Time is often an issue when it comes to social media.  Listed below are a few quick and simple platforms to share your thoughts, your content,  and improve productivity. 

Remember,  Twitter is one of the simplest tools of all, but it can take up your entire day if you let it.  I recommend you devise a plan and stick to it.

The goal of using social media is to build community, trust and relationships with people who care about you and what you do. At the same time  you need to be productive and get the work done that pays the bills immediately.  I hope you find some of these solutions effective:

Posterous:  Blogging via e-mail.  Write an e-mail (blog post), attach a photo, hit send and you’re a blogger.

Twitter: Simple micro-blogging. Share a thought in 140 characters. Reply to a couple interesting posts or questions. In five minutes, your work is done. Visit a few times a day.

Tumblr: Share your feeds, thoughts, and found content from the Web all in one location. It has been called a cross between blogging and Twitter.

Elements: Share images and quotes.  Review other people’s content by selecting “I like it” or “cast it.”  Follow content providers and be followed. Easy.

Castblaster: For podcasters. Castblaster is a popular podcast production tool.  Maybe not easy, but it can simplify the production.

Gmail: E-mail is still important.  Gmail is one of the best Web-based e-mail systems.

Jott: Hit speed-dial and leave yourself an e-mail message via voice mail.

K7.net : Simple Internet voice mail message and fax system.  You will receive your own phone number, too. I use this service for my comment line.

Picnik: Easy-to-use photo editing.

Flock: Web browser designed for social media.

Ping.fm  Update your social networks from one location.

Evernote: Popular content capture platform.  Excellent application for smart phones.

Pixelpipe:  Send images to multiple locations with one upload.

Open ID:  One digital identity for many of your favorite Web sites.

What Web tools have made your social media life easier?

Rosh