http://sidit.org

Is being connected 24/7 a blessing or a curse? It seems that with the rise of smart phones and laptops, people can be online and connected to their favorite sources of information at anytime. Personally I think it's a curse. A miniature experiment. A few weeks back, I took a trip to the middle of nowhere Montana to disconnect and do some networking with actual people. That's right, not on Linked In, Facebook or any other online hangout -- in person. I planned on the trip being a total disconnect from my online social life and my face-to-face social life back in Ohio. I love my "friends," but I was really looking for a break. I wanted to shut off that constant connection. I went into the mountains fully expecting to lose cellphone service and not see a lick of wifi for a week. I honestly didn't want to see my iPhone for the next six days.

Social TV is an interesting term that refers to platforms that allow users to engage with each other around what they're watching on TV or in theaters. This hits home for me because I worked on a platform called ScreenTribe for six months in 2010, and I continue to support it today. The term seems to be taking on a new meaning as advertisers, marketers and developers realize there's a market that hasn't yet been capitalized on. When we began work in May/June of 2010, the space was sparse. There weren't many competitors, and the competitors that existed were far more inferior to our platform. We offered new ways to do things and different ways to experience existing functionality. Still, the term social TV applied to what we were doing. That is, engaging television and movie watchers with exclusive content and allowing them to interact with people that were watching the same things.

I’ll admit it; I have a small addiction to all things social media. My iPhone enables the addiction when I’m not at home. It keeps me connected and feeds my desire to know what my friends are up to. I know where people are, what they’re saying, what they’re watching on TV and so much more. I’ve integrated social media into my every day life. Instead of checking services periodically, I get updates when things change or stuff happens. It’s part of the always on 24/7 phenomena that is my generation. I’m a member of many networks, from Last.fm to Linkedin. I'll give anything a try, but social networks are only fun if I can interact and engage with my friends. These are five of my most commonly used social apps, and yes they’re all free.