but its location, nearby
restaurants, distance from the sea, and anything else you’d like to know.

Sites like Flickr, YouTube and Tripadvisor have made UGC the basis of their entire
websites. Visitors to these sites are presented with the sights, sounds, news and reviews of
the public.

So in choosing the perfect hotel you might have used Google Maps to check the location,
then visited two or three other sites to get social proof that the hotel is as good as it claims.
Then you might have discovered that it’s fully booked! But Google has an alternative…

Google Maps has now integrated UGC, so you can quickly get reviews and images of an
interesting hotel, then simply follow a link to book your ticket. Google has integrated the
functions of several different websites into one highly effective tool.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

 Social Media Innovation
BADOO
Badoo Recommend Users

Interactive way to recommend users based

on their activity on the site

Badoo preview users link

Badoo – a growing social networking website – includes a

simple Flash-based system that allows new users to scan
through existing members’ profiles. The interactive device
displays members according to their recent activity (so more
active members are more prominently displayed).

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

 Social Media Innovation
LINKEDIN
LinkedIn News Recommendation

Suggesting news to users based on their

industry and their employer.

LinkedIn news recommendation link

LinkedIn – the business-focussed networking website – has

a company news feed that displays news articles relevant to
your company, industry and peers.

This feature makes LinkedIn “sticky” – it gives people a

reason to return. LinkedIn’s News could become an essential
destination for anyone that wants to stay in the loop.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

 Social Media Innovation
QYPE
Qype Recommendations

Get recommendations of similar venues in

the area based on tags and displayed using
a Google Map Mashup

Qype Recommendations link

Qype is a website that provides reviews of everything: from

cafés, bars and restaurants to financial services, cinemas and
swimming pools.

You can also browse places of interest using a Google Map,

as shown above. The icons on the map represent places that
Qype users have reviewed. Clicking on the button takes you to
reviews and pictures of that place.

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Photo Tagging

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FLICKR
Flickr Photo Tagging

A simple solution to the massive photo

identification problem: tag it !

Flickr Photo Tagging link

Once upon a time, the Internet had a big problem with images: it didn’t know what they
were.

In 2004, Flickr came up with a solution. Flickr allowed users to ‘tag’ images with
descriptive phrases. So pictures of fluffy dogs might be tagged with fluffy and dogs. Now the
Internet could understand what we were looking at.

Flickr was also an early adopter of Tag Clouds. Tag Clouds are typically an area of a web
page that is made up of tags – the words that people have used to mark their pictures. The
text size varies according to the popularity of the tag. So if loads of people have been tagging
pictures with dog, but very few with fluffy, the words would appear in the Tag Cloud like this:

fluffy dog small

racing spots food

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FACEBOOK
Facebook Photo Tagging

Tag pictures based on who is in the photo.

facebook photo tagging link

Although Flickr found a solution to a big Internet problem, it

was only really die-hard geeks that took the time to tag their
pictures.

Facebook took photo tagging to the next level, and made

the method simple enough that it got everyone tagging.
Facebook connects photos to the people in them, making the
tagging process intuitive and fun.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

Instant Messenger / VOIP

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GOOGLE TALK
Google Talk

Whilst other chat/IMs concentrated on

expanding their functionality. Google just
kept the chat simple and elegant

Google Talk - Instant Messenger link

Google Talk provides a beautifully simple Instant Messaging

(IM) service. Rather than cluttering up the system with
hundreds of options and pointless smileys, Google’s IM
system just lets you chat.

Google Talk also allows users to talk to each other over the
Internet, using the Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP).

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JAJAH
Jajah

Save money on calls from your landline or

mobile by calling via Jajah.

Jajah - call without headsets link

If the inconvenience of being tied to your computer puts

you off using Skype’s VOIP service, you may like what Jajah
has to offer.

Jajah allows you to make cheap calls to landlines and

mobile phones, from landlines or mobiles, while retaining the
clear call quality you expect from traditional telephony.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

BADOO
Badoo Chat

A messaging system which incorporates IM

and private emails. Nice and simple!

badoo chat - simple is good link

Social networks typically give users many ways to
communicate. You can choose between instant messaging,
posting notes on a wall or sending emails.

Badoo has made all of these options easy to access by

putting them in one place. Whichever way people choose to
contact you, you can read their messages in the same place.
You don’t have to click away to a separate area just to read
your emails.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

SKYPE
Skype Button

Make your Skype profile accessible from

any site.

Skype button link

You can add a bit of Skype magic to your website with the
new Skype button.

The Skype button can be customised to show your status

(busy, available etc). Visitors can then click your Skype
button to chat or talk to you.

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Messages / Wall

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ORKUT
Orkut Scraps

Easiest way to publicly communicate with

your friends. No useless features which
distract you, just simple text laid out

Orkut Scraps link

A quick comparison of Facebook’s Wall and Orkut’s system

of scraps shows that Google is committed to keeping Orkut
clean and simple.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

VOXSWAP
Voxswap Multi-lingual keyboard

Easy way to type in different languages by

clicking the mouse

Voxswap - multi-lingual keyboard link

Voxswap is a social network that connects people who

speak different languages – so people can teach each other
their own language.

Obviously, this kind of complicated, multi-lingual

international communication could get messy. But Voxswap
enables everyone to speak the same language with a simple
online keyboard.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

Photos / Videos

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

PICNIK
Picnik Picture Editor

Easy way to edit your picture online.

