The New York Times found a way for their online readers to engage with one another through TimesPeople. The new social network allows readers to share stories through article recommendations, bookmark articles and interact with fellow NYTimes.com readers.

TimesPeople features a toolbar where readers can view their recent activity, manage their profile settings, and view the number of friends on the network. The toolbar offers readers the opportunity to link TimesPeople to their Facebook accounts and import email contacts (Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Hotmail) to expand their network.

The TimesPeople page provides readers with their activity, the general activity of the whole network (Live Snapshot), a newsfeed, and a list of fellow readers who follow them and vice versa. The “Find & Add People” let readers add more people to their network (just like searching for friends on Facebook). Concerned about privacy? Readers can also change their privacy settings for sharing articles on and off.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 4 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: This free social network is simple and easy for users to comprehend. I think it’s a good first step for people who want to engage with the online community, but don’t know how. TimesPeople may include a feature for readers to add notes to their recommendations – further engaging their readers to converse with one another.

Negative: TimesPeople is exclusive to news from NYTimes.com –limiting the articles/blog posts to share.

Conclusion: TimesPeople provides NYTimes.com an edge over all the other online media. In a time where newspapers experience the pressure to follow the online media trend, NYTimes.com brings a whole new level of competition with a social network. Businesses are allowing social network usage in the office, acknowledging the trend and growth of social networks. Kudos to The New York Times for being one of the four “traditional media titans.”

UPDATE: Last week, OtherInbox was featured in the Buzz Meter. The OtherInbox team sent us 25 invitations for their private beta to share with our readers. Please try the service and let us know your thoughts: http://beta.otherinbox.com/signup/cc948.

OtherInbox, “the cure for email overload,” is the also the cure for blocking spam. The Austin-based start-up, founded by entrepreneur Joshua Baer and launched at TechCrunch50, offers a free email account with a bunch of organizational options. Newsletters, social networking updates, coupons and receipts from online purchases are categories OtherInbox will provide for organizing your email accounts.

A unique feature OtherInbox offers is unlimited temporary email addresses. This comes in handy when you want to separate your personal email from receiving newsletters or web updates from online shops. For instance, if you want to receive news updates from Amazon, you just sign up using one of your makeshift email addresses, i.e. Amazon@(your OtherInbox username).otherinbox.com. Then you would receive updates from Amazon in your OtherInbox account. My Amazon email address would be: Amazon@marmones.otherinbox.com. You can use these temporary email addresses to sign up for a new web service or for online purchases.

In case the sites you registered your email address to sells your address to another site, OtherInbox provides a BLOCK button for unwanted/spam emails. OtherInbox will also offer a calendar for organizing schedules and adding shipping arrival dates for items you purchased. You also receive updates in your personal email (the one you used to sign up with OtherInbox) about the messages you currently have in your OtherInbox account.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 3 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: I believe the biggest attraction OtherInbox offers is their unlimited temporary email addresses. I often find myself hesitant to provide my personal email address when signing up for a web service. Now, OtherInbox provides an alternate solution.

Negative: OtherInbox is still in beta mode, allowing users to only test the basics of the email server. Current beta testers/users: be patient.

Conclusion: OtherInbox is an exceptional email service that provides a new way to organize emails. Once OtherInbox is out of beta mode, the sky’s the limit for emailing. Users don’t have to worry about spam, overloaded inboxes, and can use temporary email addresses if they don’t want to use their personal ones. Interested? Sign up for the beta.

