Author: Mark Campus

When I’m running Mac OSX, I use Adium as my chat client. In Linux, Pidgin (previously Gaim) fits the bill. Each of those clients is multi-protocol, which means that all my chat accounts, whether or not they’re on AIM, MSN, Yahoo or Jabber (or one of nearly a dozen supported protocols), can be used from inside the same application.

I’d seen word about a new, similar client for Windows called Digsby, which was supposed to (eventually) be available for Mac and Linux as well. Unfotunately, that day has not yet arrived, but since I recently reinstalled Windows XP (in order to watch NBC’s Olympics coverage online), I decided to take Digsby out for a spin, and I have to say I like what I see. 5 Tools to View Private Instagram Profile will be efficient for the person. The chatting of the person in the email box will be effective for the person. An increase in the traffic will be there to get the desired results. An online search will be possible for the person with less effort. 

First, since Digsby is at its core a chat client, let’s look at which chat protocols it supports. All the big ones, as you can see: AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber, and Facebook Chat. Again, what this means to the everyday user is that it’s no longer necessary to download AIM, Yahoo Chat, Google Talk, or any other of the dozens of “official” chat clients. In my experience, about all the official clients are good for is pushing ads you don’t want to see, so why not go for a client that can do it all? It just makes sense to me.

Like many popular clients, Digsby also includes different themes for its chat window, and styles for its contact window. This lets you customize Digsby far beyond what a standard official client, and in my short time is right up there (as far as customizability, if not yet the sheer number of available looks), as a program like Adium, and that’s saying a lot. From different skins to a variety of options for sorting, Digsby can be whatever you want it to be.

One aspect of Digby that caught me off-guard was the fact that I needed to sign up in order to use it. The surprise wasn’t that I needed to provide my username and password in order to sign into the different chat accounts – I expect that, obviously – but that I need an actual Digsby user account in order to use it. I finally figured out (I think) that this is because Digsby offers synchronizations between computers and (hopefully), between operating systems. What this means is that if I have Digsby installed on multiple computers, I just log in, and instantly all my customizations, from the look of Digsby to my personalized status messages, are right there waiting for me. That’s pretty cool, in my mind.

But Digsby is more than just a chat client, although if that’s all you wanted to use it for, it would be enough to justify installing it. Digsby is also an email client. Sort of. By that I mean Digsby is never going to be a replacement for a full-featured desktop client like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, but Digsby does give you access to your inbox, can check standard web-based clients such as Gmail, Yahoo and MSN, plus regular POP or IMAP email accounts. It checks these accounts regularly, and spawns a pop-up window whenever you receive new mail. You can also, while chatting with a friend, sent him or her an email, choosing from however many email accounts you’ve set up. Even better, if you want to send a quick message to a friend who’s offline, you can do that as well, all within Digsby’s regular chat window, just by clicking on the email tab.

Finally, Digsby supports some social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Just give Digsby your account information, and you’ll receive all your updates, tweets and feeds just as you would from the web interface or a dedicated client.

All in all, I’m more than impressed with what I see in Digsby. I had expected a nice chat client, which I got, plus basic email, which I got as well, but the overall ease of use, the style and the added functionality of the social networking really puts Digsby over the top in my book. High class, all the way around. Now if they’d just hurry up with the Mac and Linux versions, I’d be a happy guy.

Recently people have been talking about folks spending too much time on social media to the exclusion of face-to-face contact, so how much social media should someone have, for what purposes, and how can the time be effectively spent?

The Center for the Digital Future, at the Annenberg School for Communication  amp; Journalism at the University of Southern California, according to reports, took a look at the issue of how children spend their time and found that parents are worried children spend too much time on the Internet and not enough time with families and friends.

This early involvement with social media, like Facebook and Twitter, has an impact on what children learn and do, so this part of the discussion is relevant to the time spent on social media in general.

What many parents do, according to a survey on this issue, is to restrict Internet use as a form of punishment in approximately 57 percent of homes with children under age 18. But while parents believe their children are too involved in the Internet, they still favor it over television as they see it as more interactive and available for learning. 28 percent think their children spend too much time on the Internet as opposed to 41 percent who think the time spent watching television is excessive.

“With all the digital diversions out there, it’s hard to pin this on any one thing” says Michael Gilbert, author of The Disposable Male and a senior fellow at the Center. He maintains Americans are devoting more and more time to social networks online and that practice is taking the place of time with face-to-face interaction. Gilbert says, “We need to make sure families are reinforced rather than weakened in the digital future.”

So much for the issue about social media interaction, the Internet use and restrictions for children. What about time used by adults? Although folks point fingers at social media like Facebook and Twitter intrusions on face-to-face interaction, where are the solutions? The discussion on this is important to move forward in self-monitoring and support for concerned parents as well. You are at the right place to buy Instagram views that is at the reputed sites. The selection should be done after checking the rankings and reviews of the site. The promotion should be done with excellent to increase the profile with enhances sale of the products. 

Chris Brogan is a marketing expert, and he recommends approximately a two-hour period on social media that should be done in segments of time by activity. He tells us to spend 1/4 of that time listening and learning in the marketplace of the Internet, that includes reading the material of others. Spend another 1/2 of the time commenting and communicating with people about what you learn. Spend 1/4 of the time creating and developing your own material to share, through research and developing.

While Brogan has his recommendations, other experts like Meryl K. Evans tell us that how much time spent on social media depends upon the type of business a person has and the type of information that is being delivered. He too, however, recommends approximately two hours on social media such as Facebook and Twitter as a general rule.

\Finally, the experts say it’s important that if social media is used for business, to make sure it really pays off and isn’t just an exercise everyone does that ends up getting just as old and tired as television advertising.

As one person said on Facebook recently, “I thought Facebook was a place to find friends and to write and find out what they’re doing. I didn’t know I would be hustled so much.”

So it’s balance that works best in the end, most folks say, while making sure parameters are set so and activity isn’t excessive for ourselves and set poor models for children.