Socialwok for iPhone coming soon!: A Preview

We have been busy hacking out a new version of our iPhone app. Here is a preview. Want to help preview and give feedback on Socialwok for iPhone. Click here! To see more screenshots, here is the gallery.

From Socialwok for iPhone beta 0.9

From Socialwok for iPhone beta 0.9

Socialwok Android App 0.9: New icons, Invite, Archived emails and notes are viewable

We have a new beta version 0.9 release of Socialwok for Android. New version 0.9 includes support for viewing archive emails/notes, inviting from local address book. Download here to get 0.9 beta now!

• View notes and emails in feeds
• Invite people from your mobile address book to join your Socialwok network 
• New launcher icons  

From Socialwok Beta 0.9

From Socialwok Beta 0.9

From Socialwok Beta 0.9

Socialwok Android App 0.7: Camera attachment, like/unlike

We have a new beta version 0.7 release of Socialwok for Android. New version 0.7 includes support for posting pictures from the camera.  Can't wait to get 0.7 beta. Download here!

• Attach picture from camera to update  
• Like/Unlike
• Message widget in the launcher screen
• Fixed bug: Widget updates not updating base on polling time 

From Socialwok Beta 0.7

From Socialwok Beta 0.7

From Socialwok Beta 0.7

New release: mention icon in updater, invite emails, comment bug

New version of Socialwok released that includes new invitation emails and mention icon in the updater.

• New mention icon in the updater to help users mention people or feeds in messages
• New invitation HTML emails  for joining a network, external feeds and private feeds
• Message inserted into email invites for private and external feeds informing the user of what to expect when joining the feed
• Bug fixed: deleting of comments was failing

From Invite emails

From Invite emails

From Invite emails

Socialwok Android App 0.6: Notifications, App Widgets and more

We have gotten great feedback from our users on the beta version 0.5 release of Socialwok for Android. Over the weekend, we hacked out a new version 0.6 that includes requested items like Socialwok Android App widget. Can't wait to get 0.6 beta. Download here!

• Notifications Settings: New Post, Direct Messages, Comments on post
• Different notification modes: Vibrate, Sound, Notification Lights
• Add Socialwok widget to your Application Screen
• Bug fixed: hitting back button in after commenting causes a forced stop

From Socialwok Beta 0.6

From Socialwok Beta 0.6

From Socialwok Beta 0.6

Socialwok for Android: Mobile Collaboration for Professionals

We are proud to preview Socialwok for Android v0.5 (beta). We are aiming to change the way professional workers can collaborate from their mobile.

Our vision is to allow any professional worker to take any piece of information he has whether it is an idea, a file, document, a picture or his location and share it with his co-workers from his smartphone in a fast and secure way.  Google Apps users would be able to collaborate directly from their phones by posting status messages with attached Google Docs, Google Calender Events and more.

• Support for Android OS 2.1 (Eclair) and 2.2 (Froyo)
• Google Account Sync - Login with Google Apps or Gmail accounts
• Background syncing of status updates, feeds and contacts
• Mention people or topics directly in your status updates or comments
• Share Google Docs in your status updates

Excited and want to help us make Socialwok mobile better. Click here to signup as a beta tester!

Login into Google Apps domain admin panel and grant Socialwok access

We just changed how Socialwok supports authentication by Google Apps domains. This will enable Google Apps premier domains to add Socialwok using Google Apps Marketplace without previously having to have OpenID federation turned on. This change will affect all our existing Google Apps domain users. If you are a domain administrator for your Google Apps domain and have previously added Socialwok. You need to re-grant Socialwok permissions for data access

• Login to your Google Apps Control Panel. Example: http://google.com/a/voiceroute.net (where voiceroute.net is your domain)

• You should see "Update data access requirements". Click on "View and grant access"

Login into your domain control panel and grant Socialwok data access

How a non-profit, Grassroot Soccer uses Socialwok in its fight against AIDS

We are happy to announce that GrassrootSoccer's innovative use of Socialwok and Google Apps for external collaboration and project management is the winner of the “How is Socialwok helping you?” contest. An Amazon Kindle will soon be making its way to South Africa!

How do you use Socialwok?

