You may have noticed the new social media button at the top right of my website. It's a button of a mouse for the emerging social media tool RebelMouse.
I believe this platform has mega potential to be a next generation catalyst tool.
Here's why...
RebelMouse (odd name, I know!) is your social front page. It uses the content you share on social networks to create a customized site that's all your own. Now why didn't we think of that!?
As you'll notice (check out My RebelMouse Homepage to get a feel), the interface has a very similar look and feel to our ole friend Pinterest. These days, pictures and video are the great communicators of the social web.
More and more thought leaders are making RebelMouse their homepage. And why not? In an age where transparency is valued, I think this tool is a seamless way to blend business and personal. People get a snapshot of who you are by scrolling through the aggregated content.
How does this differ from viewing someone's Facebook page? 1) Anyone (including those that are not your friends) can view your RebelMouse page. 2) RebelMouse gets out of the way and makes the content front and center. 3) RebelMouse uses a tile format to display posts each with a photo. 4) You have complete control over what gets posted on your homepage.
Overall I rate this platform a 4 out of 5. (Still in its infancy so a lot remains to be seen)
Cost: FREE
Set-up Time: 5-15min (Depends on how much customization you want to do)
My Fav Perks
- Bolds first 20 or so characters of any posts. Strive to create a hook early in your posts so it looks attractive in RebelMouse. Less is more.
- Pictures pop! This is a growing trend so continue to leverage accordingly.
- Interface is clean and simple.
- Add to your blog as a Wordpress plug-in.
- Plug and play. Easy to set-up and you will have another presence on potentially the next big social media platform.
- I can provide a link to my parents to stay better connected with my social media life since they do not have Facebook accounts (still puzzled by this one but I applaud their resilience).
Steps to Set-up
- Go to website.
- Select 1 of 3 options: Sign up using Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. I choose Facebook.
- Taken to chosen platform's website to review how RebelMouse will integrate with chosen platform (you can always change these settings later).
- Once complete, switches back to RebelMouse. You can then add the additional social media accounts if you so desire. I recommend connecting all active accounts. This will make your RebelMouse homepage more robust and collective of all of your activity.
- Choose your site name (hurry up and reserve it so you're not stuck with "oddmash-upofyourname1234")
- Confirm your email address and agree to the terms and conditions.
- Success! Your name is reserved and you can click the Facebook or Twitter buttons to share. Otherwise, you can close the window since RebelMouse will send an email to the address you listed in the set-up with a link to your new homepage.
Additional Features
- Add the RebelMouse social media button to your website. (6 to choose from! See mine at top right.)
- Create a custom theme if comfortable with html.
- Add the RebelMouse widget to website. (Able to adjust the widget's size to meet your liking. See it live on the right hand side on this website at the bottom of the widget line.)
- Customize what types of tweets are shared on your homepage (ex: tweets, retweets, both, etc).
- Choose to make your RebelMouse homepage your blog's homepage.
- Post pictures, video or albums thru RebelMouse and share across the other platforms.
I hope you'll take the time to consider this new tool and perhaps it will serve as your next generation catalyst.
Question: How will you leverage this next generation tool?
