The Social Path

Google HotPot: The best app you didn't know existed

Toward the end of 2010, Google quietly launched a great new review application called HotPot. It's sleek, user friendly and thorough. You can search and rate everything from restaurants to toy stores to parks, all from one easy application. 

In order to vote, all you have to do is sign in to Google (so if you're on Gmail right now, you're already logged on). You also must create a username. The voting has a few easy, fun steps to complete, all without leaving the main page. When you select the star rating for the item you'd like to review, the selection flips like a baseball card. Then you can fill in your stats, write a description if you'd like and submit.

In addition to submissions from HotPot, Google aggregates reviews from all over the Web - so instead of nine crummy reviews from one application, you get a true measure of the place's value. 

HotPot is built into the Google Places iPhone and Android applications (without the HotPot name attached at all, which is weird) and is every bit as simple as the Web application. Google recently announced Twitter integration of HotPot in its Google Maps for Android app, but Twitter sharing is noticeably absent on the Web-based and iPhone applications.

This is one of Google's best ventures into social applications, and in time I believe it will become the most reputable and popular. So be sure to step up and claim your business to get into the game early.

The Social Path's vote is five stars! Great service, atmosphere and value - but now we're starving.

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Day 2: Try Posterous, a better way to blog and bookmark.

Throughout January, The Social Path is running daily tips on how to improve your social life — online, at least. Click here to learn more.

You've possibly heard of Posterous, a minimalist blogging service that seems at first blush to be a new evolution of sites like Tumblr.  

But I actually see Posterous as a useful hybrid of both blogging and social bookmarking tools like Delicious. Why? Because bookmarking sites serve a vital purpose — helping you chronicle all the helpful and cool stuff you find online — but they do so in a way that I've always found clunky and inefficient.

What I often found myself wanting was something that combined the push-button convenience of bookmarking with Delicious from your browser, but with the sharing power of a more social site like Twitter. Why not just use Twitter? Because it's nearly impossible to go back and find links you tweeted 72 hours ago, much less 7 months ago.

My solution? Posterous. Well, Posterous with one important addition: Shareaholic.

If you want to be better about both blogging and bookmarking, here's what you can do:

1. Set up a Posterous account. It's stupifyingly easy. You basically just send an e-mail to post@posterous.com. Just be sure you're e-mailing from the address you want the account linked to.

2. Quick question: Are you using Firefox? If not, go start using Firefox. I mean, cripes, it's 2010 already. Google Chrome is also acceptable.

3. Install Shareaholic in your Firefox or Chrome browser. It adds a sweet little button to your browser, so that you'll be able to share just about anything you're looking at with a push of a button. (You can watch a demo here.)

4. Once it's installed, click on the Sharaholic button and then select "Manage Your Services." On the blogging tab, add Posterous to your list.

5. Go start bookmarking! Any time you see an article, video, etc., that you want to both remember and share, simply click the Shareaholic button on your browser and post it to Posterous.

 Like magic, you're now blogging and bookmarking at the same time.

You can also use Posterous or Shareaholic to post links to all your social media accounts, but I find that approach to be a big cluttered, repetitive mess. 

What you do with Posterous is, of course, up to you. I'm sure you'll quickly find all sorts of new uses that are specific to your life, your career and your interests. Remember, the goal is not to replace your blog. But heck, if it does, so be it. You never signed a contract with Wordpress or Blogger. If Posterous does it for you, then go with it.

Estimated time needed: 30-60 minutes.
Benefits: More effective bookmarking and easier blog output.

Coming tomorrow: Doing your part in the name of Creative Commons.