So many choices to share a person’s thoughts, ideas, places visited and photos of what matters. We aren’t talking about posting a comment on someone’s blog post or even a blog. This is more about those quick few words, location or pictures we share to a social share service. Most of us have a folder full of the services we frequent. Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Foursquare and LinkedIn. A few dozen others that are lesser known like EyeEm and Streamzoo are also watched and posted to regularly.
For the main group listed, we do a lot of business related posts. But, we do love to share and see what others have to say around the world, without having anything to do with our day jobs. When Ban.jo came out for our iPhones, a few of us connected it up to a few services to see what it was able to do. Now, with Ban.jo going Universal, the iPad screen allows for a better view of more info at a time.
Connecting up the full list of accounts, the Ban.jo app launches to a stream of posts by people we are associated with across the different social services, as well a quick picker of interests, locations and events. Swipe up/down on the left to see the latest posts, and up/down on the right to see areas of interest. There is also a search to see posts from anyone on the subject.
Tap the button in the upper right corner ‘Current Location’ to be taken to a page showing posts and where those posts are coming from around you. Buttons along the bottom of the page gives quick access to other views and features like chatting with someone you liked a post from. The ‘plus contacts’ orange button in the lower right corner lets you add people to your feeds view through different social service methods.
Choosing a picture from the left posts stream will result in a new screen showing the image along with other information like location when available. Choosing a person will result in a screen showing that individual’s posts. Depending on the service the post is being provided through, you can initiate following someone you just discovered without leaving Ban.jo .
Select the image to view full screen, along the bottom of the screen are options for sharing your find with others.
Using the ‘search’ feature means there is no need to limit your view of just your friends and family posts. Search for a location to receive a pop up of more info for that area, which can be closed to see what people are saying via the services that you allowed Ban.jo to search with.
The resulting screen, in this case we searched for a place, shows posts on the left and a map of people sharing on the right. Ban.jo lets you read, drill down and explore posts. The location pins on the map show a single person submitting or a number that can be selected to view all of those posting from that spot. What a great way to see what is going on around the world to plan for a trip or just stay informed.