What online tool makes you most time productive?

[Dave Duarte]

Last week during a lecture, I asked a question on Twitter as a demo of how Twitter can be used as a research, collaboration and productivity tool. The question that I posed (to no-one in particular, but whoever happened to see my message on Twitter): what online tool makes you most time productive?

In the following 10 minutes, during class, I received the following responses:

QuirkEducation: iTunes U is a great resource, which can also be accessed via your mobile.
Apple - Education - Mobile Learning

marycbruce RSS feeds

weblearning The shut down button?

nausherrahman Evernote helps me stay organised across mobile, PC etc. Invaluable for scatterbrained folk like me!

antonyadelaar Not Twitter. I mean, we're all at work and look what we're doing..:)

Phatbrands RT @nicharry Tell them: Self Discipline. Couldnt agree more, you can have all the slickest tools but they all depend on the user

Jenty Google Reader, and Hootsuite, and Stumbleupon links into Google 1 day ago

heinkoen Evernote

MLLWAY005 email

IvoVegter Facebook!

johannschwella Delicious, cuts down my research time by at least 30-40%. 1 day ago

nicharry: Self Discipline.

Dplanet: Google and ArtistData


If you click through to the profiles of the various people the answered the questions, you'll see how the answers depend somewhat on the nature of the person's work.

I have used all the tools mentioned above productively and unproductively (depending on what kind of mood I'm in). As with all tools, their value is in the skill and vision of those that wield them.

What tools or techniques would you recommend for online/mobile enhanced productivity

[Conrad Strydom]

Hi Dave,

Interesting to see the varied opinion. I see there was no mention of IM, it's far better than email at getting things done quickly.

I also have to agree with Evernote, its hugely handy and its value is multiplied 10x if you have a phone that supports it.

[Dave Duarte]

I must say, Instant Messenger is a fantastic time saver, but only when used by appointment or with a small team. Public IM like Skype is an awful distraction for me - I get too many people initiating random discussions through the day, so I rather just leave it off.

[Monique Boucher]

I have to agree with nicharry on self discipline because with so much to see, do and research online I can easily get carried away.

There are so many new apps popping up, what saves time online depends on the goal. For example I found a fantastic app for one of our clients, a recruitment company, that allows you the search twitter for job hunters and refine the search for location (down to the suburb) and use a multiple number of keywords like 'receptionist.’ It could be a time saver for recruiters/prospective employers and help reinforce Twitter as a porthole for talent as well as information sharing. Here’s a link if you want to check it out: http://www.demandspot.com/main#t=0%7Cc=Job%20Demand

[Dave Duarte]

Thanks Monique. Nice one.