I am Taylor Downs and I work for a non-profit organization Grassroot Soccer as the Curriculum & Training Development Coordinator. Our mission is to use the power of soccer in the fight against HIV and AIDS. We aim to provide youth worldwide with the knowledge, life-skills and support to live HIV-free. Grassroot Soccer has established itself as a premier provider of technical assistance to other "Sport for Development" organizations across the world. I work to design curricula and systems for the monitoring and evaluation of partner programmes in countries all across southern and eastern Africa. My job includes lots of collaboration both within my organization as well as with external parties like NGOs (Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation), corporations (Nike, Castrol) and local volunteer partner organizations. Socialwok has enabled me to effectively collaborate with all the parties involved. With Socialwok, I can keep track of several projects and the associated Google Docs and Google Calendar events simultaneously by getting all the status updates at once, instead of sorting through hundreds of emails.

Socialwok has reduced the turnaround time it takes to onboard a partner organization to our grassroot soccer based HIV/AIDs prevention program. Helping us win 3 more grants and save more lives!

How has Socialwok saved your day? 

Thanks to the Salesforce foundation, we have developed an online Salesforce-based system to keep track of the scale and effectiveness of our HIV-education and prevention programmes. We work with local partner organizations on the ground to deploy this tracking system. The deployment process involves a lot of configuration and coding to customize the tracking system to the partner organization's local needs.
While working with a partner organization from Lesotho, I encountered the problem of partner requests being constantly overlooked and lost amongst many emails. Since adopting Socialwok, our partner organization posts all updates related to the system specifications or requests to the project feed. I simply "check the wok" everytime when I need to build more pieces of the partner organization’s system. In 3-4 minutes, I am completely up-to-speed with all their system requests without having to worry about overlooking anything.

Has Socialwok helped your organization become more productive? 

Socialwok has reduced the turnaround time it takes to onboard a partner organization to our program. This has enabled Grassroot Soccer to more aggressive expand our program outreach in Africa. After using Socialwok to effectively and collaboratively design an M&E system for a partner organization in Lesotho, we have now landed grants to build similar systems for 3 other developmental organizations that are hoping to solve the HIV & AIDS problem in Southern Africa. By coupling the power of Google Apps with more effective and timely communications, I like to think that Socialwok is now, in some way, preventing new HIV infections!

For other great use cases of Socialwok How is Socialwok helping you?

Learn more about Grassroot Soccer program GrassRootSoccer.org
Check out Twitter Channel on @GrassRootSoccer
Join Facebook fan page of GrassRootSoccer.org
How is Grassroot Soccer program combating HIV/AIDs infections in Afria at Culture of Soccer
Coverage of Grassroot Soccer by National Public Radio (NPR)

How an online retailer, 3tailer.com reduces email clutter.

“How is Socialwok helping you?” is a series of blog posts where we highlight members using Socialwok in innovative ways.  Tell us how Socialwok is helping your organization and we’ll highlight your story! Stand a chance to win an Amazon Kindle!

How do you use Socialwok?

I am Mario Catalano and I work at 3tailer.com as an IT administrator. 3tailer.com is an online retailer of niche products, mainly in the medical industry. We have over 30 different websites dedicated to various niches including: diabetic socks, shoe inserts, futon covers, and boating supplies. I use Socialwok daily in my work and personal capacity. At work, I frequently use it to update my co-workers on changes to our product websites. I also use it to ask general questions to my project team rather than do it individually over email or a chat program. For personal use, I use it as a tool to help me publish my status to multiple social media services like Facebook or Twitter.

Since switching to Socialwok, the speed and number of replies I get for my questions have increased greatly. Previously, It would take several days for people to read and respond to an email. With Socialwok, its quick and convenient for people to respond.

How has Socialwok saved your day? 

As the IT administrator of 3tailer.com, I face the challenge of updating the entire company on new features and changes to our websites. Before Socialwok, I would send out mass emails that would often get lost or unread by others. It often clutters up everyone’s inbox and becomes a hassle when I have to organize my co-worker’s replies and comments into folders, spreadsheets, or text documents.
Since adopting Socialwok, I can update or ask questions to my co-workers without having to worry about organizing their comments and answers also it cuts down on email clutter. One thing I have noticed as well since we switched to using Socialwok is that the speed and number of replies I get for questions have increased greatly. It would take several days sometimes for people to read and respond to an email, but with Socialwok its quick, easy and organized so its much more efficient and convenient for everyone to respond. I also like how Socialwok is integrated into Gmail such that I can access Socialwok from right inside Gmail. This makes it almost second nature where I can use one web browser tab to handle everything; email, Google Talk, and Socialwok.

Has Socialwok helped your organization become more productive? 

