So I just found out about Pocket.  Good stuff.  Good stuff.  Pocket is another curation site, or basically a place to save stuff that you like in a nice, categorized way.  I have a bunch of these bookmarking-type sites, and I use them in different ways.  For instance……

  • draggo.com is a site I use to bookmark sites for my students.  It’s easy for them to use an navigate.  It’s simple for me to save things there.  It looks cute for kids, and it has tabs plus categories within tabs.  I like draggo for that purpose. (Here is a link to a former blog post about other curation sites that work well with kids: Click Here)
  • Feedly is a site I use to have all of my favorite blogs and news feeds sent to me.  If you haven’t used it, it’s sort of like a mailbox of your favorite magazines – and you get to pick which magazines make it in.  (Not which articles, specifically, just the magazines/blogs/news feeds).  I like to follow certain people’s blogs and definitely keep up with specific sources.  Feedly brings me exactly what I’m asking for in that way.
  • Pinterest is so awesome.  I use it to ‘pin’ pictures of things I like, want to make, ideas to try, places I want to go.  Basically, Pinterest (for me)  works like a big ‘wish list’ or ‘gonna do’ list, and after I’ve tried/done/visited some of those ideas, I’m just really glad I still have them saved on Pinterest.  I also use Pinterest to occasionally self-promote my own blog posts and articles.  I can follow other people on Pinterest, and other people can follow me.

You get the idea.  Different curation (bookmarking) sites for different needs.  Which brings me back to Pocket.  THIS is a site I have long needed for a completely different reason.  Sometimes, I just want to save a specific article to come back and read later.  Or a blog post.  Or even a website page.

Enter Pocket.  It’s super simple, works on all of my devices, and it has a bookmarklet!  (like Pinterest) It’s interesting that Pocket used to be called “Read It Later“.   I use Pocket when I’m on Twitter and someone suggests a blog post, but I’m trying to make it through a long Twitter feed and just want to remember to read it later.  On my computer, I just open the link to the blog post, then click my little Pocket bookmarklet that sits up there next to the URL line in Chrome.  Pocket kindly asks me if I’d like to name a category, I hit enter, and it’s saved.  For later.

 I also used Pocket for a recent vacation search.  My husband and I were trying to find rental properties at the beach.  Each time we found a website page of one that we liked, we just Pocket-ed it for later review.  Some were images; some were videos; some were just static pages. (I wouldn’t want to use Pinterest for this, because I don’t necessarily want my followers to see this kind of thing.)

Pocket is great for Christmas or gift-giving lists, too.  Again, I don’t want my Pinterest followers to see (Yes, I know I can create private boards, but I think Pocket is easier.)  I can categorize under Christmas, or get even more specific with Christmas- Husband or Birthday- Suzie…yadda yadda yadda.  Of course, Pocket has a search feature so I can find all of my things easily later, mark certain ones as ‘favorites’, and delete items after I have read them and no longer need them.

One more thing – Pocket has an app.  I use this just as often because it’s not that often I want to read an entire article or blog post on my iPhone.  In Twitter, if I just ‘long hold’ my finger on a blog hyperlink, it gives me the option to “send to Pocket“…and I use that a lot!   I don’t want to over-explain this site, because it’s really just super simple and fun to use.  Just get in there and start Pocket-ing your favorite stuff!  You’ll be glad you did……later!

And hey…if you didn’t have time to read this whole post or you want to revisit it later, why not just Pocket it!