Despite the banter about email being dead, most of us spend the majority of our computing time in our email inbox. Given the high volume of messages flowing into your inbox, the constant update emails sent by Twitter can only add to the clutter. In addition, casual users may find Twitter desktop clients to be a distraction.

Enter NutshellMail….This free service keeps track of all your Twitter activity and even lets you send tweets through your email inbox. NutshellMail works by sending you a consolidated email update of all your activity on a pre-set schedule you can define. I get my updates every three hours, which alert me to new followers, quitters, @replies, direct messages and the last 20 tweets from tweeple I follow.  But that’s not all! Through NutshellMail, I can update my status, send dm’s, @replies, retweet messages, follow new users and unfollow quitters through email.

There has been a lot of buzz about tools like Qwitter not working properly. NutshellMail has proven to be a reliable and useful service that keeps you engaged and productive at the same time.  If you want to join the Twitter party, but also need to live in the meatspace, NutshellMail may be the tool just for you.

In addition, NutshellMail can also keep track of activity from Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and new messages from your alternative email accounts.

Although Holly admits that she is more technically proficient than her peers, she quickly found herself overwhelmed by her social networking activity and needed an effective solution to manage all her accounts in a single place. For Holly, NutshellMail was the exact tool she needed to stay engaged, but not controlled by her social networking activity.

Holly was nice enough to answer a few questions about the benefits of social networking, its problems, and how NutshellMail has helped her to remain productive and focused on what she does best – bringing quick and nutritional meals to every dinner table.

Why is social networking important to you?
I think social networking is not only a convenient way to reach a lot of people, but it is economical, entertaining and a great way to keep up with people and news. It also provides me with the tools I need to efficiently and easily have my healthy eating message reach people of interest.

Before using NutshellMail, how did you manage all your activity?
Social networking can be overwhelming and if you have more than one email account (I do), or social network (I do), you spend half your day going from site to site.  Before NutshellMail, social networking was managing me instead of me managing it.

How has NutshellMail made your life easier?
Honestly, I didn’t quite understand the concept initially, but being so busy and going in so many directions, I decided I needed help.  NutshellMail has simplified and organized my social networking (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, AOL), into one concise form that is easily accessible.  When I travel, NutshellMail has been absolutely the answer to my dreams as it is difficult to check everything from my Blackberry. With NutshellMail, I can see all my messages at one time.  Truly, it is one of my favorite and most useful tools that I have found on the Internet in a long time.

Why do you prefer to manage your social networks through email?
I have been using email for years; I know how it works and it’s the messaging platform I am most comfortable with. Email allows all my messages to be in one place…and who isn’t always checking their email?

NutshellMail’s mission is to bridge the gap between the social web and the average Internet user. We do this by bringing your social networking activity to your email inbox—the platform that most users understand. Holly is a great example of how you can master social media without having a master’s degree in computer science or marketing.

Like most users, I have a love-hate relationship with my Facebook email notifications. On one hand, they let me know when I need to log into Facebook, but on the other hand receiving 10-15 emails a day is distracting and cluttering my inbox.

In response to this problem, NutshellMail has released a Facebook application that sends a consolidated email of all your new Facebook activity on a schedule that you define. Each update alerts you of new messages, friend requests, birthdays, invites, poke and status updates.

I receive my consolidated Facebook alerts three times a day; which helps me to passively keep track of my activity without cluttering my inbox. In addition, I never miss a friend’s birthday and am now starting to pay attention to my friends’ status updates.

If you feel like Facebook is managing you instead of you managing Facebook, you may find that NutshellMail is the solution to help you stay engaged but not distracted by your social networking activity. In addition, you can add other social networks and all your email accounts.

You can register for an account within a minute directly through Facebook at http://facebook.nutshellmail.com or through NutshellMail.com.

We have been really pleased with the release of the application, but don’t take our word for it, check out all the great press it has received:
Mashable
LifeHacker
AllFacebook
Download Squad
KillerBlog
StartupMeme
TechWatching

If You Are Addicted To Email, You Are Not Alone

Charman-Anderson begins by discussing the surprising results from recent studies on email behavior, providing quantitative evidence for a problem many of us are all too aware of.

