Top 100 Social Media Tools
Not sure if this is something to be proud of, or ashamed about, but I’m using (or have used) about 70% of the applications in the list. The encouraging thing is to note how many of these applications are free to use. Others might have applicable promo code discounts.
The list has been compiled from a cohort of learning professionals who shared their Top 10 Tools for Learning both for their own personal learning/productivity and for creating learning solutions for others.
If you want to influence the list and rankings, then head off to the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies.
TOP 10
Key to availability: D=download; H=hosted; C=insert code onto page
|
Ranking |
Tool |
Votes |
Description |
Cost |
Avail |
|
|
2008 |
2007 |
|||||
|
1 |
2 |
58 |
del.icio.us Social bookmarking tool |
Free |
H |
|
|
2 |
1 |
50.5 |
Firefox Web browser |
Free |
D |
|
|
3 |
3= |
43.5 |
Skype Instant messaging, VoIP tool |
Free |
D |
|
|
4 |
7= |
42 |
Google Reader RSS/Feed reader |
Free |
H |
|
|
5 |
3= |
38.5 |
Google Search Web search tool |
Free |
H |
|
|
6 |
6 |
35 |
WordPress Blogging tool |
Free |
H/D |
|
|
7 |
5 |
32.5 |
PowerPoint Presentation software |
£ |
D |
|
|
8 |
14 |
29 |
Google Docs Web-based documents |
Free |
H |
|
|
9 |
11 |
28 |
Audacity Sound editor and recorder |
Free |
D |
|
|
10 |
7= |
27 |
GMail Web-based email |
Free |
H |
|
TOP 11-20
|
Ranking |
Tool |
Votes |
Description |
Cost |
Avail |
|
|
2008 |
2007 |
|||||
|
11 |
26= |
26.5 |
Wikipedia Online encylopedia |
Free |
H |
|
|
12 |
9 |
26 |
Blogger Blogging tool |
Free |
H |
|
|
13 |
12= |
26 |
Moodle Course management system |
Free |
D/H |
|
|
14= |
17= |
20 |
iGoogle Personalised start page |
Free |
H |
|
|
31= |
20 |
Slideshare Hosting/sharing presentations |
Free |
H |
||
|
16= |
22= |
19 |
YouTube Video hosting/sharing site. |
Free |
H |
|
|
16 |
19 |
flickr Photo storage/sharing site |
Free |
H |
||
|
43= |
19 |
twitter Microblogging and social network |
Free |
H |
||
|
19 |
31= |
18 |
Ning Social networking tool |
Free |
H |
|
|
20 |
15 |
17 |
Wikispaces Wiki tool |
Free/£ |
H |
|
22-91
|
Ranking |
Tool |
Votes |
Description |
Cost |
Avail |
|
|
2008 |
2007 |
|||||
|
21= |
22= |
15 |
Articulate Presenter/Engage/Quizmaker |
£ |
D |
|
|
101= |
15 |
VoiceThread Collaborative slideshows |
Free/£ |
H |
||
|
23= |
12= |
13 |
Bloglines RSS/Feed reader |
Free |
H |
|
|
26= |
13 |
Snagit Screen capture tool |
Free/£ |
D |
||
|
10 |
13 |
Word Word processing software |
£ |
D |
||
|
26 |
17= |
12 |
Captivate Demo and scenario-based tool |
£ |
D |
|
|
27= |
17= |
11 |
Facebook Social networking site |
Free |
H |
|
|
26= |
11 |
iTunes Music and podcast player |
Free |
D |
||
|
29 |
17= |
10 |
Outlook Email software |
£ |
D |
|
|
30 |
43= |
9 |
Flash Animation authoring tool |
£ |
D |
|
|
36= |
9 |
Google Calendar Web-based calendar |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
9 |
Jing Record/share screen captures/casts |
Free |
D/H |
||
|
101= |
9 |
Pageflakes Start page |
Free |
H |
||
|
57= |
9 |
Zoho Suite Online office suite |
Free |
H |
||
|
35= |
50= |
8 |
Camtasia Studio Screencasting tool |
£ |
D |
|
|
31= |
8 |
LinkedIn Social network |
Free/£ |
H |
||
|
17= |
8 |
MindManager Mind mapping tool |
£ |
D |
||
|
38= |
31= |
7 |
OpenOffice Office software suite |
Free |
D |
|
|
43= |
7 |
PB Wiki Wiki tool |
Free/£ |
H |
||
|
57= |
7 |
TypePad Blogging tool |
£ |
H |
||
|
41= |
26= |
6 |
Dreamweaver Web authoring tool |
£ |
D |
|
|
36= |
6 |
Google Maps Maps of the US. UK, etc |
Free |
H |
||
|
101= |
6 |
Second Life Virtual world application |
Free |
H |
||
|
44 |
22= |
5.5 |
Excel Spreadsheet software |
£ |
D |
|
|
45= |
72= |
5 |
Adobe Connect Web meeting/conferencing |
£ |
H |
|
|
– |
5 |
Blogs and blogging tools Of all types |
Free/£ |
H/D |
||
|
72= |
5 |
diigo Social bookmarking |
Free |
H |
||
|
72= |
5 |
edublogs Blogging tool for educators |
Free |
H |
||
|
72= |
5 |
eXe SCORM content authoring |
Free |
D |
||
|
50= |
5 |
Freemind Mind mapping tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
4 |
Garageband Personal recording studio |
Free |
D |
||
|
57= |
5 |
Google Alerts Keep track of new information |
Free |
H |
||
|
101= |
5 |
Google Apps Communication/collaboration |
£ |
H |
||
|
31= |
5 |
Internet Explorer Web browser |
Free |
D |
||
|
43= |
5 |
iPod MP3 player |
£ |
– |
||
|
72= |
5 |
Keynote Presentation software |
£ |
D |
||
|
26= |
5 |
Netvibes Personal start page |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
5 |
Nvu Web authoring tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
5 |
Wetpaint Wiki tool |
