What does one look for in a Social Networking client?

What does one look for in a Social Networking client?

It is needless to say that, there are several social networking sites that have popped up in the recent few years. However, the Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn have gained the maximum popularity (or notoriety, as some might call it).

< Source: DreamGrow Survey of April 2001 – Click here for the full report>

Also the social media is now accessible through desktops, cell phones, gaming consoles, new generation TV sets, airplane monitors, tablets & almost anything that can connect to the internet. People are increasingly feeling the need to network (post updates, tweet & blog) on the move. There is a huge plethora of clients available for any computing device. So, how does one decide which client is best for me?

Although, I don’t want to directly (personally) endorse any client as the best; I am just taking a stab at getting you thinking about the options & features available out there.

How should my client look? (The GUI & Presentation Layer)

• The client should typically have a clean GUI with a well structured layout.
• Before, we get deep into the actual details; you must decide how much of your screen do you want to dedicate to the client. You need to decide this based on your networking pattern of utilization.
• If you are a sporadic & infrequent social networker; Go for decent side-tab (which always stays on top) and doesn’t take away too much of your attention from your other (actual work related) applications.
• If you are a total social networking whore; Go a full screen size GUI with multiple tabs or columns as per you needs.
• Look for customizable features like adding tabs or columns with custom filters. (eg: a tab for only school or university friends, or tweets bearing a particular #HashTag).
• A clutter-free presentation layer is ideal for quick reading.
• A pop-up or pop-out feature is good too.

What do I want my client to show me? (Frequency & nature of updates)

• Primarily; you need to decide how often you want to get disturbed or distracted. (Do you want to be alerted each someone from your network posts something ‘Its freezing on the north pole’ or you just want to know out-of-the-blue updates like ‘it snowed in Mumbai today’?). ‘Update Filter’ is definitely a feature you need if you are a part of a huge networking circle.
• If you are Twitter addict, look for trending topics & Twitter channels of your choice. Several clients update the trends dynamically allowing you see what is trending at that moment. (Remember CWC2011 #BleedBlue).
• If you are a part of too many social communities, it makes sense to have them sorted out in distinct columns or tabs.
• Most multi-network compatible clients will have the same user posting the same update on all networks. So ideally you should receive only one notification instead of multiple pop-ups or on-screen updates. You may have observed that some user’s updates being posted on Facebook & LinkedIn simultaneously. So look for features to suppress such redundant updates.

Using a client is definitely very convenient; but is it safe?

• Most social networking sites expose some part of their API to the development community. This has to be done for them to design & code applications around the site.
• Most of the social sites have now moved to OAuth for more security.
• Also keep in mind that the client will not start working unless you authorize it to talk with the social site on your behalf. ie: Most sites mandate a user authorization.
• Most popular social networking sites do have stringent measures to control the amount of privacy lost due to 3rd party clients.
• Although it is impossible to create a 100% secure client; a simple suggestion to be safe, is to use fairly popular applications. Such clients (development teams) quickly respond to vulnerabilities and release quicker updates.
• NEVER install an ad-supported client. They tend add URL’s in your posts and often re-direct your readers to external sites, which are beyond the control of the social networking site itself.
• NEVER install add-ons or extensions unless issues by the publisher of the client itself.

What are the other cool features I might need?

• Set update frequency intervals based on your liking (real-time or hourly). This is very important for clients installed on mobile devices to conserve bandwidth & battery.
• Maximum Social integration – Look for a client that is multi-network compatible & integrates with all your subscribed networks at once.
• Location awareness – If you subscribe to social applications Foursquare, Google Latitude then you will need a client that is able to determine your location.
• Mute feature – There are always those irritants (like in-laws, your boss’s friend, or a over chatty adolescent teen) whom who can’t remove from your network; but really wish to delete them from your entire personal life. The mute feature works wonders in these cases.
• URL Shortening – This is a must-have feature in my opinion. Look for integration with bit.ly or goo.gl for shortening URL’s on networks that only allow small update posts.
• Video & Image posting / hosting – You often need to post visual & motion updates. Make sure that your client has the ability to publish or ‘post’ media directly into the site. Sites like Twitter don’t permit any sort of media upload. However you can ‘host’ media on 3rd party like YFrog, Twitgoo or TwitPic. Once hosted within such services other can automatically access that media.
• Pre integrated clients – Are you super-busy all day, and yet want a piece of social action? Then the pre integrated clients are the answer for you. Look for clients that integrate with your existing applications like MS Outlook or Lotus Notes. They will not take a separate window-space and they will also launch automatically (and sign-in for you) with the parent application.

~Dhananjay Chandrashekhar Rokde

PS: Just some more personal & shameless networking viral :–))

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