• 56% of email users spend more than two hours a day in their inbox;
• 64% of users claim to check their email once an hour, and 35% said they check for new messages every 15 minutes;
• It takes an average of 64 seconds just to recover your train of thought after an interruption by email;
• Most users tend to respond to email as it arrives, taking an average of only one minute and 44 seconds to act upon a new email notification;
• One study reports that 70% of email alerts get a reaction within six seconds.

Email may be an Addiction

Charman-Anderson continues by offering an interesting parallel between the compulsive behavior of gambling addicts and those of us who just can’t stop checking our inbox every 15 minutes.

According to Tom Stafford, cognitive neuroscientist and co-author of “Mind Hacks,” the same fundamental learning mechanisms that drive gambling addicts are also at work in email users. He writes:

“Both slot machines and email follow something called a ‘variable interval reinforcement schedule’ which has been established as the way to train in the strongest habits. This means that rather than reward an action every time it is performed, you reward it sometimes, but not in a predictable way. So with email, usually when I check it there is nothing interesting, but every so often there’s something wonderful - an invite out or maybe some juicy gossip - and I get a reward.”

Consequently, as Charman-Anderson writes, “this is enough to make it difficult for us to resist checking email, even when we’ve only just looked.” It is, therefore, little wonder why so many of us ignore the advice of productivity gurus like David Allen, Tim Ferriss, and  Scott Allen, who suggest that we should only check our email once or twice a day.

Suggesting to anyone that they should only check their email once or twice a day is a tough sale. I feel compelled to check my business email account at least two times every hour. I am not sure if this is symptomatic of addiction or just common business sense; but like most of you, I need to respond to my work-related emails in a timely manner.

However, their recommendation is easier to chew when applied to my personal email and social networking accounts. In contrast to work-related messages, my personal emails and Facebook wallposting do not require an immediate response. I have recently begun to limit the number of times I check my personal messaging accounts and it has really worked wonders and helped to reduce the email deluge.

If you suffer from email overload, simply cutting back the number of times you check your personal email is a relatively painless and effective solution to improving your daily productivity. To help me resist the impulse to check my personal email, I use NutshellMail.com to send email alerts to my work email account every three hours. In a single email, NutshellMail provides a quick snapshot of all my new messages so I can passively and productively access and keep track of all my personal accounts.

We are very excited to announce that NutshellMail has been featured on Forbes.com. In this short video interview, I discuss the common problem many employees face when they can not access third party messaging sites while at work and how NutshellMail.com address this issue in a compliant way.

Check out the video here.

I have received several emails from disposed political leaders and wealthy business executives in Nigeria, who have honored me with the opportunity to make a cool $20K for helping them transfer money to the U.S.. And all I had to do was give them my bank account! So easy!!!!!

It doesn’t surprise me to receive scam emails like this, but it blows my mind that these criminals actually think people are dumb enough to fall for their half-baked schemes. However, I was shocked today to learn that cyber criminals are now hijacking Facebook accounts to try and scam users’ friends.

This afternoon I was thrilled to hear from a friend I haven’t spoken to since college. He contacted me through Facebook’s IM service. I didn’t take me long to figure out that it was not actually Matt reaching out to me. So I decided to have a little fun with this petty idiotic crook, and even took the responsibility to drop a little morality on him. It was very interesting, and I will admit, entertaining to play with this guy’s little mind. I have shared my excerpts from our conversation below:

Matt: Hi Mark

Me: What’s happening Matt? Its been a long time?

Matt: Is there any assistance i can get from you financially please? (Ok…this is not Matt)

Me: Certainly. What’s up?

Matt: am stuck here in Nigeria and really need some money to get the hotel bill settled due to that fact that i was attacked by some armed robbers and all my money got stole.

Me: Oh that’s right, you told me you were going to Africa with Jared (not true, there is no Jared) Are the two of you ok? Tell me how I can wire and what you need.