Online Picture Editor

Picnik is an online photo editing service. So if you want to

lighten, darken, crop, resize or flip your pictures, Picnik lets
you do this quickly and simply.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

BADOO

Full screen (flash)

slideshows on Badoo
which allow you to go
through picture entries

Badoo Slideshow

Badoo Slideshow

Badoo’s slideshow is beautifully simple and lets

users concentrate on the pictures.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

INTRUDERS

Lightbox Video player

on Itruders.tv for Full
and partial screen
videos

Badoo Slideshow

Intruders.tv Video Play

An excellent example of a video lightbox (a

JavaScript application).

Lightboxes are a brilliant way to allow users

access to multimedia content whilst keeping them
on the same page.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

YOUTUBE
YouTube Video Responses

An innovative way to get users interacting.

An innovative way to
get users interacting.
Not by text or IM but
by videos.

YouTube is wonderfully clear about their

purpose: it’s all about videos.

So in addition to the text comments that

users leave on videos, YouTube now invites
Video Responses. So viewers can respond to
videos with a video of their own!

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

Application / Inter-connectivity

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FRIENDFEED
A handy way to keep track of your friends’
social networking activity.

Friend Feed

Keeping up with all of your friends in all of your chosen

social networks could take all day. One simple way to see
what people are up to is with FriendFeed.

Built by former Google employees, FriendFeed attempts to

bring some clarity to our hyper-connected Web 2.0 world. But
we’re still not sure if this adds to the noise or helps cut
through it!

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

FACEBOOK
“Invite/Find friends on Facebook”
Facebook

Facebook Invite to become friend

While you’ll have great difficulty exporting your contacts

from Facebook, they at least do a good job of importing them.
Facebook allows you to draw your contacts from a huge
variety of email accounts, making the process of finding your
friends quick and easy.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

Mobile Phone / Browser Plugins

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

TWITTER

Twitter API

Twitter allows others

applications to update
user’s status.

Twitter Mobile and IM Application

Twitter is a site that gives people a chance to tell the world

what they’re up to.

Interestingly, the majority of the updates that users post to

Twitter come from its Application Programming Interface (API)
rather than direct from www.twitter.com

Twitter’s appropriation by the people is a clear win for those

who advocate an open-source approach to the web. By opening
up their program, Twitter has allowed users to develop the site the
way they want.

Twitterers can “tweet” in a multitude of ways – there is one to

suit everyone.

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GMAIL | DELICIOUS
Mobile interface Gmail
mobile site tailored for emails

Gmail on your mobile

phone is all about
emails. Just emails. It’s
not about the Google
brand or flashy,
unusable effects.
Gmail’s mobile website
is optimised for
performance – to the
extent that even
Google’s logo has
been stripped off. Mobile Gmail
Allows users to check
their email on mobile
interface.

del.icio.us firefox plugin

take your links with you

If you love using

bookmarks but hate losing
them when you use a
public PC, you’ll like what
del.icio.us has to offer.

Once you’ve installed the

del.icio.us plugin you can
save your bookmarks to it,
then they can follow you
wherever you go.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

Widget System

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

BBC

Allows users to
personalise BBC’s
home page and
arrange news

BBC Homepage

BBC Widget
Drag and drop your preferred content.
Web 2.0 is all about content, customisation and
participation. The BBC recently embraced web 2.0
and released a new version of their website that’s
based on widgets.

So each visitor to their website can drag sections

of content (widgets) around, prioritising whatever
matters most to them.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

NETVIBES

One of the most

intuitive systems
available on the
internet to add

Netvibes Widget

Netvibes Widget
simplest way to add RSS
RSS is still a mystery to many web users.
Netvibes makes adding feeds and receiving
content much simpler, by recommending feeds
and allowing users to drag and drop those
they like into their favourites.

Netvibes allows the less geeky to learn how to

use RSS feeds.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

HIGHRISE

simple search and add

leads

Highrise

Highrise: Follow your contacts

Highrise, from 37Signals, combines a diary with

a contact book and a Client Relationship Manager
(CRM).

Highrise can help you cut a clear path through

the morass of contacts, leads and possibilities that
your work presents.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

Kwiqq - Social Website Builder

About Raj

Hey Everyone,

My name is Raj and I’m the founder of Kwiqq. Firstly I hope you enjoyed the 25 social tools
we put together for you. I work on selected projects as a social media consultant, helping
you achieve your business objectives. I’m a strong believer in innovation, constant learning
and focus on what works for businesses. Social Web is changing the way we buy, sell,
conceptualise but mainly it has revolutionised the way we communicate.

I have worked with variety of customers assisting them with their social media projects. In
the past I have worked directly with customers like 2wentys (part of First Choice Holidays),
E3 Group Limited, East Hampshire District Council, Crimson Business and Highams PLC.

If you have any queries or suggestions would be good to hear from you. Email:
me@rajanand.biz or call +44 (0) 1273 25 1414.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter

Kendall Copywriting Ltd

Who are you ?

By Leif Kendall
Leif Kendall is a freelance copywriter who specialises in clear corporate communications
that get results. I write lots of copy for websites and also help businesses get more from
their website – using Search Engine Optimisation, blogging and social media to create a
successful web presence.

When he's not writing sparkling copy he's busy reading, parenting, cycling and cooking
spicy curries.

Social Media Consultancy - Freelance Copywriter