Thursday, March 3, 2011

Tool Tuesdays: How not to forget ever again… well almost never

Have you ever read an email or suddenly remember someone’s name but you don’t know how you know them?  You search your emails but if you are like me, sometimes your emails provide more confusions than clarity, especially if your email thread is a continuation of something discussed in person.  I host a monthly networking event for Vancouver Entrepreneurs with between 100-160 people attending each events on top of the numerous events I attend monthly, it is very difficult to remember every one I cross path with.   But I believe very strongly in making an effort to remember people’s name, what they do, how we met, where they meet and any other information they were kind enough to share with me.

Before it was writing notes behind every one’s business cards the specifics of the meeting and whatever I think is important for me to remember about the encounter.  NOW, Greplin is in my life.  Greplin is my very own social search engine.  No I’m serious, my very own because it is linked to my Google Apps Mail, Google Apps Calendar, Google Apps Docs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Gmail, Twitter with BaseCamp, Google Reader, Salesforce are coming soon.

Right now, Greplin has indexed about 273, 258 documents that I have produced in term of emails, status updates and calendar entry. All you have to do is type in a name, a place or bits of information that you can remember in the search bar.   You can filter the information to files, places, events, messages, or narrow down to the channel of communication – gmail, facebook, linkedin, etc.

greplin Tool Tuesdays: How not to forget ever again… well almost never

The powerful thing about Greplin is that it also fills in the gap of information about the person, place and events with also search engine results – this is where all the search engines want to go except they can’t because we value our privacy too much to give it up.  If you feel uneasy about what Greplin will do with your data – read their simplified privacy policy.  I went through it and I feel very comfortable allowing Greplin to  index my information but that’s me, you have to do your due diligence.   It has helped me connect the dot and helped me put the best foot forward in the next meeting.   I was one of the fortunate few that got to be an beta tester last year but since February 17, 2011.  It is now open to everyone.   Give it a try after doing your own due dilligence and I hope it will help you too!

If you have used Greplin, let me know about your experience with it.  Otherwise, leave any questions or suggestions you have in the comment section, thanks!

Note: These are tools I have used for a substantial amount of time (> 2 wks) and have found useful for me, this is not a paid post and paid is defined as money, swags, free dinner, t-shirts, pens, free coffee, gift certificate… absolutely nothing!

Posted via email from minna's posterous