Helpful Apps for Internet Savvy (Addicted) Artists

This'll be fun, I'm posting using the free Blogger app, so I've put my non-money where my mouth is.

These days, most artists are pretty internet savvy, what with the Tumblrs, Twitters, Facebooks, FourSquares, LinkedIns, and various blogging services and hosts. With the advent of affordable data plans and smart phones, being connected has never been easier, and STAYING connected is never been more vital. I utilize my phone (an iPhone 3G, to be precise) to harness the popularity of Twitter to make friends, Facebook to stay in touch, and Blogger to keep those friends entertained, so decent applications are vital, and FREE applications are mandatory. All of the apps mentioned in this post are fairly decent and entirely free, and I've recieved zero sponsorship. These are apps I personally use often, especially when I cant connect using my usual means.

#1: Twitter for iPhone
I used to use (and enjoy) Echophone, but a software update has made it impossible to run. I use the official Twitter app now, and can do everything I could do on the site. I actually use Twitter more on my phone than my actual computer, and it sends me notifications to alert me to DM's and replies.

#2 Facebook


My interest in FB waxes and wanes. In the heat of convention season, its invaluable for making convention plans efficiently. I use it to notify my near and dear to blog updates, and inquiries about assignments are usually answered quickly, but I have attempted to get critiques from classmates with mixed results. The mobile application is a bit clunky and sometimes crashy, but if this is how you connect w/ your audience, its a useful app to have. I am not including shot of my feed as it contains personal info about my family and friends.

#3: Blogger

The Blogger app is a bit late to the game, but it's the best free blogging app available, allowing me to edit posts and write posts including pictures. I dont seem to be able to check my stats or view comments with this app, however.

#4 Social Score
Klout is a website that gives you a rough approximation of your overall social influence on the web and occasionally a swollen ego. If you're constantly trying to gain personal worth through internet value like I am, it helps to have an app that lets you check it often and with little effort. Social Score doesnt give you all the info Klout does, but its useful for those quick hits between classes.

#5 iDashboard

Hand in hand with Social Score, iDashboard gives internet junkies their much needed fix, giving the user fast access to their blog stats via Google Analytics. Like Social Score, iDashboard only gives a dimebag's worth of info, but for many of us, it'll last us the walk home from the grocery store. THEN we can check the REAL Google Analytics.

Comments

  1. I like that you've put the word "addicted" in paranthesis in the title... I must confess that Twitter and Facebook are two of the most used apps on my phone =)

    I use twitter mostly for spying on what comic artists and illustrators are up to. It's also great when someone tweets about creativity tips or links to useful resources. I'm not a big contributor myself, but I'm resolved to become more active =) I realise there's a difference between being connected and STAYING connected, as you so succinctly put it.

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  2. I can obviously agree with the Twitter and Facebook apps (though I'm clinging to the hope that Echophone will start working properly again).

    Do you use any mobile IM apps, or is that something you purely like to confine to a computer? I think my mobile IM app (Meebo) is one of the most used ones on my phone, just because I'm an IM junkie of late. That and the Wikipedia app, because sometimes you really want to know things and a simple Google search on Safari just won't do.

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    Replies
    1. I use the legit AIM one, because my meebo is tied to AIM and Skype, and if I have both up, I'll be overwhelmed.

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    2. Oh, see, the legit AIM app kept crashing on my phone. I know the first gen iPhone is buggy, but if the program cannot open/login without crashing, I kinda feel that's just lame. =|

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