6 apps for sharing what you love
If you’re “into” something, get your thoughts out there and dare to share
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re taking a break from checking out what people are sharing online. If you too are itching to share what you love with the world, there are plenty of great ways to do it. We’ve rounded up the best of them to help you choose where to share.
You could think of Pinterest (Free, Universal) as a public scrapbook, or scrapbooks. As one of the top 50 most-visited sites in the world, it’s where hundreds of millions of users go to find, pin (save), and share everything from recipes, to inspirational quotes, to home improvement ideas, to fashion gotta-haves. You can create multiple “boards” to organize “pins” however you like, and the whole thing is free and supported by advertising.
With aspirations to become the world’s largest retailer, Amazon
App (Free, Universal) either already has a category, or will soon, for just about every product. Naturally, it also includes a wishlist feature for saving the things you want to buy, or gift list ideas for friends. If you need to save things from elsewhere on the web, Amazon’s desktop browser extensions and iOS app extension can save items not found on its shelves. Lists can be public or private, and they’re free to use even if you don’t buy anything there.
If Pinterest and Twitter joined forces, the resulting product might look like REX (Free, iPhone). A new service for recommending things (get it? “Rec’s?”), it has a variety of preset categories you can use to show off your favorite books, movies, articles, apps, places, and more. You can follow friends to see their recommendations in a newsfeed-like stream and check someone’s “Vault” to get a view on what they’re into.
Some people you share with might prefer something they can hold, in which case Mosaic Photo Books (Free, Universal) is a great option. It’s a free photo collage app that enables you to arrange up to 20 photos in a unique collage, print it as a high-quality book, and ship it to a lucky recipient. The app is free to use and doesn’t even require an account. Books cost $30 – $25 for the book, $5 for shipping.
One of the internet’s best ways to share what you love is by blogging, where everyone can stumble on and see it, and we don’t think there’s a better or faster service for sharing than Tumblr (Free, Universal). It has an iOS app extension that lets you share whatever photo, product, or pretty much anything else you’re looking at in just two taps. Of course, you can always add commentary, your own media, or full-on blog posts. Tumblr is free to use, even if you hook it up to your own domain. Most blog themes are free, though a few higher-quality options are available starting at $20.
Sharing what you love might not mean “with the entire world,” just with a few specific lucky individuals. In that case, Curator (Free, Universal) might be a great option. With a grid-based visual layout similar to Pinterest, Curator is part modern-day scrapbook, part office pinboard. You can save text, images, and links into multiple boards, rearrange their layout, and even present them. The app is free to use, but a Premium account ($5/month or $20/year) unlocks larger boards, group collaboration, PDF exporting, sync between devices, and more.