Managing Links with Nuzzel

Many’s the time I’ve been known to suggest that the people I engage with on Facebook and Twitter quit posting so many interesting links, because my reading list in Pocket is getting too long. All too often, Pocket is where links that I thought looked interesting go to die.

A few weeks back, I found a much better way to keep track of stories my social media contacts were linking to. I was listening to Fr. Roderick Vonhögen’s The Break podcast, and he mentioned Nuzzel. It’s available on the web, iOS, and Android. The premise is simple: you link Nuzzel to your Twitter and/or Facebook accounts, and it provides you with a list of stories your contacts have linked to. For each story, it displays the article’s title, author (if known), and first few lines, plus the profile photos of contacts who’ve shared the article’s link. (That’s in the “News from Your Friends” section. There are also sections called “News from Friends of Friends,” “News You May Have Missed,” and “Recently Read Stories.” I don’t find that last particularly useful, as I generally know which stories I’ve read without Nuzzel reminding me.)

In few weeks I’ve been using the app, I’ve found it’s been a great help in keeping my Pocket list manageable. Instead of sending a link from Twitter or Facebook directly to Pocket, I go to Nuzzel first. Nuzzel’s display shows me right away whether the article is really something I’m interested in. If it is, I can read it right away. Or, if it’s longer than I have time for at the moment, then I can send it to Pocket. Instead of having to sort through my Pocket list to figure out what I actually want to read, I can ensure that only articles that genuinely interest me end up there in the first place. It’s a find that makes me glad I listen to The Break pretty regularly.

Do you have a favorite tool or workflow for managing interesting links that come your way? What are your favorite sources of ideas for new tools or ways of working? Let us know in the comments.

Creative Commons licensed photo by Flickr user Kurt Bauschardt