Free |
H |
||
|
58 |
72= |
4.5 |
Adobe Reader PDF Reader |
Free |
D |
|
|
59= |
50= |
4 |
Photoshop Photo/Image editing tools |
£ |
D |
|
|
– |
4 |
Basecamp Collaborative, project management tool |
Free/£ |
H |
||
|
50= |
4 |
Elluminate Web meeting/conferencing |
Free/£ |
H |
||
|
40= |
4 |
Google Earth Geographic information |
Free |
D |
||
|
36= |
4 |
Google Scholar Search for scholarly literature |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
4 |
LAMP Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP |
Free |
D |
||
|
72= |
4 |
Notepad HTML and text editor |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
4 |
OneNote Personal Information Manager |
£ |
D |
||
|
– |
4 |
Opera/Opera mini Web browser |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
4 |
Paint.NET Image and photo editing |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
4 |
Stumbleupon Social bookmarking tool |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
4 |
Ustream Live, interactive broadcasting |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
4 |
Wink Software demonstration tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
72= |
4 |
Yugma Web meeting/conferencing |
Free/£ |
D |
||
|
73= |
22= |
3.5 |
Thunderbird Email client |
Free |
D |
|
|
74= |
101= |
3 |
Blackboard Course management system |
£ |
D |
|
|
101= |
3 |
Bubbl.us Mind mapping tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
3 |
ClassTools Create Flash-based learning |
Free |
D |
||
|
72= |
3 |
Drupal/DrupalEd Content management system |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
3 |
Filezilla FTP client |
Free |
D |
||
|
72= |
3 |
Furl Social bookmarking tool |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
3 |
Google Analytics Website analysis tool |
Free |
C |
||
|
101= |
3 |
Google Sites/Jotspot Wiki tool |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
3 |
iMovie Video editing software |
£ |
D |
||
|
– |
3 |
Lectora Course authoring tools |
£ |
D |
||
|
36= |
3 |
MediaWiki Wiki tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
3 |
Polldaddy Polling and survey tool |
Free |
H/C |
||
|
– |
3 |
RSS Really Simple Syndication |
Free |
– |
||
|
– |
3 |
Skitch Screen capture tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
3 |
SMART Board Interactive whiteboard tools |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
3 |
Survey Monkey Survey and questionnaire tool |
Free |
H |
||
|
57= |
3 |
Yahoo Mail Web-based email |
Free |
H |
||
|
91 |
57= |
2.5 |
TeacherTube Instructional video sharing site |
Free |
H |
|
92-133
|
Ranking |
Tool |
Votes |
Description |
Cost |
Avail |
|
|
2008 |
2007 |
|||||
|
92= |
72= |
2 |
Adobe Presenter Narrated presentations |
£ |
D |
|
|
72= |
2 |
Cmap Concept mapping tool |
Free/£ |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
Comic Life Create comics from photos |
£ |
D |
||
|
101= |
2 |
CourseLab Course authoring tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
101= |
2 |
Cute PDF Writer PDF Conversion tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
Digg Social bookmarking and rating |
Free |
H |
||
|
101= |
2 |
eSnips Upload and share files |
Free |
H |
||
|
101= |
2 |
FeedBlitz Feed to email service |
Free |
H |
||
|
101= |
2 |
Gabcast Phone in your podcast |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
2 |
Gcast Podcasting service |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
2 |
Geogebra Mathematics software |
Free |
D |
||
|
43= |
2 |
GIMP Image/photo editing tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
72= |
2 |
Gliffy Diagramming tool |
Free |
H |
||
|
40= |
2 |
Google Desktop Computer search/organiser |
Free |
D |
||
|
50= |
2 |
Google Notebook Personal online notebook |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
2 |
iPhoto Photo management tool |
£ |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
Joomla! Content management system |
Free |
D |
||
|
101= |
2 |
Meebo Instant messaging tool |
Free |
H |
||
|
101= |
2 |
MindMeister Mind mapping tool |
Free/£ |
D |
||
|
101= |
2 |
Mozy Online backup tool |
£ |
H |
||
|
– |
2 |
OmniFocus Task management tool |
£ |
D |
||
|
72= |
2 |
OmniGraffle Diagramming tool |
£ |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
OmniOutliner Keep track of projects |
£ |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
ooVoo Video chat and conferencing |
Free |
D/H |
||
|
72= |
2 |
Paint Shop Pro Image editing tool |
£ |
D |
||
|
57= |
2 |
Picasa Picture editing tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
Portable apps Suite of apps for a USB stick |
Free |
D |
||
|
72= |
2 |