Socialwok has helped to create a sense of community in the company. Socialwok makes it easier to have a conversation around any topic within the entire company or with a group of co-workers. We can also update everyone in the company without having to resort to email or Google Talk. Socialwok is also a more efficient way to organize and group information. I can now ask a question and see everyone’s replies in a threaded conversation below my question. This is much easier than copying and pasting answers from people into a text file or filtering emails into a new folder. My co-workers also find Socialwok to be quite user friendly because it uses the feed format that is similar to Twitter or Facebook. We can now very quickly browse different topics and get notified of new conversations happening in our 3tailer community. Socialwok has helped to facilitate group communications in our company, reducing unnecessary email clutter and increasing our productivity. Utimately, Socialwok has helped us save time and money!

Learn more about 3tailer.com use of Socialwok at 3tailer case study

Marlowe Law Offices cannot function without Socialwok.

“How is Socialwok helping you?” is a series of blog posts where we highlight members using Socialwok in innovative ways.  Tell us how Socialwok is helping your organization and we’ll highlight your story! Stand a chance to win an Amazon Kindle!

How do you use Socialwok?

My name is Stephen Marlowe, principal attorney at Marlowe Law Office in Tipp City Ohio. My firm helps people find debt relief through bankruptcy. Most of the staff (three interns, a paralegal and three lawyers) work both remotely and in-office. We’re set up in “the cloud,” so the office, if necessary, can go completely virtual. Socialwok is a critical component of that strategy.
We use Socialwok as a “Facebook” like case-management tool that is tightly integrated with Google Apps to share and archive information regarding our clients. Our law office uses Google Apps Mail and Google Docs for all our email messaging and document management needs. The first step in our client intake process is to create a Socialwok feed. Socialwok has become our front-end dashboard for Google Apps. It’s a very  user-friendly, intutive way to collaborate, share emails and manage Google Documents.

@marlawoffice: If you’re in business and you use Google Apps and don’t use @socialwok, you’re a damn fool.

How has Socialwok saved your day? 

Before Socialwok, I would have to constantly email or call the client to keep him up to date on his case. We spent a lot of time consolidating information from various places to maintain client files, as well as keep up to date client contact information.
Since adopting Socialwok, my staff have been able to collaborate and archive all emails, documents, calendar events, notes to case files, voicemails, client contacts and questions in Socialwok private client feeds. We are able to create automatically an interactive timeline that serves as a perfect record of our relationship with the client. Our clients can also access and collaborate with attorneys of the firm on their cases using these private feeds.
Recently, we stopped a foreclosure that had proceeded in error. The client shot us a frantic email, which was forwarded immediately to the client's Socialwok feed. We intervened to stop the sale of the family’s home in minutes--not hours or days--to the client’s benefit. There were no voicemails waiting to be addressed, no emails stacked awaiting attention. Socialwok made us nimble.
Socialwok has saved the law firm an immense amount of frustration and time, allowing us to take on more clients.

Has Socialwok helped your organization become more productive? 

Marlowe Law Office has increased billable hours and eliminated phone-tag with clients because we share Socialwok feeds with them. Before Socialwok, our law office was using labor intensive and data-entry oriented solutions like Basecamp and Google Sites for collaborating with our clients. Often, we had real adoption problems with these programs because our clients found them to be too troublesome or user-unfriendly.
With Socialwok, we created email filters in Gmail that allows us to forward emails from our clients into specific Socialwok feeds. We scan paper copies of legal documents related to a client directly into a private feed that the client can access. We can now view all the information related to a client by searching for his last name, or by hashtags. Socialwok lists all messages, emails, files and meeting notes related to the client in chronological order.
This is a true story: one of our paralegals had just moved to another firm and, though she did it playfully, she shamed her bosses during her first week because they didn’t use Google Apps and Socialwok. Our firm was her first job as a paralegal; she assumed all firms used Google Apps and Socialwok. She couldn’t imagine how to organize a case without the combination. She told us that once she explained our setup, the other firm was openly envious. They realized just how important the right tools--mature, fully realized Apps like Socialwok--increase efficiency, reduce effort and raise returns.

We’re not in the business of pimping brands. At Marlowe Law Office, our loyalty is not won easily; however, when it is won we’re not shy about evangelizing. During the first week we had Socialwok, I tweeted from @marlawoffice:
“If you’re in business and you use Google Apps and don’t use @socialwok, you’re a damn fool.”


Learn more about Marlowe Law Office use of Socialwok