AppVita » Henry Baum http://www.appvita.com Discovering web-based applications that just make life better Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:30:52 +0000 en hourly 1 Bibliofaction – Share Your Writing with the Worldhttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/bibliofaction-share-your-writing-with-the-world/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/bibliofaction-share-your-writing-with-the-world/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 21:31:47 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1846 ss-bibliofaction

Publishing is changing. Left and right you’ll see articles about how self-publishing is gaining credibility and the web is changing the face of how writers find readers. Bibliofaction is a perfect example of this movement – yet it is purely for short stories. Because getting a story published on top literary sites can be as competitive as The New Yorker, writers need a place with guaranteed exposure to large audiences.

Bibliofaction allows anyone to publish a short story within an active writing community, ready to give immediate feedback and quality is determined in part by reader comments. Writers can upload short stories, write detailed book reviews, learn about the community with daily newsletter, and network with other writers and other readers. Bibliofaction promises an interactive writer forum but this functionality is not yet live.

For readers, Bibliofaction offers a plethora of short stories spanning a wide range of genres including non-fiction, political, science fiction, drama, and even children’s stories. Comments can be submitted by registered users for any story, providing direct and immediate feedback to the author.

Practical Uses:

  • Publish your stories that haven’t found a home on other literary sites
  • Read short stories in your favorite genre, and discover new topics of interest
  • Share your passion for reading by submitting book reviews, articles, and other content
  • Network with fellow readers and writers
  • Compete in short story competitions to win prizes

Insider Tips:

  • Be clear with your keywords and story description, as this can make your story show up better in search engines
  • If you run a short-story related business (proofreading service, litmag) then consider sponsoring a competition to bring awareness to your site
  • Leverage the tagging system when submitting new work as this is the most effective means for finding particular topics

What we liked:

  • Beautifully designed site, which is very important or a site that has limited editorial oversight
  • Free to join
  • Easy and fun to use – the seamless “Next Page” function makes reading longer works a breeze
  • The quality of the stories is surprisingly good

What we didn’t like:

  • There are no ratings, filtering, or direct searching for stories
  • Story formatting can sometimes be displayed poorly (possibly the fault of the writer)
  • The “Talk” services have been coming soon for a while
  • Cannot insert graphics within a short story

Alternatives:

Company Info:

Costs:

  • Free
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/bibliofaction-share-your-writing-with-the-world/feed/ 2 Blogs.mu – Start Your Own Blogging Communityhttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/blogsmu-start-your-own-blogging-community/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/blogsmu-start-your-own-blogging-community/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 21:31:47 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1850 ss-blogsmu

Social networking is growing by leaps and bounds and while it may seem there is a social site available for any topic, this is not always the case. With Blogs.mu, anyone – regardless of technical skills – can create a blog network where a number of different blogs can be launched around a particular topic (or set of topics). As an example, you could develop a blog network around gardening in northern states that have particularly harsh winters.

Although the functionality of a blog network has been around since the early days of the WordPress platform, Blogs.mu streamlines the process and eliminates the need to host and configure websites yourself. Much like Ning, Blogs.mu empowers people to create and manage a social network around their passions or interests. Compared with what can be done within the confines of broader social sites such as Facebook or MySpace, services like Blogs.mu are virtually unrestrictive.

Blogs.mu offers a host of features to personalize your online portal including hundreds of ready-made blog designs, the ability to use your own custom domain, add plugin modules, and even run custom advertising.

Practical Uses:

  • Develop a local blog network that features tourism and business opportunities within your city
  • Start an online fashion magazine with contributors on a number of different topics
  • Expand the reach of your business by enlisting bloggers to share ideas for enhancing your products or services

Insider Tips:

  • Use the admin dashboard to post messages to your blog owners/writers
  • Import a blog from another service so you can launch immediately with existing content
  • Upgrade your bloggers to the supporter level so they can help generate income for the site

What we liked:

  • It’s easy to use and get started
  • It’s free for basic accounts
  • A good development in blogs and social networking overall

What we didn’t like:

  • There is no ability to browse popular blog networks running on Blogs.mu
  • It’s nothing you couldn’t achieve on your own using WordPress MU edition, albeit with some extra work and technical skills
  • Rather sloppy on-site content – we found typos in the FAQs and elsewhere
  • The default URL of site.blogs.mu could be confusing to novice readers

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2009
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Melbourne, Australia
  • Founded by: James Farmer
  • Web site: http://www.blogs.mu

Costs:

  • Free for a basic blog network
  • Starting at $9 per month for advanced features like custom domains, removing ads, using plugins, etc.
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/blogsmu-start-your-own-blogging-community/feed/ 0 Forelinksters – Find the Best Golf Courseshttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/forelinksters-find-the-best-golf-courses/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/forelinksters-find-the-best-golf-courses/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 21:31:47 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1854 ss-forelinksters

Forelinksters is a great idea for a website – a golf course ratings site run by golfers. Golfers are notoriously passionate about their sport, so Forelinksters seems perfectly logical – not only to find courses where you can possibly play, but simply to learn about golf courses from around the world. Without question, the former is the best way this site can be used. On the front page, you need only click on a city and a list of golf courses come up – each with a detailed description and comments. There’s also a five star rating system.

Forelinksters has the potential to be a very useful site, but the strength of a review site is in the number of reviews, and currently the site is lacking a large repository. The creators have done a lot to encourage interaction by streamlining the review process and using a fun rating system with language like “Double Bogey” and “Hole in One”.

The site design is beautiful and the listings go beyond a simple written description by providing photos, maps/directions to the course, contact information, and even the ability to remember your favorite destinations with a watch list feature.

Practical Uses:

  • Discover new golf courses in your home town and see how they’re rated
  • Research where you should be playing while on vacation in Florida
  • Share your expertise about golfing by adding ratings and writing comments about courses you play

Insider Tips:

  • Contact other users to get a more-detailed account of a particular golf course
  • Correct any inaccurate information that may be on the site – pages can be edited by anyone, much like Wikipedia
  • Show off your favorite destinations by adding your own course photos
  • Post new courses if a favorite location isn’t listed

What we liked:

  • Beautifully-designed website that is easy to use for anyone
  • It’s fun to rate golf courses
  • Ability to connect with fellow golfers

What we didn’t like:

  • Forelinksters doesn’t list how many times a course has been rated (perhaps to hide that it’s only been a few times) so you can’t gauge how authoritative a review is
  • As mentioned, not a lot of commentary or interaction on the site
  • We would like to see a companion iPhone or mobile-friendly site so people can update while they’re on the course and possibly add additional photos in real-time

Alternatives:

Company Info:

Costs:

  • Free
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/forelinksters-find-the-best-golf-courses/feed/ 2 Inkd – The World’s First Market for Original Print Designhttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/inkd-the-worlds-first-market-for-original-print-design/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/inkd-the-worlds-first-market-for-original-print-design/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 21:31:47 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1858 ss-inkd

Inkd is one of the best print marketplaces available online. There are other sources like VistaPrint which allow you to print business cards using hundreds pre-designed templates, but the quality of the designs could be described as paltry at best. Inkd is a marketplace where experienced graphic designers can offer ready-made unique and professional designs.

Hiring a graphic designer can be prohibitively expensive, especially for small business owners, so Inkd aims to save money by cutting out the middle man. In this case, the middle man is the custom design fees and time it takes to make promotional materials from scratch. Instead, businesses can view marketing or branding materials ready to go to the printer.

Customers can browse the site based on output type: Brochure, Business Card, Envelope, Postcard, etc. or conversely by their particular industry (Food, Real Estate, Retail, and more). There are plenty of options across virtually any business category making Inkd a valuable resource to anyone with an eye for good design. Inkd has established strict quality controls making it difficult to find sloppy or poorly-produced work.

Alternately – and just as importantly – Inkd is a great place for freelance designers to sell their wares. Many designers utilize Inkd as a place to unload designs that were not selected by their clients. And while Inkd has the potential to create long-term partnerships with new clients, simply selling design work individually can be profitable as well.

