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Webotify – Share Spotify Tracks with Video
Now and again I find a website that gives real pleasure and this is one of them. Webotify lets you share your favourite tracks from Spotify with friends, or on Twitter, and adds a video from YouTube. Whether or not you want to share the track it’s also a joy to choose favourite artists from Spotify then use Webotify to enjoy them with a surprise video automatically selected. It could be the singer performing, the words to let you sing along, or a set of images that go with the track – something fitting will be chosen.
The website consists of just one page where you enter the link to the Spotify track, and this is where the design could be improved. There are no instructions, just a picture of the Spotify screen with the menu choice highlighted that you would use to copy the URL. There’s a brief description of what Webotify does and space to enter the URL of the track on Spotify, so it really lacks a simple instruction to guide users. The process is straightforward: select tracks on Spotify then right click on them and click on the menu to either Copy Http Link or Copy Spotify URI. Paste this on the Webotify website and enjoy the track and video.
Webotify provides a URL you can copy and paste to share the track and video with friends whether or not they have Spotify. There’s also a one-click button to let you post it to Twitter and Webotify generates a message to show what you’re listening to. This is a website I’ll be using regularly and I hope to see some brief instructions as Spotify isn’t the most instinctive website to use either – and it’s another good one.
TwitCritics – Movie Reviews from the Twitterverse
Why listen to the views of just a few critics before choosing the movie you want to see when you could listen to the Twitterverse? TwitCritics has a full listing of movies and invites pithy reviews in the usual brief Twitter format combined with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down judgement. Reading through the comments on a few movies made me realise how soon you could decide which TwitCritics are on your wavelength and could guide you to a choice you would also enjoy.
The site is a joy of simplicity and clarity, which is what you want when quickly looking up movie reviews before heading for the cinema. Movies can be sorted alphabetically by name, in descending order according to the number of positive reviews, by the number of tweets, and by most recent activity. All of these are relevant ways to sort information, as number of tweets could show more about popularity than the number of positive remarks. A movie that stimulates discussion could be worth seeing even if the positives and negatives are equal.
The site is fun and colourful, with red, amber and green indicators to show which movies are worth viewing according to the TwitCritics consensus. Due to the compulsory brevity the reviews have a liveliness and joyful feel which makes this a site I’d come back to when choosing a movie.
Swift.FM – Share a Music Station with Friends
Swift.FM lets users create a shared music list with friends to build an online radio station via Twitter. Users log into Twitter from the Swift.FM main page and start by building a Swiftlist of favourite music. This is done by filling in a link to an MP3 file on the net and adding a message to be posted to Twitter. To include the MP3 in a specific channel add hashtags, such as #hiphop or #techno. MP3 files of up to 10MB can also be uploaded, so users could add their own original music.
Swift.FM helps with links to music sites and music search engines, and aims to help promote musicians and events by spreading awareness of the music people are enjoying. Once MP3s are uploaded a message goes out to the user’s followers on Twitter. Friends and family can build a customised radio station together, making this a fun site and an extra way for original musicians to share their work and get noticed. This website is still in beta so difficulties are still being resolved, but it’s a well thought out and appealing use of Twitter. The tips and help pages are clearly presented and welcome at this stage of development.
TWITTIMG – Share Photos on Twitter
This is a simple idea, but so necessary that it should catch on. TWITTIMG is a quick and easy way to add photos to Twitter messages. There’s no need to log into Twitter – users can log into TWITTIMG with their Twitter name and password to upload a photo. If they want to add a message this can all be done on the main TWITTIMG page. I tried it out and my message appeared on Twitter with a URL to display the photo.
Sharing images on social networks is on the increase, with photos added for humour, for promotional purposes, and to share personal experiences with friends and family. Twitter hasn’t been the easiest place to share other media and this is improving, with services like TWITTIMG helping. A look through recently shared pictures shows how it’s being used by authors to promote books, by companies for advertising, by broadcasters to provide a dynamic image from sports or the news, and by photographers to show their best shots.
Other social networks like plurk.com make it incredibly straightforward to add a video, photo or link to brief messages, but as Twitter has so many users this kind of application is essential. My only disappointment was that the image appears as a weblink rather than an image, unlike the attractive way plurk.com presents images and videos.
twtMailer – Have tweets delivered to your inbox
twtMailer
A nice add-on for all you tweeters out there. The site allows you to keep track of a tweeter account and have all the @reply sent to your inbox. Its very easy to use. Just sign up and add your email address to get the content delivered in an organized fashion formatted with HTML. Additionally you can send tweets from twtmailer directly. Don’t forget to read their logout message once you sign up.
The service is available as both free and premium memberships, premium accounts getting more benefits like no advertisements. The payment is through paypal account.
Write4.net – Write and Publish
If you want to publish articles or blogs using text, pictures and videos embedded right into your content and without worrying for a website setup, write4.net is the place.
This twitter application allows you to simply give a title and your content which can include pictures or videos like those on YouTube and it publishes it via your Twitter account. Can’t get easier than this.
The service is entirely free (you don’t even have to open an account) and provides a personal page for publishing twitters and the facility to get feeds also. It is in beta and the webmasters have plans to expand their reach to other social networking sites in the future.
TwittGeek – Tag Tweeters
A nice application for the Twitter phenomenon. It is simple, free and does only one thing. It allows people to easy follow up to 200 twitters based on keywords.
The usage of the application is extremely easy. You sign in to your twitter account via twittgeek and allow it to access your account. Then you are redirected back to search for fellow twitters using keywords. Its fun but the sad part is that the selection is random. I had to run the application 5 times before I managed to get a special person in the list.
Twippr mashes Twitter and Paypal
It was only a matter of time before someone mashed Twitter and Paypal together. Twippr allows Twitter users to tweet paypal funds to anyone.
Although Twitter doesn’t seem like the ideal interface for micro-transactions, Twippr could be really useful for organisations, charities or even politicians to raise money. It seems like the people at Twippr are thinking the same thing, based on their tagline “pledgecash by tweet” (emphasis ours).
The Twippr widget allows users to solicit donations from blogs, videos or any website.
Socially!