Because of Techcrunch50, I decided to test one of the demo companies of the conference: socialmedian. Dubbed as a ‘social news network that connects people with personalized news and information,’ socialmedian users get to share news and information with others who have the same interests.

socialmedian offers so many features, other than ‘news-streaming’. You get to join specific subject-related news networks, become friends with fellow users, clip interesting news articles to your profile and also interact with followers and friends through their listed and linked social networks. The profile settings let users select to have their profile private or public, and what time of day you want to receive news from your selected news networks. You can also promote your own blog through the use of a widget. In addition to those features, socialmedian offers a ‘Clip it!’ button. Just like del.icio.us, you can add the button to your toolbar and just click on any news stories you deem worthy for your fellow socialmedian users.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 4 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: socialmedian is a fun way to share news and information with your friends. It’s like delicious + a social network all rolled into one, easy-to-use, online environment. The email sent upon joining socialmedian’s network was filled with information and directions on how to start. I was able to set up my profile and start adding networks/clipping news stories within a matter of five minutes! It was not hard to figure out how to use socialmedian at all.

Negative: The different news networks might be an issue. As I was searching for networks of my interest, I found more than I needed (i.e. 50 different technology networks you can join). Choices are great, but sometimes having an enormous amount can be overwhelming. Currently, this innovative news site aggregator is available worldwide, but only in English (they’re working the translations).

Conclusion: For those who regularly read the Buzz Meter, you know that I love ‘one-stop-shop’ tools/platforms/networks. socialmedian is definitely one of the tools you should get to know!

Do you spend a majority of your work day going through emails and wished that you could just review the important ones now, and then view the rest later? AwayFind, created by Set Consulting and inspired by Timothy Ferriss’ best-selling novelThe 4-Hour Workweek, offers users a solution to the flooded email inboxes and encourages the review of emails only twice a day.

How does this all work? How is this possible? AwayFind works with email servers that provide auto-response messages. Colleagues, family and friends use your personal AwayFind online contact form to reach you. The form documents the name, company, email address, phone number, message details and even includes a spam filter question. Once the form is filled out, an automatic message is sent to the email you provided as your user ID; you can also add more email address and categorize which emails go to which addresses or delegate certain emails to you colleagues. SMS notifications of important emails are available when you’re on vacation or out of the office.

Additional features include:

• Customizable auto-response messages that caters to you different categories
• Online access to your email messages
• Adding your company logo and website to your contact form (for brand awareness)

Buzz Meter Ranking: 4 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: Who doesn’t love the idea of checking their inboxes only twice a day and having peace of mind that the urgent messages will reach you? AwayFind enables users to prioritize their emails and increases productivity during the work day. It only takes five minutes to sign up, set up your contact form, and let you ease into a less-stressed workday or vacation.

Negative: You do have to pay for this innovative tool to grasp AwayFind’s potential, unless you’re enjoying their private beta. One issue that users might experience, which is totally out of their control, is that those sending email messages have the ability to state the urgency of their email message. For instance, you can have the same person email you over and over again stating that their message is urgent – when in reality, it’s just a regular email that doesn’t need immediate attention.

Conclusion: Email is probably the number one concern for those trying to escape the office. Whether it is for vacation or if you’re in the midst of a deadline – leaving you unable to check your email frequently as you’d like – AwayFind is the solution.

With the phenomenon of the micro-blogging tool Twitter, users have one huge friends list. Now, users can group their Twitter friends using Twitly. This new tool allows people to not only sort their friends into groups, but gives them the flexibility to read specific friends’ tweets.

To use Twitly, users must already have a Twitter profile. Once you enter your Twitter information, Twitly automatically populates your current friends list and allows you to start creating your groups and search tweets.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 2 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: I always believe that it’s easier to manage a mass amount of people into certain categories or groups. Twitly definitely makes ‘twittering’ easier for users who have over hundreds and thousands of Twitter friends.

Negative: The concept of grouping your Twitter friends would be better if you could actually type a tweet using Twitly (I’m always up for a one-stop-shop tool). Time is also an issue because if you are Twitter popular, it might take a while to group your friends.

Conclusion: I think that Twitly has a lot of potential to become a great tool for Twitter users. Although Twitly is not affiliated with the popular micro-blogging site, Twitter should really take advantage of tools like Twitly that would enhance their usership.

Though the acquisition is off, we’re still planning on some changes to the Buzz Bin.  Namely, the blog and the readers would be better served if we split the content into two blogs. We feel like we’ve got a lot of great content, some strategic and some tactical.