Practical Uses:

  • Get a business card, brochure, postcard or other promo materials for your new restaurant
  • Save money on custom designs for your home based business and speed up the process by purchasing promotional materials immediately
  • Locate a designer that has the skills you’re looking for on your marketing project
  • Design promo material and have an instant marketplace on a site that has a good reach and customer base

Insider Tips:

  • If you have more time and resources, you can tweak anything bought through Inkd after downloading files
  • Consider requesting a design if you don’t see what you’re looking for
  • Designers – check the FAQs about submissions and browse the site – there is serious quality control on Inkd, so designs have to be of a certain quality, and style, i.e. less corporate, more playful

What we liked:

  • High quality designs across a wide range of industries
  • Very easy to browse the website
  • Extremely affordable pricing, especially considering the quality of designs

What we didn’t like:

  • The FAQs are mainly aimed at designers, rather than businesses looking to buy designs. As this is a dual purpose site, it’s currently a little too designer-centered
  • The website should be linked to a printing mechanism so you can print files in bulk, not simply download design files
  • Design files can be sold more than once making them less unique – users have the option to make an exclusive purchase, but this is more expensive
  • Customers must have at least limited software proficiency in working with design files – Inkd is not a straight “out of the box” solution

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2009
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Seattle, WA
  • Founded by: Kelly Smith
  • Web site: http://www.inkd.com

Costs:

  • Varies by item
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/inkd-the-worlds-first-market-for-original-print-design/feed/ 0 Spitfire – Virtually Everything You Need to Run Your Business Onlinehttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/spitfire-virtually-everything-you-need-to-run-your-business-online/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/spitfire-virtually-everything-you-need-to-run-your-business-online/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 21:31:47 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1862 ss-spitfire

The problem with online business apps is many only do one thing so you end up using six different apps for six different purposes. As web apps are intended to improve efficiency, it’s cumbersome to be required to learn and remember several niche services. Spitfire tries to remedy this by including six different applications in one. While it doesn’t handle everything, Spitfire does offer a fairly comprehensive web marketing solution.

Spitfire can handle web analytics to monitor website traffic, email marketing, ecommerce management – including inventory tracking, customer database, content management, and more. One of the notable features of Spitfire is custom web design, so one could see it as an avenue for the technologically challenged who want to get an e-business up and running in a flash. It’s worth noting however, that the design and website maintenance process is bolstered by having the technical skills to use the online editing tools provided Spitfire.

In this way, Spitfire is a bit different than an independent web app, as Spitfire has staff on hand to help you with web design or search engine optimization, unlike other solutions which are completely self-assisted. Considering the range of services offered, Spitfire’s pricing is reasonable. Overall, the site offers a comprehensive solution for small to medium-sized businesses.

Practical Uses:

  • Start an affiliate marketing site that looks like a standalone business
  • Enlist Spitfire’s team to create a custom web design, or more-easily design a website using Spitfire’s online editing tools
  • Increase your email marketing reach by housing all of your contacts in one online location
  • Organize your leads and customer contact information
  • Launch an online e-commerce site featuring your hand-made custom jewelry

Insider Tips:

  • If you’re really pressed for time or don’t know where to begin, use Spitfire’s marketing service – though expect to pay at least $1000
  • After the trial period, be sure to acquire or transfer an existing domain name because yoursite.getspitfire.com is not very professional

What we liked:

  • Spitfire offers a good number of tools, especially for the novice
  • Spitfire doesn’t take a cut from online revenue like most other e-commerce solutions
  • Marketing materials do not contain Spitfire branding
  • Fair pricing structure with unlimited emails, product listings, leads, etc.

What we didn’t like:

  • The Spitfire site doesn’t give a good sense of what the system offers without signing up for a trial
  • For a service that promises search engine optimization, the site’s own page rank is extremely high
  • There should be a pricing structure for all services found on the site

Alternatives:

Company Info:

Costs:

  • $50-$100 per month
  • Custom design and marketing services vary
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/29/spitfire-virtually-everything-you-need-to-run-your-business-online/feed/ 2 Billeo – Pay it Your Wayhttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/billeo-pay-it-your-way/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/billeo-pay-it-your-way/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 14:27:34 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1642 ss-billeo

As the name implies, Billeo is an online service focused on electronic bill payments but it also offers a host of other financial tools. First and foremost, Billeo is a way to pay your paper bills (utilities, cable, cell phone, etc.) using a single, online dashboard. While many companies offer their own dedicated online bill payment option, it can be a hassle to access each website separately. Billeo makes sure that you get your payments in on time and saves you the hassle of mailing bills or writing checks.

