My (Current) Top 3 Photo-Editing Apps

It’s no secret that we live in a very visual era, where sharing even life’s smallest moments through pictures has become common practice by almost anyone who’s active on social.

Twitter’s late-2012 split with Instagram was termed “the biggest social breakup of 2012”. You can read the full story here, if you’d like a refresher. The buzz around the Twitter-Instagram breakup illustrates how closely linked social media and photo-sharing are today. You may have noticed, as well, Facebook’s recent News Feed redesign, designed to bring visual content front and center.

Want to dress up the images you share on the social web? Here are my three favorite photo-editing apps (aside from the ever-popular Instagram, of course); and be sure to check out my Insta feed for a special behind-the-scenes look at my life.

1. Pic Stitch (free)
Pic Stitch bills itself as the No. 1 collage app – and once you’ve started using it, you can see why it’s so popular. The app pulls images from your photo album or your Facebook account to make collages. The collage images it produces can then be exported to Facebook, shared on Instagram, emailed to friends and family, or even printed at a Walgreens store near you.

Pic Stitch is a great way to repurpose images you’ve already saved on your phone or tablet. It’s also perfect for summarizing an event in a visual way, like I did here with last weekend’s Outside Lands Music Festival here in San Francisco:

2. Vintique ($0.99)

Unlike the other two apps on this list, Vintique has a price tag. But at 99 cents, it’s a steal (assuming you like applying filters to your images, that is).

Vintique, as its name hints, is chock-full of “vintage” photo filters. The filter options in Vintique put Instagram to shame: there are more than 50 available, in addition to tweaks like color temperature and hue.

If sharing normal, unfiltered images has gotten too blah – or if you really want to make it look like you live in the late 1800s – Vintique can definitely help.

3. Overgram (free)
Putting text on images is cool, right? Yes, it is. Especially if you like sharing inspirational content on your website, blog, or social networks.

Here’s an example I made in Overgram – which makes inserting text a snap – in just a few minutes (if you’re an indecisive perfectionist like more, or a few seconds if you know exactly what you want):

The basic app is free; upgrading to the paid version adds fonts and removes the “Overgram” watermark in the bottom-right corner. Depending on how often you like to share text-optimized images, it may be a worthwhile purchase.

These are my current favorite “pics”; which photo-editing apps do you like?

5 Indispensable Apps for Business Travel

Recently, I traveled to Europe for business. Like with most travel — whether for work or pleasure — I found myself dealing with irksome details like flight changes, language barriers, and packing. So I leveraged a few mobile apps to help me organize the travel minutiae. Below are the five apps I found to be indispensable for my trip. Have you used Tripit, LocalEats, Packing Pro, Concur, and/or TripLingo? Which other apps do you recommend for smoother travel?

1. TripIt for iPhone and Android (FREE), or TripIt Pro ($3.99)

This travel app is a one-stop shop for all your transit needs. Get real-time flight status updates, live weather reports, route maps, and manage hotel and car rental information all from the touch of your fingertips! Upgrading to TripIt Pro gives you the additional ability to track all of your frequent flyer reward programs.

2. LocalEats for iPhone and iPad ($0.99)

If food is a big part of your travel experience, this is the app to use. LocalEats finds spots that locals enjoy, whether it’s a dive bar or an upscale, one-of-a-kind restaurant. The best part is the absence of standard restaurant chains. Another bonus is the ability to make reservations and book a taxi directly from the app. LocalEats offers restaurant listing in over 50 U.S. cities, as well as an additional 50 international cities.

“Never trust a restaurant with a 10 page menu.” – LocalEats

3. Packing for iPhone and iPad ($0.99), or Packing Pro ($2.99)

Packing is a pain, especially when you realize you’ve forgotten to pack something critical. Well, fret no more! Packing and Packing Pro apps take all the guesswork out of what to bring. Packing Pro offers sample lists that help you get a basic idea of what you need to pack before a trip, depending on where and the duration. The app also also offers an “Expert List” that lets you select the number of male/female travelers, adults & children, destination, temperature, and other criteria before automatically generating a list of suggested items to pack.

