You may already be familiar with Streamified because it’s been available on iOS and Android mobile devices for months now. You can also access the online version at Streamified.me. Now, they’ve chosen to add a Mac OS X app to the lineup and it definitely does not disappoint. Streamified brings style, simplicity and speed in a single app, along with all of your favorite social networks and subscriptions. Right now, you can add the following accounts to Streamified: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google Reader, Google+, Readability, Instapaper and Pocket. You can even add RSS Feeds and subscribe to some of the most popular news sites and blogs that are integrated into Streamified. While this may sound a bit overwhelming, it’s not. Streamified brings social aggregation to the Mac so that you can keep up with your friend across the Web, share content that interests you, and post to your social networks all at once or individually. As an added bonus, Streamified allows you to schedule post much like HootSuite.
Getting Started
Streamified is free and can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. Once installed and started for the first time, you’ll need to login or create a login. Streamified doesn’t require a password, you’ll only need to create a username. Whenever you log into Streamified, whether on the Mac app, mobile device or website, you’ll need to enter this username. What will happen is, once you connect your social accounts, you’ll need to use one of those accounts to verify who you are. Anyone can enter your username into the app, but they won’t be able to log into one of your social accounts for verification (unless, of course, they know your login information).
Next you’ll be prompted to connect one social networking account; you’ll be able to add more later. Connecting any social account will allow you to view your news feed for that site, plus you can like, comment, retweet, re-share, etc. The actions that you can perform on a post will depend on the social network that it’s from. However there are a few actions, like re-share and bookmark, that are available on posts from all sites.
Usage
Using Streamified is a breeze. The window is resizable, so you can easily pair it alongside your browser window or any other app you may be using. It is set up much like a mobile application with the navigation bar at the top and the scrollable stream below.
Bookmarking
You’ll notice Streamified’s fancy “S” in the top right corner of each post in your stream. Clicking on this will bookmark that post and save it in Streamified. You can access all of your bookmarked posts from the right sidebar that appears when you click on “All Streams” at the top of the app.
Choose Your Stream
Speaking of “All Streams”, you will probably click on this a lot because it opens the sidebar that lets you pick which streams to view. You can view all of your streams at once or each one individually. You can also access your notifications and bookmarked items from here.
Post to Your Networks
On right side of the navigation bar, is the compose button. If you want to post a status update on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc., you’ll need to click on that. This works a lot like HootSuite because you can post to just one social network, a couple, or all. You can also shorten your URLs, attach images and even schedule your posts. When scheduling a post, Streamified isn’t like HootSuite with the calendar setup. Instead, you can choose how many hours from that moment that you’d like the post to be sent out. i.e. 1 hour, 4 hours, 10 hours, all the way up to 48 hours.
Preferences
On the right side of the navigation bar, is the preferences button. When you’re at home (where your streams show), this button will open up a sidebar on the left side of the app. Otherwise (if you’re not at home) it will take you back to home where you can view all your streams. This button is important because this is where you’ll need to go to add more social networks to Streamified. Clicking on the icon in the top left of the preferences sidebar will bring up your profile. You’ll want to fill in your name, email address and short bio.
Track Shares
You’ll also notice a field for your Google Analytics UA in preferences. This is because Streamified can track your re-shares. Any time you click on the re-share button, you’ll see the option to enable analytics for that post. This is a great way to see if others like what you’re sharing, how many are actually reading your shares and much more. By the way, the re-share button is different from re-tweeting. You can also retweet on Streamified and there are two options for this: you can retweet (no editing) or quote (editing allowed).
Final Thoughts
I’m very impressed and happy with Streamified. It packs a lot into the app and I can see myself using it on a regular basis. I love that I can keep up with my social networks, read my items from Pocket and keep up with my favorite blogs all from a single application – talk about a time-saver! Not only does Streamified bring everything together, but it’s a great productivity booster because it will keep you from visiting so many different websites in your browser. So, what do you think of Streamified? Have you used it before on the Web or your mobile device? If so, how does it compare to the Mac app? Streamified
