Just like the mind boggling number of TV channels, there are enough social networks to choke anyone’s bandwidth. Depending on your personality, you can be as social or unsocial as you want.
When you want to be in a social bubble, there’s Facebook.
Twitter’s there if you want to learn about new things from strangers. State’s
akin to Twitter. It frees you of the 140 character limit though.
Still, there’s no need to be wordy. You can state your
opinion in three words. As the world speeds up, that could be enough. The
social network version of the elevator pitch.
User interface
State looks stylish. It visualizes trending topics,
according to categories. That makes it easier for a category of our interest to
jump out at you.
Ease of Accessibility
I signed up using Twitter, so I was quite happy I didn’t
have to fill out a lengthy form.
The share your sign up to your social networks option could
have been clearer though. I clicked yes, but it didn’t get shared on Facebook
or Twitter. Another prompt saying Click on the network you want to share with
would have made things clearer.
Ease of sharing and finding content
Although State, like Asimov’s Univac has an encyclopediac
list of topics that come up as soon as you search for something you have in
mind, creating a new topic isn’t so easy.
You have to go to the red State button at the top middle of
the webpage. I didn’t even know it was clickable! From then on, it’s pretty
easy.
Stating your opinion on existing topics is a breeze. Since
you are likely to be normal, what’s on your mind is likely to be on the mind of
others too. So whether it’s the UK
dropping To Kill a Mockingbird from its curriculum, or the classic Friends,
you’re likely to find someone who has already voiced an opinion on the topic.
Features
Trending Topics
These are category wise, so you can go straight to the
category that interests you. Whether its Books, Tech, Sport, you’re sure to learn something new.
Tuning In
You can tune in to categories you want to follow and also
people. I picked the categories I was keen on, but I often found something of
interest even in the categories I hadn’t picked. I though Technology would be
well, technical, but it wasn’t. Instagram was a topic on the radar there, so I
felt right at home.
Tuning in to people State suggested didn’t seem to work well
for me. They weren’t my kind of people. One was into music, and I’m not too
aware of what’s hot in that.
I did tune in to someone who commented on one of my opinions
though. I was so happy someone had reached out! But again, the person didn’t
seem like my kind of person, so I didn’t consciously click to see his opinions
later.
Tuning in sounds miles better than following :)
Sentiment Range
Once you jump in with your take, if enough people have
stated opinions on that topic, State will show you where you stand on the
normal bell curve. Did most people think positively about feminism? What did
the top opinion staters say? I came out normal on all my opinions.
Top Word Groups
When you state an opinion, popular words people have used to
describe their opinion are suggested. Frankly, I found that distracting. It was
too easy to just go with the flow and not think of the right word myself.
State Clip
You can drag State in your bookmarks, so that it’s there
when you want to react to something online. The other day I was in the library
and came across something that made me say to myself, “I must share my opinion
on that on State.”
Verdict
I guess State is becoming part of me. Twitter’s getting too
full of chatter. State’s a good place to go for the thinking person to hang out
online. Long may it last.
This review is a product review programme by Blogadda.com and State.com
Here are my answers to Pages from Serendipity's questions.