Quicksilver Interface to work with PC apps on Mac |
£ |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
Remember the Milk Manage your tasks |
Free |
H |
||
|
72= |
2 |
Safari Web browser |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
Scratch Create interactive stories/animations |
Free |
D/H |
||
|
50= |
2 |
Scribd Document hosting and sharing site |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
2 |
Sony Vegas Video Video production tool |
£ |
D |
||
|
72= |
2 |
TiddlyWiki Personal wiki tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
Trillian IM Aggregator |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
2 |
tumblr Micro-blogging platform |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
2 |
Ubuntu Linux-based operating system |
Free |
D |
||
|
– |
2 |
Wikis Of all types |
Free |
D/H |
||
|
– |
2 |
Windows LiveWriter Desktop blogging tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
50= |
2 |
Yahoo Groups Community tool |
Free |
H |
||
|
– |
2 |
Zamzar Online file conversion tool |
Free |
D |
||
|
72= |
2 |
Zotero Firefox add-on to support research |
Free |
D |
||
50 thoughts on “Top 100 Social Media Tools”
Thanks for pulling this list together – with your feedback we can get more than two votes! Let us know what you’d like to see:)
Note: Gliffy is a hosted program.
Many thanks,
debik at gliffy dot com
Debi,
thanks for the feedback. Have corrected Gliffy.
Steve
Amazing list of tools 🙂
Happy to see both Snagit and Camtasia on the list.
This list is not up to date. The up-to-date list is available at the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies: http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html
Jane Hart
Head, Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies
Thanks for the great list but I think that one tool is missing here – iSpring Pro (http://www.ispringsolutions.com), very accurate PowerPoint to Flash converter.
Thanks for the comment re iSpring Pro. It’s probably not the only missing app, but so difficult to keep up with these things!
Steve
The P in LAMP is PHP, not Perl.
Thankyou – now corrected.
Steve
Twitter, facebook and digg are probably the most popular social media services today. Very good compilation covering almost every popular social media service.
Good list but as a french langage webmaster i judge that dailymotion a video sharing service deserved to be part of this list.
Ernesto – thanks for the comment. I wasn’t aware of Dailymotion Will look into.
Steve
Good list and a few more news ones that are worth taking a look at here –
http://pglewis.co.uk/social-media/2009/12/10-top-social-media-tools
Thanks for the new link Paul.
Nice site with good article information. Keep the good information coming.
When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now every time a comment is added I get four emails with the identical comment. Is there any manner you possibly can remove me from that service? Thanks!
Jeremy,
not sure why this is happening, or how to stop it. I’ll look into.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Steve
– Business Analysis Software- Consulting made simple
– Great Value and great return on investment
Awesome,
I really learned a lot about this subject, keep the nice work!
Will bookmark this site for sure!
Good point. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.
$author Great thread. Enjoyed the posts
Excellent round up – many of these I’ve never heard of! I’m really excited to try Moodle.
Hello there, I have thought about buying the software program DubTurbo Beatmaker and was hoping somebody could give me an actual real testimony of the program. Lots of the web pages that feature feedback are in reality affiliate websites advertising the software program and so i question that the opinions are legitimate. Thank you in advance for just about insight any individual can offer.
Heya, I have wondered about purchasing the software DubTurbo Beatmaker and was hoping somebody could give me an actual bona fide testimony of the software program. Lots of the webpages that give appraisals are generally internet marketers offering the program so I don’t believe that the opinions are sincere. Thank you in advance for all the information any one can provide.
Today, while I was at work, my cousin stole my iphone and tested to
see if it can survive a 30 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube
sensation. My apple ipad is now destroyed and she has 83 views.
I know this is entirely off topic but I had to share it with someone!
Thanks for sharing these social media tools. But I wonder what tools marketing pros are using successfully.