4. Concur for iPhone and Android (FREE)

Concur allows you to manage your business expenses on-the-go — because keeping track of physical receipts is a pain. Conur lets you take a picture of your receipt for storage on the app! There is even a built-in currency converter for international currencies!

Screenshots of Concur app.

5. TripLingo for iOS and Android ($4.99 – $9.99 depending on language purchased)

Those of us who have traveled internationally well understand the frustration of not being able to speak the local language for the simplest interactions, like telling the cab driver your destination. Enter TripLingo, an app that provides over 1,000 key phrases, a built-in dictionary, flashcards and an intuitive design — all of which makes it easy to immerse into the local culture. The best part: NO internet connectivity required!

Top 7 Apps For Social Media Community Management

As a social media community manager who is always on-the-go, I rely on some key apps to keep me connected and engaged with the RingCentral community. Below are the seven apps that I use and highly recommend.

Which apps do you recommend for community management?

1) Eventbrite for iPhone and Android (free):

Like most community managers, I attend my fair share of conferences and meet-ups. If it weren’t for the Eventbrite app, I would be completely disorganized. The app allows you to find events in your area or in a specific city. You can filter search results by relevance, distance, date, and ticket price. But what makes the Eventbrite app extra special is the ability to keep track of past and upcoming events, as well as store relevant event information such as tickets and directions. In other words, you don’t need to schlep around printed material with the Eventbrite app — just pull up the event ticket barcode or registration info on your phone to gain admission. Hooray for going paperless!

2) Facebook Pages Manager for iPhone (free):

If you’re active on both your personal and brand Facebook pages, this app is great for separating your efforts and staying organized. The Facebook Pages Manager app is similar to the standard Facebook app but packs additional features that make it more convenient to manage brand pages while you’re mobile. Notable features include: status updates, photo uploads, notifications on post comments/likes, notifications on page likes/private messages, and basic Insights data. Admittedly, the Facebook Pages Manager app lacks some functionality — you can’t upload videos, edit Page admins (although you can view the folks who are admins), or interact with brands your brand follows via a home feed. The other bummer is this app is only available on the iPhone and not on other iOS devices or Androids. I’m guessing Facebook will continue optimizing this app. But as it stands, the Facebook admin app suits my top needs for managing brand pages without mixing with my personal profiles page.

 3) HootSuite for iPhone, iPad, and Android (free):

The Hootsuite app allows you to monitor various social networks including Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, and LinkedIn. In our estimation, the app is most effective for monitoring Twitter — in fact, it’s the best Twitter app out there. In the “Streams” view, you can access/add/remove your Twitter feeds, e.g., the home feed, mentions, and key word searches. When you’re viewing a specific feed page, simply swipe left or right to see your other streams. All the standard Twitter features apply, from posting a new tweet to retweeting/replying to a tweet. And for those of you who need an easy way to translate tweets, Hootsuite’s in-app translation is awesome.

4) Instagram for iPhone and Android (free):

We love taking pictures here at RingCentral, and our photo app of choice is Instagram. It’s simple, easy-to-use, and has a great interface. We love the various filters, as well as the ability to share photos to other social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr.

5) LinkedIn for iPhone and Android (free):

The full-featured LinkedIn app is great for staying in touch with your professional network. View status updates from your connections, top news, messages in your inbox, group conversations, and job opportunities. You can also post your own status updates, send private messages to your connections, and invite individuals to connect. My favorite use of the app is for exchanging contact information with new contacts. Rather than exchange business cards when I meet new business contacts, I just quickly search for their names in the LinkedIn app and send them a request to connect. Talk about efficiency!

 6) Pinterest for iPhone and Android (free):

I won’t deny it: I’m one of many Pinterest addicts. Good thing it’s part of my community management job. The Pinterest app is great for staying updated on the latest pins no matter where you are. The best part about the app is the ability to snap a photo and upload it to any of your boards.

 

7) WordPress for all iOS iPhone, iPad, Android smartphones, and Android tablets (free):

Avid bloggers using WordPress, if you don’t already have this app, get it now. Edit and write posts on your smartphone or tablet. Upload images. And best of all, view statistics.