One of the things I do is live-blogging events and coming from a citizen journalist background I make a point of being aware of tools that make that easier. Today I’m going to focus on the tools I use on my iPhone.

Some argue that the massive amount of amateur media being created just means more garbage to sift through. I disagree. While a lot of it is pretty bad, there is a lot that is not. Neill Blomkamp was discovered by Peter Jackson due to a YouTube video he made. Jackson secured him backing and District 9 hit the theaters not long after. There is also the factor of immediacy, a big consideration in the “always on,” era. These days the chances are good that someone witnessing a fire/robbery/Big Event(tm) will be packing a smart phone. To me that has enormous value.

So, as I get ready to head to New Orleans to cover the NOLA Comic Con I thought I’d share some of the tools I use.  I recommend these based on the performance of their iPhone apps, not because I dislike Droids but because I use an iPhone.

Cinch- Cinch allows you to record audio and attach a picture and a tweet length (140 characters) bit of text to it. The end product is extremely share-able including a wide array of embed and posting options as well as having default settings to tie it into your twitter and Facebook accounts. So far I’ve recorded up to 70 minutes at a time with no problem.

UStream Broadcaster- Only of real use to iPhone 4 users UStream allows you to stream live video directly to the Internet. Internal settings allow you to tie it in to Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. I usually set mine up so that it tweets and posts to Facebook when I start broadcasting. Once I’m finished it automatically uploads the video to my YouTube account and then sends a link to that video to Twitter and Facebook as well.

Flickr- I’ve been with Flickr for quite some time, even in spite of Yahoo’s acquisition of it. The service runs about $30/year and is more than worth it. If you are a Flickr user their iPhone app is extremely useful. You can take pictures on your iPhone as needed and then name, tag, and upload to a specific set when time presents itself.

Add in the usual array of social networking apps – Facebook, HootSuite to manage my Twitter channels, Google Voice, etc. – and you’re off and running. This won’t give you polished finished product or editing or any of the more sophisticated bells and whistles so it up to you create compelling content. Find things that benefit from the “on the spot,” factor and from immediacy.

It is up to you to decide when on the signal to noise axis you fall.

George “Loki” Williams is the owner of SocialGumbo, LLC

Photo Credit: superstrikertwo on Flickr / CC 2.0

As most readers are aware I am originally from New Olreans, my relocation to Cincinnati occurred only a touch over a year ago. As a result I have the majority of my social circle there in addition to almost 300 years of family history. That is why it breaks my heart to see the entire Gulf Coast suffering this slow motion disaster.

Four and a half years ago our levees failed (Katrina had passed us over quite a bit earlier), and many of us began to use the relatively new technology of blogging to share info, find friends, navigate the FEMA paperwork labyrinth, etc. In the intervening time technology has advanced like a greyhound on meth giving us a vast array of social media tools with which we can share information and try to make a positive impact.

If you live near , or are soon travelling to, the Gulf Coast and you own an iPhone or Droid then you can help. You see, as people are fond of saying, there’s an app for that. Here is a quick excerpt from Andy Carvin’s announcement about it on NPR:

CrisisCommons, a coalition of volunteer software developers that I’ve been involved with since the Haiti Earthquake,rolled out the Oil Reporter app yesterday. Available for free on both iPhone and Android phones, the app is a simple interface for people who encounter oil along the Gulf Coast. Oil Reporter lets-you to snap a picture of the oil or tar ball, describe the context and offer additional details regarding wildlife and wetlands impact. When you submit your report, the app detects your location using your phone’s GPS, so your report can be pinpointed on a map.

The data collected through Oil Reporter, which will be curated and managed by San Diego State University’s Visualization Center, is open for anyone to access and use to create their own visualizations or analysis. CrisisCommons and the university are also inviting organizations to request specific visualizations, as well as custom versions of the app containing new data fields relevant to their oil spill related response activities.

There’s more on the way, Crisis Commons is doing some bang up work on digital response to this disaster. Look for more announcements here or pick up their RSS Feed.

George “Loki” Williams is the owner of SocialGumbo, LLC

All right then, I was just thinking it was about time for another really fun Internet tool to come along. Nothing really huge since twitter, with the possibility of the elusive Google Wave. Well my dear readers, I think that time has come.

