Top 10 Ways To Automatically Share Your Blog Posts To Various Social Networks

When you publish a new blog post, how do you get the word out? Do you manually go to several different social networks and share your post, or do you let a WordPress plugin or Web service do the work for you?

Sharing manually is nice because you can add a personal touch to each post, as opposed to sending out the same thing to all of your social networks. However, it’s also a time-consuming process. Some days, you just may not have the time to share your new content manually. This is why many bloggers opt for automatic sharing, which is not only easier, but more convenient.

There are many ways that you can automatically share your content on the Web, and we’ll go over 8 of those methods below.

Jetpack Publicize

Publicize is part of the popular Jetpack plugin. It’s an obvious choice for automatically sharing your posts on several social networks at once, since many blogs are already using Jetpack. You can currently share to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Yahoo. Setup is easy and done via the Sharing sub-menu under Settings. You can choose which posts to share and which social networks to share to on a post-by-post basis.

WP-AutoSharePost

This plugin automatically shares your posts to Facebook and Twitter, along with a predefined message. WP-AutoSharePost is a bit more technical than Jetpack Publicize, since you’ll have to create a Facebook app and Twitter app in order to share your posts. However, it supports Bit.ly URL shortening, which is great for tracking your links.

Additionally, the plugin grabs comments from Facebook (related to the post) and adds them to your blog comments section.

1-Click Retweet/Share/Like

1-Click is a plugin with many features, including the option to automatically share your blog posts on 30+ social networks. You can automatically share to: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Delicious, Diigo, Tumblr, Foursquare, and more. You can also customize the message to be included with your shares to Facebook and LinkedIn, on a post-by-post basis.

SocialPublish

SocialPublish shares your blog posts to Facebook and Twitter as soon as they’re published. You don’t have to create any Facebook or Twitter apps to use this plugin. Simply sign up for a SocialPublish account (it’s an actual Web service) and then connect your accounts. Like Jetpack Publicize, you can choose which social networks to share to for each post. You can also choose to add a custom message, but it’s not required.

NextScripts: Social Networks Auto-Poster

NextScripts is by far the best plugin for auto-posting to numerous social networks. It supports 18 social networks (more coming soon), including Facebook, Instapaper, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, and more. You can even post to multiple accounts on the same social network (i.e. multiple Twitter accounts, multiple Facebook pages).

The plugin makes 100% white labeled posts, meaning the posts will look as if you posted them directly – no “shared via NextScripts.com or posted by SNAP for WordPress” messages.

MailChimp Social

Social is another plugin that only shares to Facebook and Twitter, but it goes a step further by pulling in reactions (from Facebook and Twitter) and displaying them inline with your regular comments. You can publish to multiple accounts on the same social network, and you can customize the messages associated with your posts. Social requires the use of custom apps in order to share to your accounts.

Dlvr.it

Although Dlvr.it is a Web service, as opposed to a WordPress plugin, it’s still an excellent tool to automatically distribute your blog to your favorite social networks. Dlvr.it supports Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Tumblr, and App.net. Once you sign up, simply enter your RSS feed, choose the social network you want to post to, and you’re all done. Dlvr.it also lets you post to Google+ Pages, but only if you upgrade to a Pro or Ultimate plan.

IFTTT

IFTTT is my preferred method for automatically sharing my blog posts. I use recipes for each of the blogs that I own and for the blogs that I contribute to. Each recipe involves the Feed channel (or you can use the WordPress channel) along with a social channel like Twitter, Facebook, Buffer, and HootSuite. This makes it easy to keep up with all of the blogs that I’m sharing from within a single interface.

My favorite thing about the IFTTT method is that I can send new RSS feed items (new blog posts) to Buffer and HootSuite, two services that let you schedule your posts as opposed to having them all post at the same time. This helps to cut down on noise and makes your shares look more natural.

Networked Blogs

Networked Blogs is great way to reach more readers ang gain more audience. If you want to automatically post your blog posts to Twitter and Facebook, then Networked Blogs is a great friend.

How Do You Share?

So now that I’ve gone over 10 ways to automatically share your blog posts to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, let us know which method you use. Do you choose to manually share your blog posts, or do you prefer to share them automatically via a method above or another method?

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Top 10 Techniques To Overcome The Barriers To Communication

In order to remove hindrances in the way of communication the following steps are worth consideration:

(1) Clarify Ideas before Communication:

The person sending the communication should be very clear in his mind about what he wants to say. He should know the objective of his message and, therefore, he should arrange his thoughts in a proper order.