Billeo’s Toolbar could almost be seen as a form of artificial intelligence. Users download the application and use it to pay bills each month. The toolbar then learns the user’s spending habits in order to alert the user of payments in the future. Additional features include auto form filling at online stores and automatically saving receipts for purchases. While online stores may save your info via cookies, it is helpful to have these purchases recorded in one place to get a full assessment of your finances.

Similarly, Billeo can help users log into websites via a password assistant – by keeping a record of all website passwords. Again, most web browsers have a password reminder function, but users may be worried about the security of storing passwords in this manner, so doing it through Billeo is more convenient and more secure.

One of the best features of Billeo is the ability to track payments and view expense reports. In this day and age, this is enormously important – not only for keeping your credit rating in check, but making sure you don’t overspend and, ideally, saving money every month. By simplifying bill payment, Billeo can simplify budgeting so that you save money every month, or put more money towards credit card debt – or whatever the case may be.

Practical Uses:

  • Pay your bills online at one central source
  • Get payment confirmations so you know that payments have gone through – which may not be the case with a payee’s website
  • Compare your utility and other costs with other providers in your area
  • Effectively set a budget and save money every month by knowing exactly how much you’re paying
  • Create auto-login of your information at online stores you frequent the most

Insider Tips:

  • Use an anti-virus and anti-spyware program. Remember, with spyware a hacker can see what letters and numbers you’re typing in, so password protection is meaningless
  • Use the eWallet feature to choose which credit card/debit card to use when making purchases online
  • Use Billeo’s monthly and yearly reports to track your transactions so you can see if you’re spending more one month but not another

What we liked:

  • It’s free and easy to use with a comprehensive list of billing services, and you can add your own
  • The site is responsive to user requests and is constantly improving
  • Very good form and password recording so you don’t have to keep plugging in information
  • Very secure using enhanced encryption on the user’s own computer, rather than storing everything in a central database
  • Now Mac-compatible

What we didn’t like:

  • You can’t search payment history by keyword, only by date
  • It’s ad-supported (this is what makes it free). But we believe a non-ad version should be made available for paying customers

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: February 2005
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Santa Clara, CA
  • Founded by: Murali Subbarao and Allwyn Lobo
  • Web site: http://www.billeo.com

Costs:

  • Free
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/billeo-pay-it-your-way/feed/ 1 Birdpost – Birding in the 21st Centuryhttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/birdpost-birding-in-the-21st-century/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/birdpost-birding-in-the-21st-century/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 14:27:34 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1660 ss-birdpost

If you’ve ever thought – and who hasn’t – “they’ve got a website for everything,” here’s a new one to add to the mix: “They’ve got a social network for everything.” Not to talk down birdwatching, as people love the practice and it can be very fulfilling, but it is an interesting development to see an online social network used for such a narrow niche.

With Birdpost, birdwatchers can report on bird sightings they’ve had in their local area, as well as find the bird sightings other people have found – using a large interactive map. Users can also scroll through a list of bird species and see where they’ve been spotted making it a great tool for mapping out excursions with your kids.

Sure, birdwatching is something you do to get away from technology: just the open air, a pair of binoculars, and maybe a notebook, but given how much technology is entering our lives, Birdpost is a great tool for both aspiring and experienced birdwatchers. Does this take the mystery out of discovering a bird out in the wild? Perhaps to a degree but spending your day birdwatching without finding any birds isn’t too fun either.

