Since its invention in 1876, the telephone has been a dominant method of communication. For 120 years it stood unequaled in its capabilities. Then came the Internet, then email, then text messaging and now social media. In less than 20 years, voice-based communication has lost its place to a textual form of communication not so dissimilar in concept to Morse code, which had its own period of dominance until 1876.
This is not to say that voice is dead—certainly not—but given the increase in options now available for social networking, you need an array of apps to stay on top of everything. And you do. Businesses that engage in social media provide easy access for customers, can manage their brand more efficiently and direct traffic to thier websites. Social media can also keep employees connected in ways more fun and interesting than the status quo.
Continue on with the slideshow to see some of the more popular, useful social media apps and a few of their alternatives.
Also, check out some other great groups of apps to make other areas your life a little easier:
Price: Free
LinkedIn is the No. 1 social app for business professionals, so its appearance on this list isn't a surprise, but its recent update is worth a mention. The mobile version is broken up into four easy-to-navigate categories: updates, inbox, your network and you. Also, you can sync your calendar to the app, which saves time switching between apps and will feed you profile information on people you're meeting with.
Facebook, Google+, Yammer
Price: Free
As the world's most popular social platform it's likely you or your company has a Facebook (Android and iOS) page, but some analysts say it won't be long before Google+ (Android and iOS) has such a presence. At the very least, businesses might find the analytics feature valuable to see how well pages on Google+ are doing and what steps should be made to increase interaction with customers.
Yammer (Android and iOS) is a secure social network similar in concept to Facebook and Google+ but for company members only. You can access office conversations while outside the office, as well as view messages, post updates and receive notifications.
Twitter, HootSuite, TweedDeck
Price: Free
Rounding out the big three social media platforms is Twitter (Android and iOS). A dedicated Twitter app is available, but HootSuite (Android and iOS), TweetDeck (Android and iOS) and Seesmic (recently purchased by HootSuite) are more popular for managing tweets given their multiple features—such as monitoring and commenting on Facebook.
Price: Free
Bump makes exchanging contact information in-person quick and simple. Instead of handing over business cards that can be easily lost, each of you open the app and bump your phones together. A profile with each of your contact information—including photos if you want—will then transfer to the others' phone. Best of all, anyone you've ever bumped with can be sent updates should any of your information change.