(2) Communicate According to the Need of the Receiver:

The sender of the communication should prepare the structure of the message not according to his own level or ability but he should keep in mind the level, understanding or the environment of the receiver.

(3) Consult Others before Communication:

At the time of planning the communication, suggestions should be invited from all the persons concerned. Its main advantage will be that all those people who are consulted at the time of preparing the communication plan will contribute to the success of the communication system.

(4) Be Aware of Language, Tone and Content of Message:

The sender should take care of the fact that the message should be framed in clear and beautiful language. The tone of the message should not injure the feelings of the receiver. As far as possible the contents of the message should be brief and excessive use of technical words should be avoided.

(5) Convey Things of Help and Value to the Listener:

The subject matter of the message should be helpful to the receiver. The need and interest of the receiver should specially be kept in mind. Communication is more effective in such a situation.

(6) Ensure Proper Feedback:

The purpose of feedback is to find out whether the receiver has properly understood the meaning of the information received. In the face-to-face communication, the reaction on the face of the receiver can be understood.

But in case of written communication or some other sort of communications some proper method of feedback should be adopted by the sender.

(7) Consistency of Message:

The information sent to the receiver should not be self- contradictory. It should be in accordance with the objectives, policies, programmes and techniques of the organisation. When a new message has to be sent in place of the old one, it should always make a mention of the change otherwise it can create some doubts.

(8) Follow up Communication:

In order to make communication effective the management should regularly try to know the weaknesses of the communication system. In this context effort can be made to know whether to lay more stress upon the formal or the informal communication would be appropriate.

Similarly, suggestions can be invited in respect of the medium of communication (oral, written and gestural) to know as to which medium would be more effective and appropriate.

(9) Improve Your Body Language:

Body Language can help you in expressing yourself more accurately without speaking much in case of oral or face-to-face communication.

(10) Be a Good Listener:

It is the essence of communication that both the sender and the receiver should be good listeners. Both should listen to the each other’s point of view with attention, patience and positive attitude. A sender can receive much relevant information by being a good listener.

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LG G Flex Is Coming To European Markets

In a quest to dominate the smartphone market, LG will soon be introducing the curved LG G Flex to a few European markets in the coming month. It will be interesting to see how curvy it may prove to the dominanting curved smartphone makers.

As a high-end smartphone, the LG G Flex actually has much to offer except its 6- inch display that has a 1280x720 pixel resolution which may break hearts of many High Definition lovers. The rest of the hardware is really worth trying. LG Flex is powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 running on 2 GB of RAM, with 32 GB of data storage, 13 megapixel rear camera, and a 3500 mAh Curved battery.

Beyond the top-notch specs and curved shape, the G Flex also offers of a self- healing back cover that can magically make scratches disappear.

Currently The G Flex is actually available in only a few markets, namely Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. And it will be making its way to US soon. Smartphone lovers can pre-order this curved gadget via T-Mobile and AT&T's Contract Policy.

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Top 15 Hottest Dating Sites of 2014

Online dating is so much more than finding your better half. Whether you’re looking for friendship, a random hookup or location-based love, there’s a slew of dating apps and websites out there for every kind of single. As we start 2014, here are the most popular.

1. Grouper

Ever wanted to bring a wingman on your date? How about two? Grouper sets you up with a match, then lets both parties bring along two friends. The drinks are prepaid and Grouper tells you exactly where to meet up, so all you have to do is decide who should tag along. Who knows? Maybe all three of you will find a love connection.

2. Down Formerly

called “Bang with Friends,” this app lets you find friends on Facebook who are willing to get down tonight. At least it’s somewhat discreet. Friends won’t know who’s selected them unless the feeling is mutual. Down can be used for dating as well, but let’s be honest: This app still lives up to its former name.

3. TrintMe

Interested in a friend or a friend of a friend? TrintMe allows shy users to initiate the next step behind the veil of their smartphones. The true intentions (“trints”), which can range from “let’s talk” to “coffee” to “romance” to “hookup,” aren’t revealed unless there is a successful match. But singles can leave a hint if they’re feeling brave.

4. Hinge

Using Facebook, Hinge sends you a selection of friends-of-friends every day at noon. A simple profile photo followed by age, job and education information are all users have to go off of when they rate the potential connection on a scale of one to five. Those who mutually rate each other at a four or higher will get introduced via email. “Black Status” users are sent 100 matches per day, which means they have a large number of Facebook friends who also use Hinge.

