Review: SpotJots revolutionizes my life

Posted on Monday, 25th August 2008 by Bull

When a friend of mine told me about SpotJots, I thought to myself “Oh great, another social network to keep track of.” But I quickly found out it’s not just another social network. It’s so much more. Let me tell you all about it.

To start with, I want to tell you that I was an avid Twitter user. I had the Twitter client on my BlackBerry and I updated as much as I could. But there were some annoyances. If I wanted to upload a picture to Twitter, well, I couldn’t. I had to upload it to TwitPic. Granted, the service immediately tweeted a TinyURL for me but I’m sure that’s inconvenient for readers. Same thing goes for videos and audio files as well. Twitter by itself is pretty much text only. I was ready for something new. SpotJots has me covered in that department for sure!

Main Page:

SpotJots first impressions:

I don’t always fall in love with a web app or program immediately. It takes time to learn all the nuances of an desktop or online service. But I can say that SpotJots has won my heart. The interface is extremely easy to use and the overall layout is simple yet effective.

Layout:

As you can see from the screen shot above, the main area of the page shows recent Jots from users from all around the globe. Title, time and location are displayed and beneath shows the users message. You can also see MapQuest maps (which can be hidden) displaying where the user posted his message from, which I’ll go into later. Off to the right is a Featured Jotters column, which is pretty self explanatory. Below that (obscured) is a Popular Categories section where it shows off the, well, most popular categories that users have used in their posts.

To the top of the screen are the links to the main pages of SpotJots. Recent (current page), Map, Explore, My Jots and Logout. Lets head off the Map page:

On the Map page you’ll see a nice big Google map of our home (that would be Earth, for those of you reading this from an intergalactic cruiser), and lots of nifty little pinpoints, which I call the “targets”. Hovering over each target, shows the most recent post of the user where they posted it. Clicking on said info, takes you the users profile page so you can read more. To the left of the map shows all the recent Jots that are currently being displayed. Above that, one can also select which Categories they want to see on the map, kind of like a filter. And then to the right, is an search field where you can enter in a particular address, to find Jots near you or anywhere in the world. On to the Explore button:

Explore is a pretty neat feature. The SpotJots system randomly selects a city, and displays the most recent Jots in the area. In this example you can see only one person in Rockford, IL has recently Jotted. But that’s OK, SpotJots is growing In the head of the page is another search bar where again you can enter in any location to find the most recent Jots. Pretty handy! Next up, My Jots:

This is where all the fun happens. This is your page, kind of like a dashboard, if you will. The main block shows all your recent Jots, including the map of your location and any attachments you may have added, as you can see above. Just like most blogs, you can edit the content right from that page, or delete it. Up to you. To the right we got a whole bunch of stuff. First, a nice large button for you to create a Jot, which I’ll go into later. Beneath is a slew of common questions about how to use SpotJots, which has a View All button as well. Beneath it shows you all the members your following, and under that your followers. And further below, it displays All the Categories you’ve used in the past, and when clicked on shows all the posts relating to.

Beneath the main title, which by the way can be customized to show your own custom image, is a row of tabs. Tabs are My Jots (currently displayed), Profile, My Map, I’m Following, My Followers, Activity Stream, Comments and Settings. I won’t go into massive details about each and every single one, but I’ll give you a taste. Besides, you should have already signed up by now.

Profile:

This is basically your “About Me” page, wherein it shows all your status info, Jotting history, Comments and Activity Stream. The info about you can be edited of course to display what you want.

My Map:

A bit like before on the public Map page, this only shows your most recent Jots on a Google Map. Also filterable by Category.

I’m Following:

Yet another Google Map, this time only displaying the most recent Jots from the folks your following. Also at the top is a link which shows you how many pending follow requests you may have.

My Followers:

Same as above, but displays Jots of people that are following you.

Activity Stream:

Activity Stream is a bit like the main page, except it shows all the people your following’s Jots. It allows you to read each Jot one by one, and even Mark all as read.

Comments:

Pretty self explanatory, it shows all the most recent comments users have left you on your posts.