Practical Uses:

  • Find out about bird sightings in your area that you may have yet to spot
  • Identify the species of birds spotted on your Yellowstone family vacation
  • See the actions of experienced birders across the world
  • Connect with other birdwatchers near and far – and possibly find an activity partner

Insider Tips:

  • Report any inaccurate bird sightings to keep the site honest – like a Toucan in Los Angeles
  • Sign up for wild bird alerts for your area so you’ll be notified the minute a new bird is discovered
  • Compare your sightings to other sightings in the area. It’s a way to keep tabs on every bird you’ve seen via your My Birds list

What we liked:

  • It’s free
  • It’s unique and well-designed
  • Good amount of user interaction – a site like this is only as good as its number of users and Birdpost is quite active
  • Comprehensive list of bird species – really one of the most authoritative bird sites

What we didn’t like:

  • It takes some of the magic and mystery out of birdwatching
  • Requires sign-up to use any of the sites features

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2007
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA
  • Founded by: Jason Peery and Ben Crockett
  • Web site: http://www.birdpost.com

Costs:

  • Free
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/birdpost-birding-in-the-21st-century/feed/ 1 DimDim – Full Featured Web Conferencing for Lesshttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/dimdim-full-featured-web-conferencing-for-less/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/dimdim-full-featured-web-conferencing-for-less/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 14:27:34 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1665 ss-dimdim

By no means is DimDim the only web conferencing app around. In fact, it’s one of many and a new kid on the block. What separates DimDim is unlike other web conferencing apps, users don’t need a conference call number to access the conference. If a visitor has a microphone, as most computers do, any user can correspond with other members of the web conference.

Through DimDim, users can share whiteboards, computer desktops, PowerPoint presentations, and other files. The whiteboard feature allows for multi-page, instant collaboration. What makes DimDim highly competitive with other conference apps is that it is free to use and there’s no additional software to download unless you are using the screen sharing feature. It is also open source, which means that companies can integrate DimDim into their existing infrastructure.

For small businesses, these elements are key, as they’ll cut down on travel and communication expenses, while still offering a full-featured web conferencing app. One of the marks against other conference apps is that they’re priced for corporate accounts, and DimDim is affordable for those on a tighter budget, without necessarily sacrificing functionality.

Practical Uses:

  • Record your monthly international sales meetings
  • Share your screen with your techie nephew so he can fix your most recent computer malfunction
  • Share video, audio, and text in real time to your students
  • Cut down on travel time by effectively collaborating online in real-time

Insider Tips:

  • Make sure your computer is connected to a consistently-fast internet connection
  • Invite people ahead of time using an independent email client, as the invite system in DimDim is a bit clunky and doesn’t always work
  • Go Pro if the free version does not have enough functionality – the pro version has improved audio/video quality and is significantly cheaper than WebEx

What we liked:

  • It’s free and open source
  • It’s full featured: able to share audio, video, whiteboard, PowerPoint docs, and more
  • No additional software necessary
  • No conference call in number necessary, saving you long distance costs

What we didn’t like:

  • Can be slow-moving even with fast connections – especially when using PowerPoint. Really, this might overshadow everything else, because at times it’s unusable
  • Not entirely user-friendly, though the site boasts about how much easier to use it is than other apps
  • Limited functionality for free accounts – such as poorer video quality

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2007
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Methuen, MA
  • Founded by: DD Ganguly, Jayant Pandit, Saurav Mohapatra, Sundar Subramanian, and Rohit Shankar
  • Web site: http://www.dimdim.com

Costs:

  • Free or $19/month for a Pro account
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/dimdim-full-featured-web-conferencing-for-less/feed/ 2 Retail Me Not – Discounts & Coupons Made Easyhttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/retail-me-not-discounts-coupons-made-easy/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/retail-me-not-discounts-coupons-made-easy/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 14:27:34 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1670 ss-retailmenot

Retail Me Not could be described as a digital coupon library and it’s one of the best online. If you’re paying full price for retail in this day and age when coupons and discount codes are readily available, you’re truly missing out. Compared to other coupon sites on the web, Retail Me Not is easier to use and significantly more streamlined.

There are two main ways to use the search engine: type in a web address (such as Amazon.com) for web-based coupons. The second way is to type in a type of item (shoes, pizza) and your zip code. If you use the second option, it will take you to another coupon site, where you can then download the coupon. The site’s not perfect, as outdated coupons will still show up in the search engine results from time to time. You can also browse printable coupons in your area – though many of these are for brands and services that are available everywhere, regardless of your location.

The site has access to a large number of coupon sites: 90,000 in all. Instead of going from site to site, you can just use Retail Me Not instead, a simpler solution. It would be helpful if the site provided more information about the merchants or products being discounted, but you’ll have to do that on your own. What the site does do, unlike other coupon sites, is display user comments about the coupon and if it actually worked. It is not uncommon for online coupons to expire quickly or only work in either an online or offline transaction, so this helps users identify the most valuable coupons.

Practical Uses:

  • Find a 20% off discount code for your next big electronics purchase
  • Bargain shop all in one place by finding coupons of every type of item
  • Share your experiences using coupons with the site’s community – and potentially get 50% of ad revenue

Insider Tips:

  • Sign up for the newsletter to get coupon codes for the best deals on the site – otherwise you might have to dig around a bit
  • Don’t miss the popular coupons on the front page
  • Use the variety of widgets: Firefox extension, Mac dashboard widget, and others to get notification of new coupons

What we liked:

  • It’s free, quick, and easy to use
  • It has access to 90,000 printable coupons, 150,000 online coupon codes, and growing

What we didn’t like:

  • Some of the coupon links are nothing more than ads – such as a Netflix “offer,” which is the same offer you’d get in a Netflix pop-up ad
  • The community is not huge so there aren’t a wide range of reviews for every coupon
  • Not all coupons are quality controlled, so there can be low quality coupons interspersed
  • Quality control of comments is also an issue, as you don’t know if a positive comment is from the actual merchant

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2006
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Melbourne, Australia
  • Founded by: Guy King and Bevan Clark
  • Web site: http://www.retailmenot.com

Costs:

  • Free
]]> http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/retail-me-not-discounts-coupons-made-easy/feed/ 9 Savvy Auntie – The First Community for Cool Aunts Who Love Kidshttp://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/savvy-auntie-the-first-community-for-cool-aunts-who-love-kids/ http://www.appvita.com/2009/05/01/savvy-auntie-the-first-community-for-cool-aunts-who-love-kids/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 14:27:34 +0000 Henry Baum http://centurytel.appvita.com/?p=1676 ss-savvyauntie

Savvy Auntie claims to be for “all women who love kids.” Obviously it’s not the first website for women, so how aunt-centered is Savvy Auntie? There are a number of articles for aunts and aunts alone – how to buy a present for a niece or nephew, running a baby showed as an aunt, and so on. So it really is aimed at aunts – not just women in general.

Mostly Savvy Auntie is an information portal. As a portal, it’s one by which other information-based sites should be measured. It has a good use of graphics, an intuitive layout – and it’s a sharp, modern-looking site. Sort of Aunts 2.0. Like other social networks, users can add friends, join groups, blog, send messages, and the like.

The problem with the site is that it is more form, and less function. Some of the articles are sparse – just a few paragraphs long and there’s not a lot of interaction on the articles but this could change as more aunts come on board. Generally, it’s a well-designed niche network that offers some blog-quality tips on being an aunt.

Practical Uses:

  • Find just the right gift for your 8-year old niece
  • Get some tips on the best methods for painting t-shirts with your twin nephews
  • Connect with other aunts and share your stories
  • Display your expertise about “aunting” and other child-related information by contributing to the site

Insider Tips:

  • If you’re shopping for gifts and want to save money – search the web for the item as Savvy Auntie does not display a list of all the places each item is sold online
  • Consider subscribing one of the several Savvy Auntie RSS feeds – Latest Expertise Articles, Latest Activities, Newest Gift Additions, and more
  • Be active – a social network is only as good as its members. If you blog, comment on other people’s blogs
  • Check out the Savvy Auntie forums – it’s the most active part of the site

What we liked:

  • It’s free
  • Really one of the nicer-looking social networks you’ll see
  • Thorough social network features that make getting active on the site quite easy

What we didn’t like:

  • The “Activities” really don’t provide a lot of usable information
  • A fairly narrow niche. Aunts who are also moms would probably just go to a motherhood site first. Mainly aimed at aunts without kids of their own

Alternatives:

Company Info:

Costs:

  • Free
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