Steve McCabe: from island to island

If you take your social media seriously, then you'll need tools to monitor your - and others - output. Let's have a look at a few such tools. It's worth noting I particularly wanted a tool that can also monitor my Pinterest account. Cyfe.com The ‘All-in-one dashboard’. Shows key data, in a very pleasing layout. Social accounts are added as widgets, and the free plan allows for 6 widgets. What's great is that it can pull data form many social channels, including Pinterest. The Pro plan will cost you $19 monthly. Crowdbooster.com 'Analyse, Publish, Engage'. A focus on Facebook and Twitter, the Bronze Plan allows for one Twitter and one Facebook account to be monitored for $7/month. The Silver Plan is $31/month, allowing up to 10 social accounts. Mention Another FB/Twitter monitoring tool, and particualrly good at showing user engagement.  It lists (and email alerts) mentions of your chosen keyword, but Pro version also offers analytics...

Amazon have just launched an interesting new feature (in the US only though). Called Auto-Rip , it converts to MP3 every applicable CD you've ever purchased back to 1998. It integrates with their Cloud Player, and once you turn that on, the content of those CDs will appear magically as MP3s in your Cloud Player. Which is rather nice. Here's Amazon's press release on the service, and here's an interesting take on the service, (basically saying nice, but who buys Cds anymore?). Though that only amounted to 8 CDs for me, it did have me wondering: "What the?!" when I saw what I'd bought, way back when. The Barry White must (bold, italic) have been a gift; same for Santana. Bowie and The Stranglers were a nostalgia trip I still recall (nay, am still going through). Costello's 'Painted From Memory' is still one of my favourite Costello albums. But the two track Bach: Goldberg Variations mono recording from 1955? Help, my Amazon account'...