It has been suggested by many that Google Reader be real-time, especially in light of Facebook and Twitter.  Time will tell if this has finally happened or whether my experience today was just an anomaly.

I am still a big fan of RSS readers, so expect more to follow.

PS:  This post was also available on Google Reader within 60 seconds of posting!

There’s an exciting new analytic program that’s come to Twitter.  And knowing just how you’re doing on Twitter is critical feedback for one of Social Media’s top tools.  Klout is about to make that job a lot easier.

Klout takes data from your tweets, who you follow and who follows you.  It looks at how people engage with your content.  In total Klout looks at 25 variables from engagement, reach, velocity, to demand, network strength and activity.

Klout measures your overall influence on Twitter. It also takes your every tweet and shared link and analyzes them to find relevant keywords and generate user-associated tags.  Klout then looks at tag usage frequency (including replies and retweets) and calculates your topic-specific performance.

Log in to Klout using your Twitter credentials, and give it a little time to analyze your Twitter accounts.

The results are creatively displayed on five pages:  summary, stats, content, network and influence tracker.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts.  At the least, I believe you’ll find it fascinating and insightful.  It got me thinking more about those people who are most influential in moving my messages around the Twitter-sphere.

Yesterday was the day I simply could not stand Firefox (3.52) any longer!

Firefox has been crashing daily since the latest 3.5.2 upgrade.  Using it has also been getting terribly slow-going over time.  It started taking more and more of the computer’s resources according to Windows Task manager.  Sometimes it would hog as much as 1+GB of RAM.

I’ve switched to Google’s Chrome web browser for the following reasons:

• Speed.  Overall this is the fastest browser (since the old Firefox days).
• Simplicity.  It is streamlined, sleek, familiar and comfortable looking.  It feels lightweight and has a lack of encumbrances.
• Open source.  Developers can keep making it better.  Plugins are coming.
• Security.  It is reputed that Chrome has and will have the best phishing and other security features built in.

The move from Firefox could not have been easier.

I liked that Chrome moved all of my Firefox tabs, logins, passwords, and favorites.  There were a couple of  glitches, but for the most-part, it went perfectly.

My Chrome user experience:   In a word, near-perfection:

It hasn’t had a hiccup since I started.  And unlike Firefox, each tab runs as a separate process.  Should there be a problem in one tab it shouldn’t crash the whole browser.

Chrome isn’t as robust as Firefox yet.  I’m waiting for all of the great extensions that characterize Firefox.

Why not Internet Explorer (IE):

• I forgot about it.  That’s a product I have neither used nor missed in years.  I reserve it only for those few times when a site works only under IE, and for website testing purposes.
• Vulnerability.  IE is said to be the most vulnerable to attack.  That’s true even with the latest security patches installed.
• Cumbersome and awkward user experience.  While somewhat improved over earlier versions, IE still retains the reputation for being the worst out there.
• IE is the least flexibility and isn’t forgiving.  It is neither Internet standards-compliant nor friendly. As a result, many websites just don’t play well.
• Feature-free.  IE also doesn’t have all of the nice features and plugins that got me onto Firefox in the first place.
• Crashes frequently.  Who has time for that?

Disclaimer:  I’m not a great Google fan.  I just need tools that work well.