Joe Hackman

Joe Hackman

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3 Surprise Benefits of Amplify.com

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I was posting to a discussion about Amplify being a “better Posterous” and decided I would share it here on my blog also for the people who follow my blog. I basically moved from “living” on Facebook and Twitter to Amplify this week. I still access Facebook and Twitter in fact in ways the move has enhanced my experience. Here is the post, there is a link after to the original thread if you want to see what others have said.

Wow great discussion! The hook for me that exceeded Facebook, Twitter, etc. was the fact that there is a GREAT community interaction and the site is absolutely unique in what it can do right now. Of course over time I am sure the team here (and elsewhere) will work to innovate and disrupt but I hope that amplify will continue to build on the strength of the conversation portion. Prior to making Amplify my home, I bounced between Facebook and Twitter. For me this was a really simple shift because I can still selectively engage those audiences but also just casually share the stuff that I read throughout the day.

There are some special things about Amplify for me that I had not anticipated at all, and would have stuck around anyway:

1. I made some great Quality friends quickly (the site attracts energetic, kind, supportive and savvy people).
2. I had a big increase in my mentions and interaction on Twitter. (Go figure!)
3. It encouraged me to use a couple of other sites a little more (sites I was basically passively updating already via ping.fm) Friendfeed, Posterous.

In summary Amplify is a site were individuals of all skill levels can effectively communicate without being forced into a closed system (like Facebook). In my view it has the most important aspects of Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed right now. It will also truly “amplify” the effectiveness of your message, ideas and experience.

A bit long winded and worthy of a blog entry on my site, let the ctrl+a, ctrl+c begin! <EOM>

See this entire discussion.

With an Abundance of tools my Internet use evolves (podcast)

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Today while exchanging some tweets with @simbeckhampson I recognized that my social media and web footprint has evolved over time and in the process different tools have been useful for different things:

  1. Facebook is where most of my real life friends are. I also find it more personal interaction wise.
  2. I get news from Twitter, share news and interesting info. More informal interaction wise.
  3. Blogtalkradio has opened up a nice niche for conversations with interesting people.
  4. Cinchcast – I love to call in and get ideas out while driving then I share it later.
  5. Youtube – I am big on screencasts and moving towards more personal messages (videos of me mixed in)
  6. Amplify – I am making new friends, sharing more what I am reading more and selectively share to FB, Twitter, etc.

These aren’t all the tools I use, for me the key is really the data that comes in via Email. I need to re-evaluate my use of Google Reader and RSS also for incoming information. Here is the podcast that was inspired by my conversations with Paul:

Allow me to introduce Amplify my new Favorite Internet App (Video)

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Today I discovered an app that I can confidently say is one of the most under-hyped web 2.0 apps I’ve come across. I happened to be searching for something on google and one of the results was at amplify.com. When I got to the content I was very interested in what I saw, it was like Friend Feed meets Alltop. For best results I recommend using this with Mozilla Firefox.

Why is this a Killer Web 2.0 App?

  1. You can easily share entire pages or snippets of pages via a number of channels.
  2. It does all of the heavy lifting including tagging your content, yes it generates suggested tags!
  3. Includes a social component and feed similar to Friendfeed.
  4. Provides the ability to include categories to better organize your content.

Sharing snippets or pages via a number of channels

By allowing you to configure Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, and a number of other services you have the ability to share the message with the audience that you think it is most appropriate for by simply checking or unchecking the box next to that service. You can uncheck the twitter option for example if you want to add some hashtags you can come back and share with Twitter after you post it. It also has integration with bit.ly that allows you to track the URL’s that it parses and shares with the various sites you choose. For me the flexibility here is really helpful. If I’ve been busy on Facebook for example I might give those users a break and share it with Twitter. I don’t send everything everywhere, that is a decision we all must decide fits our needs best.

Check out my Amplify Page.

Heavy Lifting and Tagging Content

So many of us out here in internet land are lazy, we don’t always want to think about brands, messages and SEO. Sometimes we just want to post something and share it with our friends without consideration of how it will play out strategically for the next 90 days. For some of us tagging articles is the web 2.0 equivalent of heavy lifting. Someone was wise enough to figure this out and there are suggested tags generated automatically for each article or snippet you amplify. Yes!

Social Components and Friendfeed Like UI

I’ve noticed a lot of people on Friendfeed say not so nice things about Twitter. I can understand it, Twitter is like the wild west of the internet. It can be chaotic, it is very fluid and loose. Friendfeed is very structured and user friendly. Most importantly Friendfeed offers the right mix of features to make it very comfortable for social media savvy people to communicate. Amplify delivers this level of comfort and familiarity to the novice or pro alike.

Categories Better Organize Your Content

I discovered this option after I recorded the screencast for this post. I am definitely not about perfection and my screencasts, podcasts and writing will indicate that if you’ve followed me very long. So lacking the retention of a perfectionist I did not go back and add the category information to the video but it really is great to have it.

You will be cooler than all your friends

You can be cooler than all your friends, I cannot imagine how this site will not catch on. It has the most important criteria:

  • Ease of use – it doesn’t get much easier
  • Social – Check!
  • More features – Check!
  • Tags – Check!
  • Categories – Check!
  • URL Shortening/Tracking – Check!

Welcome to my favorite new Web 2.0 App: