lists

What’s App?

No. I don’t actually mean that application. It’s just a fun title for a quick post about random new apps I’ve heard about the last few months.

The first EIGHTEEN come from Mashable, and are all focused on healthcare. One of my good friends recently had a baby, so when I saw this article, it made me think of everyone who isn’t lucky enough to have access to decent, local medical care.

8 Apps Revolutionizing Maternal Health Care in Developing Nations


10 Apps Increasing Health Care Access for Low-Income Patients

  • AmWell (iOS & Android)
  • Doctor on Demand (iOS & Android)
  • MyChart (iOS & Android)
  • My Medical (iOS & Android)
  • iTriage (iOS & Android)
  • First Aid by the American Red Cross (iOS & Android)
  • Optimism (iOS)
  • TalkSpace (iOS & Android)
  • ScriptSave WellRx (iOS & Android)
  • Medisafe Medication (iOS & Android)


Refinery29 made a list of their own, which you are more than welcome to check out. I am not a fan of stuff like the Kendall and Kylie game. Not even going to post a link. You can find it yourself and make questionable entertainment choices on your own time.

  • Although I don’t live in a city that offers this service (YET!), it does sound pretty cool, and self-explanatory – UberEats.
  • Down to Lunch is a push notification app that seems neat, but I don’t have it (YET!), so I can’t speak to usability.
  • Hooch is yet another app not available (YET!) in my city, but it does sound like an interesting way to get to know one’s area, one drink at a time.
  • Miitomo is a good time – your character asks you questions, then talks to other Miis to facilitate relationships in a new way. Plus, there’s a neat game. It’s Nintendo, after all.
  • Clover is (yet another) dating app. It seems simple and fun, but it’s only available on iOS, so I can’t get a try.
  • Although a tad bit obvious self-promotion, I enjoy the “8 Things to Know This AM” story in my inbox, so I’d probably like the Refinery29 This AM app, if it was available for Android.
  • While I never used the mobile app, I have used Slack before, and it’s a convenient way to work with others.
  • The blurb says Sunshine is like Waze for weather – users verify real-time weather patterns, looks like only iOS users can download it at the moment.
  • Sorry, dudes, get over this. Heeey ladies! Glow is an awesome way to track your period (or fertility, if that’s your goal) throughout your whole cycle. It’ll help you get a grip on the good, the bad, and the irritable sides of your cycle.
  • Who wouldn’t be a fan of sending an emoji of yourself riding a unicorn under a sparkly “Happy Birthday” banner?! I highly recommend at least trying Bitmoji.
  • Like GIFs? Who doesn’t? Seems like only iOS users get to participate right now, but GIPHY looks fun…
  • Live filters? #nofilter peeps need to take a knee. MSQRD (or Masquerade) lets the user just cut loose and play.

LAST, BUT FOR SERIOUS GUYS, CERTAINLY NOT LEAST:

This Travel App is Better Than the Window Seat: This app looks SERIOUSLY cool! I don’t fly as much as I used to, so for now, I won’t get to experience the sweetness, but you can bet your ass I’ll be glued to Flyover Country on my next trip. Thanks to the smarties at University of Minnesota and the National Science Foundation for this one!

On Reading and Writing

I’ve been thinking about writing lately because of all the academic writing I’ve been wading through. Here are a few things I’ve had in my inbox and queued in my “to-read” for a while. Lots of lists, but they all have great advice on writing. I think my favorite is this bit of wisdom from none other than Mark Twain:

“I never write ‘metropolis’ for seven cents when I can write ‘city’ and get paid the same.”

Truer words…

Top 10 Writing Tips and The Psychology Behind Them

13 Clever and Inspiring Notes About Writing

15 Words You Need To Eliminate From Your Vocab To Sound Smarter

Digital Get Down

Forgive me for quoting *NSync, but I am a child of the halcyon times in which I grew up – sue me.

This is another entry that could have ended up on Listmania!, but I thought interesting enough to include it here (albeit a couple of months late). This 10-list includes digital marketing stats, and states that they are “must-see.”

I realize the article is, in fact, from Adweek – a publication devoted to news in advertising. But, when any publication manages to pull together a 10-list (I hesitate to use “top 10” because this just seems to be an aggregator sort of situation, as opposed to “these are the top 10 best things from the past week”) based solely on all things digital – BuzzFeed videos, Twitter accounts, Spotify, click-throughs, and podcasts – it warrants more than the minimum of attention.

Most people will understand the feeling of commiseration one sometimes experiences when reading a book or watching a movie. I’m in the middle of a book that happens to include one version of the impending zombie apocalypse, but seems to be more about technology in all of its ridiculous forms. I immediately went back to this place in my head while reading this one. The reason it made me think of the book is because the protagonists are bloggers in the year 2040, and technology (and all things digital!) is the most important thing that exists. They use it for everything – hidden cameras, live feeds, viral testing, security, etc. I think that by 2040, we’ll be looking back to now and not only wondering why people spent so much time posting about what they’re eating or the boring minutiae of their day, we’ll be highlighting this time as the digital point of no return.

Technology is here to stay (until the apocalypse wipes all that junk out – according to most dystopian end-times pop culture predictions). That said, this list does provide a few interesting digital moments from the cross-section of now.

10 Must-See Digital Marketing Stats From The Past Week

Most People Are Other People

…according to Oscar Wilde, that is. I have definitely found this to be true of social media. We try so hard to impress others that many times we forget to be ourselves, or we forget who we are, period.

I wanted to take the time to address this phenomenon, and this article is the perfect vehicle to do so. Normally, it would belong under Listmania! but it’s too fun to only give it one line and a link.

I could probably have been accused of being the enthusiastic stranger at some point. And, there have been some weeks when I have certainly been the “every day is a bad day” ranter.

Which one do you think you are?

The 8 Most Annoying Social Media Personalities

And I Am Telling You…

…that this is yet another year-end list. I really enjoy the diversity of the videos they selected, however, so I wanted to share them. Personally, I think HootSuite (a program that I already use) really hit the nail on the head with this one. It also helps that I’m a GoT fan. Some play on the heart, some on fandom, and some on quirk.

Although it is really hard to top HootSuite, or Jean-Claude Van Damme doing the splits across two semis(!), I also agree with their selection as #1 – a video is one thing. Fully integrating it into a larger experience is something else entirely. Bravo, Honda.

The Ultimate Countdown: 10 Best Video Marketing Examples of 2014

P.S. “Dear Kitten” will make you smile (especially when the older cat says “vacuum”). What is it about cats and the Internet? It is a match made in heaven.

As I give in to the times

Although in the last post I may have disparaged “Best of” lists, this one is probably worth your time. A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, this one takes a look at some of the best social media articles of 2014. And I actually agree with some of them!

21 of the Best Social Media Articles This Year

Unfortunately, the article breaks one of my rules – don’t make a list that points you to more lists. I’ve been pissed off more than once with this horrifying trend in my communications reading. “Here is the definition of this theory – it comes in three parts. Each of these parts has six things you should know about them. Each of those six things has a couple of terms you need to learn.” Terrible.

A Few Deadly Sins of Social Media Marketing

Which of these piss you off the most as a consumer? As a marketer, all of these are mistakes, but not all of them involve the average joe. Personally, I can’t stand when companies are on everything. Check us out on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instragram, Grindr…. (ok, maybe not that last one…) But, you catch my drift. The cartoon next to that sin (#5) sums it up.

A close second is spamming, but I can get away from that if I want by simply unfollowing or unsubscribing. Third is publishing the same thing across all channels. If you want people to follow you in a couple of different places, you can’t just keep saying the same thing. Unfollow.

Don’t Make These 9 Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Gut-Busting Miscommunication

When I worked in PR, the environment was that of close friends or even family. Naturally, when you wear jeans and t-shirts to work, and all the folks are fun-lovin’ sorts, pranks tend to ensue. Simple bets on sports teams where the loser had to wear the winner’s team jersey for a week, or changing someone’s computer language to Klingon were not uncommon (the Klingon thing was especially hilarious).

Some of the best pranks come from the tech-savvy crowd pulling one over on the luddites. In The 32 Funniest Text Messages of All Time live humans are often behind the pranking, but sometimes technology just gets the best of people. My stomach hurts I was laughing so hard at this awesome collection.

Warning: there is some foul language, jokes that aren’t (they’re offensive), and there are drug references – mixed in with some true gems. Avocada.