5. Tinder

Tinder is fast, fun and kind of addicting, which is why it seems more like a “hot or not” game than a site for true love connections. Facebook profile photos of nearby singles appear randomly; users respond with an easy “like” or “nope” with the swipe of their fingers. When both people like what they see, a connection is made. Then you can "flirt" via the in-app messenger.

6. Carrot Dating

A little bribery can go a long way (for some people). Carrot Dating doesn’t want its users to settle for their second choice. Instead, it encourages them to score the date with – not wits or smarts –but gifts.

7. How About We

On this site, unique date ideas attract potential matches. Post an idea to the site (Gelato-making class? Wine tasting? Wendy’s and Anchorman 2?) and interested parties will raise their hands. Couples who’ve locked down a serous relationship can join the $10 per month couples section of the site, which offers date night deals by city.

8. At the Pool

Sometimes called the “anti-Facebook,” this app encourages people to get offline and go out in the real world. Post an update like “Who wants to go surfing this afternoon?” and like-minded individuals nearby can opt to join in on the fun.

9. Coffee Meets Bagel

Coffee Meets Bagel sends one potential friend-of-a-friend match to your inbox every day at noon. The “bagel” is based on specific profile information and preferences, such as religion, height and personal details. Matches who mutually like each other can begin the conversation via text.

10. Zoosk

It’s gonna cost about $30 a month to move forward with a match, but Zoosk “learns as you click” in order to constantly deliver relevant matches. It also lets users hook up Last.fm and Netflix accounts, which is a unique way for singles to display personality and tastes.

11. Grindr

This all-male dating app matches guys with nearby singles, similar to Tinder, with only a photo and a brief profile. Grindr calculates exactly how many feet away your next potential match is. The ultimate goal – if you’re both interested – is to end up zero feet away. Straight? Try their other location-based love app Blendr.

12. ihookup

Those interested in putting passion first can find a match based on sexual chemistry, with ihookup. Don’t expect to find a long-term relationship here, though – shocking, I know. This site is for singles who are ready to mingle but not ready to commit. And they’re not sorry about it.

13. OkCupid

It’s free, which is probably why OkCupid remains pretty high on the popularity list of traditional dating websites. Lengthy profiles and questionnaires make this one of the more thorough options of late, which means more potential for some serious matches – or some serious liars.

14. Are You Interested?

Here’s another friends-of-friends dating site that finds matches through Facebook. That means users can easily do some recon before agreeing to a date. Users can also search by shared friends or interests, then connect via a live instant messenger chat.

15. Match.com

Match.com claims it's lead to more relationships and marriages than any other dating site out there, which is probably true since it’s been around since 1995. Creating a profile, browsing singles and finding matches is free, but you’ll need to pony up a membership fee of about $35 per month to enjoy all the benefits, like emailing members.

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Everything You Need To Know About Jelly: An iOs & Android App.

Jelly, the much-hyped, question-and-answer-based social network by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, launched last week on iOS and Android.

Although it's just beginning to build up a user base, with a famous founder and impressive list of investors (which includes Bono and Al Gore, along with Stone's fellow Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams) the service likely won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

If you're still not sure how Jelly works or if the service is for you, here's what you need to know.

What Is Jelly?

Jelly's goal is to help users find answers to their questions in real time by crowdsourcing opinions from their social networks — sort of a cross between Quora and Snapchat. Users snap a photo, ask a question, and get answers from connections in their social networks.

Stone says he developed the idea because there are some questions that can't be answered with a simple Google search. "Jelly changes how we find answers because it uses pictures and people in our social networks," Stone explains in Jelly's blog. "It turns out that getting answers from people is very different from retrieving information with algorithms."

Getting Started

Begin by connecting to at least one social network (right now, Facebook and Twitter are the only ones available). Part of what makes Jelly stand out is it also links you to friends of friends, so you can still connect with other users, even if none of your Facebook friends or people you follow on Twitter are using the service.

Each question begins with a photo. You can either snap a new photo, pull one from your device's camera roll or use a photo from Google Images. You can also draw directly on your photo, similar to Snapchat. After choosing your image, you type out your question (text is limited to 240 characters but can include links).

Answering Questions

You can see when people answer your questions under the activity header, which holds all of your notifications. Answers appear in cards underneath the text of your question. Swipe between the cards to view all of your responses. If you particularly like an answer, you can send the user a thank you card or share their answer via email, text message, Facebook or Twitter.