Settings:

On this page, a new row of tabs displays filled with even more options.

Account: Edit personal information, Blog options and default location settings.

Profile: Two different “About Me” sections with WYSIWYG editing. One is for the public and the other is for your followers only.

Theme: An area where you can edit the background colors, header image (you can upload your own), and even your thumbnail image, kinda like an Avatar.

Password: Self explanatory, change your password here.

Notifications: This is a pretty neat feature, it gives you the ability to put email notifications “to sleep”, meaning you won’t be bothered by comments in the middle of the night! I find this very handy to use.

Mobile: An extensive area that allows you to change the mobile email address you can use to send Jots in. Gives you info on how to get the SpotJots mobile application, like for BlackBerry. I’ll go into that later as well.

Publishing: This is the area where you can tell SpotJots where else to send your Jots. These can be Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Blogger, TypePad or LiveJournal. This is the only time you’ll see me on Twitter, when I’m posting on SpotJots, which tweets a TinyURL to your Jot.

Phew! That’s a lot of options to go through!

Creating a Jot:

Creating a Jot on SpotJots is simple. Anyone whose ever used a blogging service will feel right at home here. Simply fill out what you have to say, which is not limited to 140 characters thank goodness. Throw some categories on it and even add your own which can be used later (orange).

You can even choose wether or not this Jot will be Public, for followers only or just for yourself.

Now the best feature that makes SpotJots stand out from the rest, is the Attach Files option! This is the part that makes me happy. No more linking to other sites, just add your Picture, Video, Sound or whatever right into the post. It’s quite amazing how many file formats are supported.

And another cool feature, where are you posting from? You can either move the map around or punch in an address and it’ll put the target in the proper location. Neat!

Blogging from mobile:

What would SpotJots be without Mobile capability? I’ve got a BlackBerry and I want to tell people what I’m doing! And where I’m doing it. Oh yeah, and SHOW them too! The SpotJots application for BlackBerry is sexy I must say. It automatically hooks up to my GPS (via Bluetooth) and I can write as much as I want from right within the application. I can also elect to have it post to my Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook (only ones I have set up) which I mentioned earlier. Also built right into the app is a new file detector. So when you take a picture or video and it’s saved to the memory card, SpotJots sees the new file and asks if you want to Jot it. I’ll quote some of the key features from the SpotJots website as well:

Use GPS to tag your jots
SpotJots Mobile takes advantage of your phones GPS and lets you accurately tag your jots location. And if your phone does not have GPS, don’t worry! SpotJots Mobile allows you to specify and store your favorite locations making adding location easier then ever. (You can also use a Bluetooth GPS)

Add hi-res audio, video, and images
SpotJots Mobile makes adding media quick and simple. With just a couple of clicks, you can take high resolution audio, video and pictures. Because there is no real size limit on uploads from your mobile device, you can upload large attachments!

Find jotters near you
SpotJots Mobile lets you discover people around you and view their online profile.

Get local and recent jots
SpotJots Mobile lets you easily search for recent jots or jots posted in your area.

Create and choose jot categories
SpotJots Mobile lets you create and select your jots categories

Publishing options
SpotJots Mobile lets you choose which of your online profiles you want to publish to.

Now for some eye candy.

BlackBerry:

Nokia:

iPhone:

Whoops, unfortunately the iPhone app isn’t out yet, but hopefully it is soon! I’m sure SpotJots will get quite a few more users when folks can start using their brand new shiny 3G iPhone.

Widget:

SpotJots, if it couldn’t get any better, it did with their nifty little web widget. With the options included, you can add it to any website you want. To see an example, you can visit my homepage at http://da-bull.net

Conclusion:

An extensive review yet totally worth it. I could write about SpotJots all day if I didn’t already have a life. Well, sort of.

All in all, SpotJots is just plain cool. As you can probably tell, I’m quite happy with it. While the number of members isn’t huge by far, I can foresee this service busting at the seams in no time. The easy user interface, and the fact of being able to post anything from anywhere, makes SpotJots the number one web app this century.

Come sign up at SpotJots and tell everyone how much you love it!

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