Victoria Reitano is a speaker, multimedia journalist and social media addict who currently covers technology news for a trade magazine and freelances on the side.
I’ve had multiple people tell me, throughout my life but more so lately, that they just don’t know how I do it. How I am able to stay organized, look fashionable and manage multiple projects at once.
At the risk of sounding obnoxious, my answer is generally along the lines of “I just do it?,” but since many don’t buy the corrupted Nike slogan, I’ve decided to dedicate today’s post to telling you what tools I use to stay on top of my game. Staying connected in today’s society IS a job in and of itself, but it’s important to not let it weigh you down.
Surviving The Networking Frenzy: How To Stay Connected and Sane (Part 1)
The Twitter application for Mac and iPhone is, by far, the best out there. The ONLY downside to this application is that you cannot schedule tweets. It allows you to search for people or hashtags, favorite tweets (which is generally a way to save them for later) and it also allows you to follow, RT, quote and mention other tweets.
It’s a full service application that is lightweight enough to run on your desktop in the background. I keep it open all day long and use the taskbar icon to notify me of new tweets and/or mentions. On my iPhone, I have the notifications set so that any time someone mentions me, I get a push-notification with the actual Tweet on my iPhone screen.
Google Apps
I know, I know — it seems strange to head over to Google after expounding upon my love for all things Apple, but it’s true, Google has great apps. Let’s start with Gmail.
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Gmail: I love of clean inboxes — which is nearly impossible to do without Gmail’s folder system. The folders sync with Gmail on my iPhone and allow me to keep all emails dedicated to a specific project in one place. You can even search the folder groups individually for specific emails, which comes in handy when you need to keep digital records.
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Calendar: I use Google Calendar as a Web App and then sync all my calendars, from Yoga to Work, to my iPhone
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Documents: Collaboration projects are a breeze with Google docs. I even have a to-do list on there that I can access at home or at work. It allows me to jot down ideas throughout the day, because you never really know when “genius” will strike (or when I’ll remember that I need milk). I’m not a big fan of the To Do Apps that seem to be flooding the App Store, but I do like to have a working list. I am also a huge fan of Post-It notes, which are all over my desk, car and office desk.