At the bottom of the screen is a tray showing how many other users need help answering questions. Questions appear as cards with the text overlaid on the photo. Answering questions works much the same way as asking —answer with text, a link, or by drawing on the photo (or any combination of the three). If you don't want to answer, swipe down to move to the next question card.

Forwarding and Following

While asking and answering questions is at the heart of the app, there are other ways of interacting with questions. Star questions you're interested in following in order to receive notifications as the questions are answered by other users.

And, taking the crowdsourced approach a step further, questions can be forwarded to friends who don't use Jelly, via email or text message. Forwarding questions sends a link to the question, which can be viewed from a browser by those who don't have the app installed. Non-Jelly users can then answer questions the same way as users of the app, with text, links or by drawing on the photo.

Where's It Going?

While the app is still in its infancy, it does seem Jelly has already built up a sizable user base. According to statistics from RJ Metrics, Jelly had 8,275 active users on its first day alone. Though impressive, Jelly's biggest hurdle right now, according to RJ Metrics, is maintaining engagement. While Jelly users asked almost 100,000 questions in the app's first week, only about a quarter of those questions were actually answered.

Adding more features will also be key to maintaing engagement. At this point, the app itself is still relatively bare-bones, with little organization. There's no way to search or sort through questions for topics you're interested in, for example, and the only way to browse is by manually swiping through each card. There's also no way to view which, if any, of your friends are using the service. The app also lacks a back button, which can make navigating between screens tricky.

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Play-i's Bo: A Charming and Loveable Tiny Robot

When we last met Play-i’s charming robots Bo and Yana they were busy pounding out tunes on a little colorful Xylophone and raising $1.4 million in crowdfunding cash. Now, however, they’re very nearly ready to ship and are doing some really impressive things that will help kids learn programming while having fun.

You can think of Play-i’s toys as sort of like the simple programming language, Logo, in physical form. You can program the robots using your iOS device and there are a series of introductory games that teach you the rudiments of programming including functions, subroutines, and loops. For example, the app asks you to play certain notes on the xylophone using Bo’s robotic arm – say five blue notes and five pink ones. To do this you must program the robot to hammer down five times, move over a few spaces, and hammer down five more times.

You can also add accessories to the robots and create, say, a platform for your LEGO creations or a mobile spy platform. While I’m always very skeptical of tech toys – they end up in the junk box far too soon and are often far too expensive – I’m impressed with how far the team has come in just a few short weeks. It looks like the product will soon be ready to ship and we will all have weird, blue robots running around our house busily hammering out jaunty tunes on our pets.

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Arcam's miniBlink: A tiny gadget to help you stream your Music to a high-end Audio System.

The tiny miniBlink Bluetooth DAC is a greatway to link your music player to a conventional hi-fi.

Those of us who grew up in the age of analog hi-fi are perhaps still a little uncomfortable with the concept of having all our music held in digital format. It may be convenient to have all your music on one small device, but nothing beats the pleasure and ceremony of putting a vinyl album on the turntable or selecting a CD to play on a decent audio system. Then it’s a case of settling back in a comfortable chair with a drink and unwinding to some late-night jazz or whatever takes your fancy.

That scenario is perhaps a little quaint in the digital age now that most of us also own a large collection of music on our smart phones, MP3 players or laptops. Digital music collections are so convenient and there isn’t the hassles of rooting around for a CD you haven’t played in years. However, the thought of plugging a cheap MP3 player into a decent hi-fi system goes against every fiber in the average audio buff’s body.

Well, now there’s the Arcam miniBlink, a lightweight and affordable (£89/$149) new device for wirelessly streaming music from a smartphone or MP3 player to any audio system. The miniBlink uses the latest Bluetooth technology from CSR & Arcam, offering lower noise and lower distortion levels than previous versions of Bluetooth streaming DACs. This improved Bluetooth performance has enabled Arcam engineers to squeeze a level of sonic purity that it claims can rival the audio quality you’d expect from a conventional CD.

The miniBlink weighs just 40 grams and has a cute little pebble shape and can stream music from Android devices, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, PCs, Macs or tablets. As long as the streaming device has a Bluetooth interface it will work with the miniBlink. Power for the DAC is drawn from a micro USB socket and the audio output is delivered to your stereo through a standard 3.5mm stereo jack.

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