As humans our concentration span can be terrible at the best of times, but these days we are constantly subjected to apps, social networking sites and digital tools that have us glued to our tablets, smart phones and laptops during any spare moments we get to ourselves. As if that wasn’t enough, as soon as we get bored of one thing in the digital space, several more platforms are waiting right there to grab our attention. Try as we might, we are powerless to resist, but with all this exciting new technology to experience, occasionally wandering off into procrastination-ville is OK, isn’t it?
Take a look at my list of the newest and perhaps the most distracting platforms now available on the web.
Google+ Games
Angry Birds! Google+ has Angry Birds! Along with Crime City, Bubble Island and Edgeworld. Get yourself over to Google+ games now and we’ll play Angry Birds together :)
Subjot
Subjot is a place for sharing, following and discussing interests (Like Twitter) but just a little bit smarter. Every post has a subject which means you only see posts from people you are following in the subjects you follow. True Web 3.0 if you will.
Subjot is by no means a Twitter killer (yet) as it’s still very much in Beta but keep an eye out for this one.
Sprout Social
As I have previously mentioned, Sprout Social is a social media monitoring tool I use and I often find myself spending too long in there for no reason other than curiosity. If, and I must stress if, the platform is used properly it can offer some truly amazing insights into your connections and social media activities. It supports all the major social networks so you may well find yourself spending long periods of time in SS too!
Used between scheduling tweets to engage in conversation with consumers, Sprout Social is certainly a well-invested distraction.
App Store
With hundreds of thousands of software goodies instantly available at the touch of a button, it is no wonder why many of us waste so much time checking out the latest and greatest apps which are being developed for our pleasure.
Whether it is on our mobiles or at our desktops, the app ecosystem is fighting and winning our attention while we lose the will to live and await the latest iTunes invoice email. ;-)
Google Chrome Web Store
Google’s Chrome developer network is also producing lots of lovely Chrome extensions via the Chrome Web Store. Quality control seems to be rather lax in places as some of the extensions/apps available seem to be little more than glorified bookmarks. Likewise, some of the themes available to download make my Chrome browser look like it has been in a car crash.
The Chrome Web Store interface isn’t all that great but is simple, effective and gets working a lot faster and easier. Win!
Wordle.net
I love word clouds. ‘Why?’ You ask. It’s because they look awesome! Much of this I’m sure is down to the wonderful creation of Wordle, coined as ‘a toy for generating word clouds’.
By either copying a bunch of text into the text field or entering a URL, you can create a completely customised and unique word cloud within seconds. If you are looking to create an infographic, include this within your arsenal of tools.
If you have any more you would like to add, please comment :)