First would be the Buzz Bin, which would continue with 2-3 Livingston posts a week, Qui Diaz on social media for social good, and interviews of leading voices. We anticipate adding a third strategy oriented voice to the blog in the next month or two. The leaner and meaner Buzz Bin would begin in its third major retooling on September 8.

Second, Livingston Communications would start a new blog, which would focus more on tactical execution. Larissa Fair would be the lead voice, and she will be accompanied by our weekly columns from Marinel Mones and Mike Nelson, Buzz Meter and Blogs of Fire, respectively.  The second blog would launch in mid-October.

As the Buzz Bin is as much yours as ours, we definitely want to know if these changes work for you, or if you prefer to keep the blog as is. Let us know.

The concept of backing up your computer is now coming to social networks like Twitter. Tweetake allows Twitterers to back up their friends, followers, favorites and tweets into a CSV file. Founders Alfred Armstrong and Nikki Pilkington decided to create Tweetake after Twitter proved to be unreliable (i.e. Twitterers losing followers).

Why might this tool be useful? In case you want to change your Twitter name, you’d have a record of your current friends to add to your new account, which is a big plus. Backing up your account also gives you the flexibility to go through old tweets – as needed. The CSV file is divided into 11 columns, which includes names and screen names of your Twitter friends, their location, profile descriptions, a link to their images and URL, as well as a time/date stamp, and current tweets. (image from StartupMeme)

Buzz Meter Ranking: 3 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: Tweetake is simple and easy. All you need is your Twitter username and password. With one swift click, you can have a CSV file of your all of friends, followers, favorites and tweets.

Negative: Although it is a good back up service, you still need to back up your own computer files at the end of the day if you want your Tweetake file to still exist.

Conclusion: Tweetake is just as simple as backing up your computer files. It’s an easy and fast procedure that gives users a chance to protect their tweets and profiles. If you’re a big Twitterer, then you should definitely use this tool.

About two weeks ago, I received an invite to the alpha testing of PitchEngine’s, the new social network for PR pros and media, Social Media Release (SMR) Builder, by none other than the founder himself, Jason Kintzler. Created with the concept of combing traditional PR methods with social media, PitchEngine offers a new way of sharing news. This network allows users to discuss PR and the media in forums, share videos, meet fellow PR pros and send SMRs all free of charge. Presently, PitchEngine has over 250 brands using the alpha and the PitchEngine Network is continuously growing.

PitchEngine’s user ability is like that of the traditional press release online distributors, Marketwire and PR Newswire, but of course with social media flair. On the media side, users are able to customize their profile pages, invite friends and connect with others – a true social network. In the PR side, account holders can add an “Active User” to a company or individual’s account – allowing them to perform similar functions of the account holder (i.e. write, publish and edit SMRs ). The new SMR tracker lets users know how many times their releases have been viewed. Currently, you can only upload one brand, but Jason mentioned the addition of multiple brands to an account so that PR firms can efficiently use PitchEngine’s services.

To create a press release, users just select the option and are immediately brought to a page that offers more than just words on the release. Users can include images, videos, audio and more. Releases can be viewed and shared via email, cut-and-paste link or directly to social sites like Twitter, FriendFeed or Facebook.

What’s next for PitchEngine?

• Social Media Newsroom – users who upgrade their account to a social personalized newsroom can now host and archive SMRs for specific brands or for their agency as a whole. PR Firms can also make the newsroom a part of their client or brand’s website. (This should be in the public beta in a few days)
• Once mainstream PR starts using the service, PitchEngine can reveal the media side of the site. The media will be able to filter PR content by industry and category and get a personalized PitchFeed delivered to their custom profile page.
• The newsrooms will be available for a minimal subscription fee, but the SMR builder will remain free.

