JD Hancock

JD’s Super Social Media Weekly Roundup for Friday, June 24

What Tools Were Awesome This Past Week?

Anmish — allows you to create, send, and share funny animations and video parodies using their caricatures and your own voice.

Banjo — is an iOS and Android app that pulls together all your tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram pics into an interesting location-aware interface.

JibJab — the providers of hilarious customizable eCards aren’t new at all, but I did use them this week to wish my dad a Happy Father’s Day.

Twylah — a service that turns your Twitter stream into a blog-like experience (like this) added Power Tweets to their offering. The power tweets didn’t blow me away, but I’m encouraged that Twylah is continuing to evolve.

Empire Avenue — is the social media stock market game, but this week I used its reporting capabilities to create “my top retweeters” and “my top conversations” lists for Twitter.

Better Facebook — is a browser extension that significantly enhances your Facebook experience with a ton of extra features. I’m not sure it’s for me, but I can see it being very useful for many other people.

What Else Was Awesome?

• Mashable posted a funny map of the United States with the cities named as you see them on Twitter.
• People seemed to like my latest stormtrooper photo entitled “The Death Star plans are not in the main computer.”
• Foursquare zipped past the 10,000,000 users mark.
• Cyril Guichard came up with a new cyborg-related nickname for me: “Cybo.” I like it!
• I found an interesting social media infographic on Social Media Today.
• My family acquired a PlayStation 3. My PS3 ID is jdhnco for those who are interested.
• I had a nice HootSuite vs. SproutSocial discussion with @nakeva, @sharonhayes, @AniseSmith, and @AriesGDIM. I believe there is no clear “winner” as they are both excellent tools; it’s a matter of your priorities. I personally use SproutSocial because it supports bit.ly URL shortening.
• The social networks couldn’t decide if Weird Al’s new music video “Perform This Way,” a parody of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” was hilarious or disturbing. I vote both.
• A lot of people are using my photos on their websites. I’m trying to thank them as I discover them.

What Will Be Awesome Next Week?

• I will post more stormtrooper photos.
• My company will provide me with more free food.
• The world of Portal will grab my attention.