The folks over at BlogTalk Radio debuted a new service called Cinch last Friday. It’s a lovely little social platform that allows you to post audio, text, ad pictures or any combination of them you wish. Here is an example, a test of it I just ran:

[EDIT: Which brings up an issue with the embed code Cinch generates. There does not seem to be a way to disable the autoplay function. As a result I have removed the example cast from this post. No one want's audio to automatically start when a page loads, it's just ot a good practice. I'll be inquiring with them and wil blog about the results. -Loki]

High Points:

• iPhone App- clean and easy to use. Also allows you to tune in BlogTalk Radio shows.
• Facebook integration- allows you to post your “Cinchs” to Facebook either automatically or on a case by case basis.
• Twitter integration- same as the Facebook integration above.
• Phone- you can set up any cell phone to post a Cinch, if you have an iPhone the app is a blast.
• Sharing is easy and versatile, excellent potential to share widely. Easily accessible embed code, bookmarking, etc on all output.

Low Points:

• Unlike many other social apps Cinch does not allow you to import and invite friends directly from your email or webmail account.
• Adding and finding friends is a clumsy process.
• Unlike many other audiocasting services you cannot download the sound files you create.
• The Facebook posts take up a lot more page real estate than they need to and could easily be condensed a bit without having to remove anything.

Even so, I have to give this one pretty solid high marks. For a brand new, just launched platform it shines brightly. I predict this being extremely useful for citizen journalists, lifestreaming, or good old fashioned podcasting. I have not tried out the length of audio possible and don’t see anything to about it on the website, but I will be testing it out by trying to do some full length podcasts in the near future.

Give it a try, it’s a cinch! (I can’t resist a bad pun, sorry)

George “Loki” Williams is the owner of SocialGumbo, LLC

I’ll admit it, I love my iPhone. Rather I love the apps. Don’t get me wrong, the interface is sweet enough to make me return to AT&T (something I never thought I’d do), but it is the extended functionality of the applications that I’m really jazzed about.

You see, there is a plethora of social media apps, most of them free, that really help you keep up with things on a real time basis. I’m going to take a look at a few of these now.

In the first group there are the basics, the official apps put out by the social media platforms themselves. Generally all free and usually quite well done. LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Livejournal, WordPress, and Skype all have solid functionality and beautifully streamlined interfaces. All of these are fantastic for turning your iPhone into a veritable social media swiss army knife.

Two things in particular I would like to note with this group of apps.

First: MySpace, which is an annoying wasteland of bells, whistles, and dating site ads, is much easier to manage from within the app than on an actual computer. Highly advised if you use the platform.

Second: While Skype has full functionality you can only use the voice aspects over wi-fi. From what I can gather that’s due to their deal with AT&T. Even so the chat function, which I confess I use more frequently, works over the 3G/Edge networks quite handily.

Then comes the second group, third party apps. There are a few in particular that I like: Red Delicious, Mobile Photo, and Twittelator Pro are indispensable.Lets take a closer look at them, shall we?

Red Delicious ($1.99 from Mac Appetite)

You can browse tags and bundles, view and search bookmarks, it supports device rotation, and allows you to view Delicious’ popular bookmarks. Nice streamlined functionality for my favorite social bookmarking service!

Mobile Photo ($2.99 from XK72)

I’ve been waiting for a Flickr app for the iPhone. All of a sudden there are several. I found this one to be the best across the board. Not only does it give you quick access to almost all of the Flickr functionality you are used to but it also allows you to open the camera from within the program. This lets you immediately title, tag and upload (as well add to any pertinent set or group) your photos as you take them. Brilliant stuff, I can’t wait for the next event I liveblog!

Twittelator Pro ($4.99 from Big Stone Phone)

Darnell Clayton over at The Blog Herald has a great review of this king of Twitter apps that goes into extensive detail. Suffice it to say that there is nothing I’ve found that is even close to it. If you use twitter check it out, there is a free, cropped version you can test drive. Trust me you won’t want to go back. It lets you do everything!

Installing these two groups of apps will allow you to bring your social media prescence with you everywhere that you could want it. The possibilites for liveblogging, citizen journalism, and lifecasting are incredible!

Do you use these apps? Are there others you like better? Let me know, I’d love to hear from you!

George “Loki” Williams is the owner of SocialGumbo, LLC