Social media, for better or worse, has changed how we interact with our fellow man (or woman). Sifting through the information in your many streams is a topic we'll cover in another post. For the time being, let's concentrate on getting your message out. If you have an account with many different social networks, it's difficult to know which updates should go where. Some networks (or, rather, their inhabitants) are more forgiving than others when it comes to flooding your stream with the ramblings of your conscious mind. Here, we'll present a method which utilizes those nuances. We'll discuss Facebook, Twitter, and the new kid on the block, Google+.

Google+ is here to stay. Love it or hate it, my prediction is that within a few years, if you're on the web, you will be on G+ (again, this is a post for another time). The community contained therein is a remarkably neighborly bunch, and encourages sharing that river of information flooding your mind. Even if you surpass the limit of what is tolerable, your fellow Googlers can simply throw you in a different circle and pay you no mind. Hence, if you're on G+, proper etiquette says you can post more here than anywhere else without annoying your circles.

Twitter is also very tolerable when it comes to sharing multitudes of information, but slightly less so than G+. Your followers could put you in a list and browse their timeline lists separately, but few browse Twitter in this manner. That being the case, common courtesy is to limit your tweets to things you feel are of at least moderate importance. This is debatable, of course, but the basis of my thinking is this: have you ever followed someone who, occasionally, posts absolute gems, but you simply can't bring yourself to follow them because those gems are sandwiched between 75 mundane tweets a day? I rest my case.

Facebook is even less forgiving. If you're like most, your Facebook friends are people you know personally. They don't follow you because they like what you have to say, necessarily. They follow you because they like you, they're a family member, a friend, an acquaintance, etc. Mostly, they could care less about the latest political story that just hit the web, or that new app you found- their interest in you is more personal.

Assuming you agree with all this, we can discern a pattern: ranking these three social networks in order of those in which it is most to least acceptable to post numerous updates, and with an eclectic mix of subjects: Google+ > Twitter > Facebook.

Ideally, then, you could post all of your updates on G+, select some of those to go to Twitter, and select some of those to go to Twitter and Facebook. If that method appeals to you, read on for your ideal setup.

ManageFlitter is a remarkable tool (and a very well-designed one) allowing you to manage your Twitter followers with ease. Once you connect your Twitter account, you can filter your followers by a few parameters: those who are not following you back, have no profile image, are especially quiet, and more. It's an easy way to trim your following list (it does much, much more than this, but we'll stick to these features for our purpose). It also has a hidden gem: you can connect your Google+ account, and once you do, any posts you mark as public will be posted to your Twitter account. Those you don't wish to share on Twitter, you can simply share with specific, or all of, your circles. To do this, assuming you've created an account on ManageFlitter, click on your dashboard, select "Turn on/ off Google+ sharing" and follow the instructions.

Now you can post everything from Google+, being selective about which updates get to Twitter. But how to get them to Facebook? Enter Selective Tweets.

Selective Tweets is a Facebook application which allows you to send any Twitter update you choose to Facebook by including the hashtag #fb. So, if you're already sending updates to Twitter from G+, you can simply include the #fb hashtag to send your update to Twitter and Facebook. Just make sure you're signed into Facebook, go to the app, and enter your Twitter username. The app takes care of the rest.

Given the ever-changing world of social media, and your personal preferences, this may not always be the optimal method of simplifying your updates. For now, though, it's a painless and friction-free way to simplify your web.

ManageFlitter / Selective Tweets

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Dropmark is a gorgeous, dead-simple way to create online collections. Of course, there are innumerable ways to share collections of images, files, and the like on the web. A couple of built-in features make Dropmark stand out from the crowd.

As I said, it's simple. Dead simple. After creating an account, you'll be presented with a screen that looks like this:

To create a collection, either click the "+" button on the page, or simply drag-and-drop "photos, videos, documents, websites, text snippets, and more" into the window from your desktop or web browser, and voila! Your collection is automatically backed up in the cloud, and presented in a clean, uncluttered, and seductive interface:

From here, you can choose to keep your collection private (handy to simply keep collections backed up and easily accessible from any web browser), or you can share the collection via the drop-down menu in the top right corner. This is an especially useful feature. Many sites allow you upload photos or files and share them, but none do this so simply as Dropmark, and few give the personalized touch when you share a collection. Sharing on Facebook, Flickr and similar sites allow you to upload and wait for your friends or followers to find the items. Dropmark makes the process more personal, as you must choose specifically who to share collections with. Collaborators can then add items to a collection if you give them permission to do so, an incredibly handy feature for things like group trips or events. Instead of everyone having so many photos scattered across their various profiles, you can put them all in one place. They also have a built-in url shortener to easily post your collection via social media or email.

There's not much else to say about Dropmark, and that's the beauty of it. It's simple and gorgeous, two qualities that will always get our seal of approval. Currently, Dropmark is in private beta. If you'd like an invite, just send us an email.

Dropmark

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Welcome to Sssimpli. I'm Rob, and I'll be your guide. Let me tell you a bit about what I intend to do here.

The web is an amazing medium- so remarkable, in fact, that nothing has changed the world so drastically since the advent of the printing press. It can also be an insanely confusing place, or a downright annoying hindrance. There's just so much to navigate. Once you become adept at navigating the waters, though, things can start to make sense again.

The web is, truly, what you make of it. If you spend the day searching for funny cats, or the latest Justin Bieber video, or posting passive-aggressive Facebook updates, you won't get much value out of the web, and, quite frankly, I'm not writing for you. If you'd like to use the web simply as a tool to increase the value in your life, that's possible, too. and it's for you that I started Sssimpli.

I know it seems a bit hyperbolic to claim that the internet can add value to your life. It's not. There's an abundance of information at your fingertips, whatever your interests may be. Personally, I happen to follow a bit of psychology, philosophy, politics, literature, design, and general geekery. It's all there for me, if I but know how to find it. Want to learn to play the guitar? You can. Want to learn a new language? Do it. Want to keep up with the latest advances in neuroscience? There are no longer any excuses.

Let me also say that I am not a professional geek. I simply have a passion that I'd like to write about.  I'd like to show you how to make the web work for you- how to make it your web. I hope you'll join me. Expect our first post later today. If you'd like to stay up to date with Sssimpli, just click the Twitter or RSS buttons in the top right corner of the home page.

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