Our society has become so accustomed to being able to share things with one another with the click of a button. Want to be informed about daily coupons? Click here. Haven't seen that viral YouTube video of the Watermelon Launch, Intruder Song, Surprised Kitty or Double Rainbows? No worries, I'll send you the link, pronto!
From seeing pics of the grandkids to self-diagnosing a condition with Google, to establishing an official relationship status to making dinner reservations online, we have become a society that expects to be able to access everything. Right. Now.
So herein lies my dilema -- I am ALL for sharing my files, ideas, concepts, examples with acquaintances, both real and online. In fact, this is often the #1 question I get at SMART Board or social media workshops that I lead with teachers, "Are we going to get a copy of this file?". And my answer is a resounding YES. Email would be preferable, but since most email servers limit file sizes for attachments (read: Notebook files are TOO large), out comes my little usb drive to make the rounds through the participants. And this works fine for 75% of teachers. The other 25%? They either don't own a usb key, didn't bring one, have to leave early, or have issues transferring files (especially when working in a computer lab scenario where admin capabilities have been locked down).
Previously, I used drop.io as my online sharing of choice -- easy to use (for both myself and the user), quick to make, free, you could customize your own address, set passwords and reuse drops by clearing them. And then...cue spooky music...Facebook took them over. Rather, Facebook hired away the head of drop.io, essentially making this site obsolete.
And so, as is becoming more frequent in my daily life, I turned my attention to the wisdom of those on Twitter. Sure, I googled many sites and tried some out for a few weeks, but none were REALLY as all-encompassing or as easy to use for the end user as drop.io had been. So I solicited the opinions of those who know best -- YOU!
It started out as a selfish request, but I thought that since YOU shared your opinions with MOI, that I'd share the results with you :) Disclaimer: this was a brief, short survey that encompassed more than just listed the websites that people preferred, but also offering a bit of insight as to why they were preferred. In the interest in keeping this blog post short, I generated a pie chart with the most popular references:
Dropbox and Google Docs (as expected) came out on top, while two new ones that I had never heard of generated a couple referrals apiece.
Tonight's homework? Checking out Gett and Minus to see if they'll fit the bill for my needs.
As always, comments are appreciated and encouraged -- especially if you have other cool websites to share or an opinion on the 4 featured here.
Happy sharing!
Vanessa
