Essential tools
Finding, listening and measuring
Google Analytics A free web stats tool from Google that allows you to track the users of your website or blog.
Google Alerts A free tool from Google that allows you to set up alerts of new content on the internet for particular key words, names, websites or tags to be delivered to your email. (Find out how to create a Google Alert too.)
Google Reader A free tool from Google that allows you to read and manage subscriptions to blogs or websites via RSS in your web browser. (Here's more on How to subscribe to an RSS Feed.)
iGoogle Personalised Homepage Customise your Google homepage to display feeds from your favourite websites.
Netvibes A free tool that allows you to read and manage subscriptions to blogs or websites via RSS in your web browser.
Silverback is a cheap user-testing package that records the test subject and their screen activity for later review.
Twitter search lets you search for any term, hashtag or user in Twitter and get alerts delivered to your desktop.
Yahoo! Pipes A powerful but complex free tool for creating a feed based on combinations or mashups of other content.
Communication, promotion and conversation
Blogger A free blogging tool from Google that is hosted online by Google; the URLs take the form ‘blogname.blogspot.com’
Crowdvine A social network building tool like Ning, aimed at conferences and professional groups.
Facebook A free social networking site originally designed for US college students, expanded to include high schools and then to anyone around the world aged 13 or over, it’s the biggest social network but still tends to be more popular with the educated middle classes.
FriendFeed A free online tool for creating communities and sharing information from other social media platforms.
Jaiku A free online microblogging tool.
LeFora A free tool for creating and managing online forums.
MyBlogLog A free tool that allows you to create and broadcast (via an embeddable widget) a community around your blog or website.
MySpace A free social networking site originally designed for musicians to share music and create communities of fans, broadened to include all demographics.
Ning A free tool for creating your own social network and community online, either private or public. (SavvyChavvy and TuDiabetes used Ning. Here's Nathalie McDermott's guide to how to set up a social network on Ning.)
Pownce A free online microblogging tool.
Second Life The most prominent virtual world that is free for users to register and participate, though the in-world currency can only be purchased with real-world money.
Skype The most common voice over IP internet telephony service lets you make chat, voice and video calls free of charge.
Twitter A free and increasingly popular tool that allows users to send short messages (140 characters or less) via a web browser, SMS or software clients such as Tweetdeck, Tweetie and Twitzap.
Typepad A free blogging tool that is hosted online by Typepad.com.
Wordpress Another free blogging tool, one of the most popular platforms for blogging with a large support community, that can be set up to be hosted online by Wordpress.com or downloaded from Wordpress.org and installed on your own server. (Here's how to use Wordpress to get your project online quickly and cheaply.)
Yammer A subscription microblogging service for creating closed networks within companies.
Publishing and sharing
Blip.tv A free online video sharing and storing platform.
Delicious The most widely used free tool for social bookmarking, it allows users to make bookmarks public or private. (Here's Amy's guide to How to use Delicious.com)
Digg A social news site where users vote on stories they like and the most popular appear on the homepage.
DoGooderTV A free online video sharing and storing platform with a social good emphasis.
FilesAnywhere A free tool for sharing documents and files online, including version control and workgroups.
Flickr A free online photo sharing and storing platform.
Freemind A free open source mind-map creation tool (or pay a small fee for Mindjet’s MindManager instead.
Gliffy Diagramming and project planning software online.
Google Docs Excellent for collaborative authoring of documentation and project plans.
iPod and iTunes are commercial technologies built by Apple Computers Inc. iPods are portable media players that play MP3 music, videos, software applications and games. iTunes is Apple’s music store, and the supporting software for the iPod.
Last.fm Streaming music channel that allows users to create their own library of favourite artists and songs, share recommendations and ‘friend’ other users.
Magnolia A free tool for social bookmarking (allows users to make bookmarks public or private).
Mindmeister Free tool for sharing and co-authoring mindmaps online.
Openworkbench Basic Gantt and project planning charts online.
Qik A free online tool for video streaming.
Scribd Share documents with a community of readers and get your ideas and research read by a much wider community.
Slideshare YouTube for presentations, a great free platform to promote your ideas and teach people what you know.
Squarespace A website creation tool that helps people create and host their own websites, blogs and more.
UStream A free web-based tool for creating your own live online video channels.
Vimeo A free online tool for video sharing and streaming.
Wikidot, Wikispaces Free wiki tools for recording ideas, meeting notes and decisions collaboratively in a shared space.
YouTube A free online video sharing and storing platform. (Here's a quick guide to How to make and publish quick videos for the web.)
Connection, collaboration and project management
Basecamp A tool for online project management and collaboration with free and paid-for versions.
Bebo A free social networking site aimed at helping friends share personal information and explore entertainment, popular with younger users.
Eventbrite and Eventful Free online tools for event promotion.
Facebook Groups An application in Facebook that allows users to create and manage groups.
Facebook Pages An application in Facebook that allows users to create and manage a fan page, similar to a group but users can ‘become a fan’ rather than having to join something more organised.
Fundable is a website that lets users pledge to donate money and collects the donations once a target is hit.
Google Apps The suite of ‘office’ tools from Google, including Google Docs (documents, like Word), Google Cal (calendaring for individuals or groups), Google Mail (email), Google Sites and so on.
Google for Domains Essential e-mail, calendar and other tools for project management and organisation.
Google Groups A free group management and listserv tool.
Highrise Cheap contact management and CRM tools for wider engagement.
Hiveminder A simple-to use but powerful task management tool with support for groups and email integration.
Huddle A tool for online project management and collaboration with free and paid-for versions.
LinkedIn A free online social network with an emphasis on business or corporate/professional use.
Meetup An online tool for event promotion (it is free to use, but it costs money to manage a group).
My Charity Page A free online social networking platform targeted at fundraisers and charities.
Pledgebank A popular activism tool that allows anyone to pledge to do something if a number of other people do the same.
School of Everything A global network of teachers and learners where you can find teachers and classes near you. (Check out Andy's guide to how to use Schoolofeverything.com too.)
Social Actions A free platform to find, create, and share opportunities for social benefit actions (donations, petitions, on or offline actions, etc).
SugarCRM A cheap CRM system for small businesses and campaigning groups.
Upcoming A free online tool for event promotion.
Windows Live Folder Sync turns any group of un-networked, web-enabled PCs into a virtual shared drive, with all content held on all machines and available offline, for use by all collaborators. (Includes good version control).