“I can’t let too many details out of the bag yet, but the method of pitch delivery will be unprecedented – a stark contrast from the distribution methods out there today. Media will have ultimate control over what they’re being pitched,” said Jason.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 4 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: PitchEngine embodies everything PR pros need to transition from traditional media to new media relations. Users who currently use regular press release online distributors have never met such an easy tool! With the simple uploading and saving, I was able to draft a test press release in 5 minutes. The PitchEngine Network is also a good hub for PR pros to connect.

Negative: PitchEngine only supports the latest browsers, so the laggards using Internet Explorer 5 or 6 will have to upgrade.

Conclusion: PitchEngine is definitely on its way to becoming a dream-team tool for PR pros through the combination of traditional and new media. As Jason stated, ‘I came up with the concept out of genuine passion for all things media and PR. I want to help both industries make the transition to new media relations. "A New Spin on PR.” Well Jason, with all of the additions you’re planning, PitchEngine will take that ‘new spin on PR’ to a whole new level. I can’t wait!

Do you belong to a substantial amount of social networks and want constant access and control of all of them at the same time? A couple of weeks ago I got pinged about a semi-new tool called Digsby. This tool can be described with the following equation: Digsby = IM + Email + Social Networks.

Digsby offers similar features to that of Yoono or Pidgin. With over seven different types of instant messaging tools including, AIM, Google Talk, Jabber and Facebook Chat, Digsby surpasses its competitors. Users also receive email notifications from the following accounts: Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, AOL/AIM Mail, POP Mail and IMAP Mail. You also access and update Facebook, Twitter and Myspace statuses. Having Myspace in their social networking circle also separates Digsby from the other aggregators.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 4 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: Downloading Digsby took no effort at all. Digsby offers personalization of your chat box interface with complete emoticons – just like AIM. Users can easily update statuses just by clicking on the widgets in the task tray or the social networking icons on their Buddy List.

Negative: As much as I love the pop up updates on the left hand side of my screen, I sometimes it takes more than just one click for them to disappear.

Conclusion: Love = Digsby + Marinel. How’s that for an answer? I can get updated quickly just by scrolling over my screename on my Buddy List for any of my social networks. I also like Digsby’s ability to connect me directly to my email site or social networking site just by clicking on the widgets. And on Twitter, your picture shows up next to your friends’ tweets that you responded too and vice versa. Hands down, Digsby is awesome.

Have you ever watch VH1’s Pop-up Videos? Wouldn’t it be great if similar informative comment boxes popped up on in your Internet browser? Well, I discovered a tool, Browzmi, that uses this ‘pop-up’ concept by integrating instant messaging and web surfing all in the same browser, and in real-time. Even though you and your friends are sharing and discussing the same web site in real-time, users are not actually sharing one single screen (so your friends or other users can never control your browser).

Browzmi is a free app that doesn’t require downloading, and is compatible with Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. Users can communicate with friends while watching movies, discovering new music and playing games. This tool also offers a bookmarklet, which allows users to open any viewed page in Browzmi and share with others. Other features include voting and commenting on sites, grabbing pictures for photo sharing, and a sidebar full of widgets like YouTube and Flickr.

Currently the application can be synced with a user’s Facebook. Browzmi is working on incorporating AOL, MSN, and Yahoo chat features to maximize the friend sharing experience.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 3 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: The registering process was so easy and the interface is very inviting. I love the three-pane structure of Browzmi and how organized it is. I can view what every user is commenting/voting on, or if I want to just see my friends or my own, I have that option too. And as simple as it may be, being able to find the on and off button for sound is great! The team at Browzmi is also wonderful. Thank you Travis Parsons for welcoming me and answering my questions.

Negative: As with an open sharing service, the only major concern is privacy. Even though Browzmi offers users the ability to make their streams public or private, the whole network still has the capability to review your online activity.

Conclusion: I really enjoyed sharing and surfing the web with my friends all in real-time. Browzmi saves me from having to minimize my screen in order to fit my instant message box all on my desktop. Browzmi is just plain fun and I can’t wait for all of the chat services additions and emoticons!