The review you have been waiting on the edge of your seat for is here! That’s right! I’ve entered the trenches for you and now have (limited) opinions regarding 3 different social media aggregation tools.

DISCLAIMER: My original ten categories for evaluating these apps didn’t work too well. Basically, they don’t crash my system, don’t have ads, and perform similar functions. So those categories have been thrown out the window. Instead, I’m going to focus more on the design and user experience.

~THE CONTENDERS~

If I’m going to be glancing back and forth between these apps throughout the day, then none of them sticks out too strongly. But, if I’m going to be using one of these for hours on end, then I have some opinions.

• Feedly: Offers a bunch of different reading options and the ability to customize fonts. I really did not like the look and feel of the thumbnail only view, but liked the “List” view that has small thumbnails and headlines.
• Hootsuite: The great thing about Hootsuite was all the information it provides on the homescreen. The issues with Hootsuite was all the information is provides on the homescreen. It felt very garbled and too busy.
• SproutSocial: I love simplicity. SproutSocial embodies simplicity. It’s clean, easy to read, and gave me all the information I needed in a visually appealing design.

WINNER: SproutSocial

Deciding on an app based on my own personal preferences is a bit lacking in professionalism and rigor. Therefore, I’ve decided to step back from my own feelings and reevaluate these three apps as if I were a social media director at an information organization.

The winner is still SproutSocial. If I were wanting to monitor and capitalize on my organizations social media presence, then I would want the ability to evaluate. SproutSocial provides reports through its integration with Google Analytics. 

I set up NetVibes at the start of term to try and stay on top of the blog postings for LIBR559M. I ran into a couple of difficulties:

• I was frustrated at how long it took me to input everyone’s blog.
• I accidentally deleted it and then had to enter everyone’s blogs again.
• I didn’t check it during the Reading Period and got logged out and couldn’t remember my password.
• I was never able to make it public and share it with the class (this one is on me and not the system).

That being said- once I got it operational, it has actually been pretty useful. It does sort of force me to read everyone’s posts and comments. Will I continue to use it after the class is over? Probably not. I just don’t follow enough blogs at this point to really find it helpful.

I started wondering if maybe there is an aggregator out there for me. So I did a little self-assessment. First, I primarily check my social media through my iPad mini. Second, I’m really only use Facebook, Instagram (yeah I have an Instagram now), and Pinterest. Third, I really would like to follow the news more.

So here is the challenge I’m issuing myself. I’m going to test 3 apps by the end of this week and provide you all with my ratings. Does anyone have any suggestions before I start this process? Because I just typed in social media to the app store and became severely overwhelmed.I’m going to try to be as subjective as possible.

Here is the 10 point checklist I’ve developed:

1. Is it Free? Yes or No

2. Are there Ads? Yes or No

3. Does it crash my system? Yes or No

4. What social media platforms does it aggregate?

5. Is it Intuitive? Yes or No

6. Visual Appeal? 1-5

7. Usability? 1-5

8. Is there a newsfeed? Yes or No

9. Would you use this in your everyday life?

10. Would you use this in your professional life?