Email as a social network

Okay, I have loved email from the minute I discovered it way back around 1995-1996. Along with that came email lists and discussions. I made friends. Shared discoveries, etc. Now on to Web 2.0 and blogging. I am getting bad about not checking my feeds again. 🙁 I know, I know.
When I got the mobile phone I have now (an iPhone), I almost bought a Blackberry about 2 months before. My main reason. I wanted a phone that would also handle email. Now I’ve done web-based, POP3 and IMAP protocol email in the past. Currently I use a Gmail IMAP with iPhone Mail and OSX Mail, but that’s not the point of this article.
I’ve become fascinated with Web 2.0 Apps. But it’s hard to make sure they are all iPhone or WAP compatible and if I’m not going to use a service, if it takes too much time, I’ll end up abandoning it. With all the “social networks” that have cropped up throughout the web one “social network” has been largely ignored. The inbox and outbox of your email.
Yes, you’re inundated with spam. Some people are declaring email bankruptcy (deleting the whole inbox without reading anything). But think about all those valuable emails you get. Photos of your friends’ kids. That vacation video clip when your uncle falls off the jet ski. The sale notice that come from your favorite store. There is a lot of information sitting in your inbox. What we need is a better way to get info out of your in box and into a usable formats.
Right now I am using several services depending on what info I want to organize.
1. Sandy
I’ve covered her service before so I’ll just refer you here and yes, I am still using Sandy multiple times per day for my schedule.
2. Remember the Milk
Again this is another service I’ve covered before. This is a to do list service.
3. Evernote
I have lots of little notes and text snippits that I like to keep around. Starts to blog posts. Notes to myself about things. Images. PDFs. And I’m not really good about tags or folders. I like search. I use the search in Gmail to find any random email. I use the search function in Evernote. One very cool thing about Evernote is it can search for text in images. (I believe it is still in invitation only beta which means you need to comment or email me and let me know if you want an invitation.)

4. TripIt
I am traveling a lot lately. I have to keep up with my work schedule. I have to schedule hotel rooms. So I am playing with using TripIt. When I get my confirmation email from priceline I just forward it to plans@tripit.com and It plugs the info into an itinerary. Generates a map of the area. And gives me the weather for the area for those days. Also they are just setting up profiles and networks. You know I love the stats. Although I’m surprised I beat out Lethann in the mileage department. Lethann’s planning a complicated driving path through the US to get her car back home and she’s trying out the enter your own. That can get a little tedious to me, but she does have a zip over to this person’s house. Stay with friends in X town. Lunch with A, B & C in Y town so I’m sure she gets better control by entering things herself. Also a really cool thing is you can forward confirmations from TicketMaster and it will also plug your activities into your schedule. For example, I got Braves tickets online to take my nephew to a game. I just forwarded the confirmation email I received to plans@tripit.com Directions, weather and an itinerary were all plugged in for the big day.

One fun thing is the calendar of where your friends are. This would be really cool if we were traveling more.

5. Flickr
I’ve mentioned this one before as a photo sharing site. I can email photos from my phone straight to Flickr and presto it’s online.
A note on filters: One of the things I absolutely love on Gmail is Filters. I get lots of “Bacn” email. It’s not quite spam, but it’s stuff I don’t want cluttering my inbox demanding my attention away from important emails that do need my attention. So I periodically just open my gmail in the web interface. I start checking all the advertisement emails that I don’t want to be in the Inbox. For example iTunes and Old Navy emails or those X is following you on twitter emails. Then I click “Create a filter” up near the search box. Click the check box to archive the messages from those senders and label with “Bacn” (or whatever you decide to name your label/folder). The messages are there waiting in your Bacn label, but they aren’t demanding your attention from your inbox.
Interesting slideshow from a TripIt exec/developer.
[slideshare id=371001&doc=tripitweb20042408-1209065842262754-8&w=425]