Matt: You can get it sent to me through western union money transfer. Can you lend me the sum of $2,500 USD?

Me: How is Jared though? He was worried about going to Africa?
(No response)
Why so much? The best I can do is $1000.

Matt: Its ok (I guess $1k doesn’t go as far as it used to in Nigeria)

Me: But i will have to charge you interest…something small

Matt: I’ll appreciate it if you can get it sent to me asap please mark

Me: Tell me what account number

Matt: There is no need for an account. All you need to do is or you to take the money to any western union money transfer outlet and get it sent to me through my personal information which i will send to you asap.

Me: Have you reached out to your brother Justin? he can probably get you the rest of what you need

Matt: Sure. Just let me know when you are ready to get the $1000 sent to me please. ok

Me: Sure? Did you talk to him or do you want me to reach out to him?
I can go to WU today, tell me how to reach you.

Matt: I will reach him asap.
Call me through the hotel manager’s cell # +234-808-867-9171

Here are the details :
Receiver’s Name : Matthew (Last Name Removed)
Address : 115 Water Harrington way,
City : Victoria Island
State : Lagos
Country : Nigeria, 23401

Me: Ok. I will get on it. So other than the whole getting held at gunpoint and getting robbed, how has Africa been? I hear Nigeria can be dangerous.

Matt: thats just out of what am into right now. i really need to get out of here asap before i can narrate any thing to anyone please

Me: I don’t understand you…I think you have been in Africa too long…your English has gotten worse

Matt: Am so frustrated and confused

Me: I bet, has Jared called his parents or are they still not talking to him

Matt: He can’t get the cell # off his head cause the address book is not with him

Me: Yeah I can never remember my parents number either

Matt: Is there any assistance coming from you please ?

Me: OK OK don’t be so short with me.  So you need to be very careful in Nigeria; there are tons of criminals there

Matt: I know that quite right

Me: I bet! So it was strange for you to reach out to me after so long. I hear there is a lot of fraud going on there. Oh I am so sorry, I have been calling your brother by the wrong name. What’s his name again?

Matt: Eric (That is actually true…this guy did his research)

Me: I just have one more question before I run off to send you the money that i earned through hard and honest work. Do you think I am dumb enough to fall for your half-baked scam? You should be ashamed of yourself, not for trying to cheat innocent people out of money, but for being so stupid as to think that anyone would fall for it. You are a moron criminal. I have contacted the authorities and your Western Union account has been reported so you can no longer use my friends identity. I advice you to find a new career.

Matt: LOL

Me: Don’t you feel bad about what you do. You know you can make a living through honest work, even in Nigeria. You should reform yourself. Stop praying on innocent people; the only ones dumb enough to fall for your scam are elderly or mentally challenged.

Matt: Listen Mark. Now you got my attention

Me: Do you feel good taking advantage of mentally handicap people?

Matt: no no. but we need to talk now

Me: Well that is what you do and that makes you are very low person, but its not too late for you to change you ways. Ok talk to me

Matt: Alright. I will be very much appreciating if you can assist me. I will stop all this scamming. I mean it. I really need help (I bet!)

Me: Ok what is your true story?

Matt: Am really in need of cash to pay up my bill. Am a graduate of computer engineering in the university here but due to the poor economy i got no job and i couldn’t meet up my daily living everybody rely on me for survival in my family have pity on me please

Me: Well I can appreciate your situation but I have no pity for criminals or beggars. Use your talents and education for honest work.

Matt: i understand you. if you can help me to travel overthere i will work a honest here (I thought about it because we need to hire a few developers…ok that’s a lie)

Me: I am sorry but you will get nothing from me other than my hopes for you to become an honest person. Money will not solve your problems if you have no respect for yourself or other people

Matt: i will if you can give me hope for survival and assistance from you

Me: Change your ways, be good to others and you will be rewarded. Continue to be a criminal and you will live a long painful sorry life without respect for yourself. That is the assistance I will offer you….a chance to be a better person. And my other advice is for you to stop using Matt’s identity. This incident has been reported and your Western Union account under Matt’s name will be terminated

Matt: ok

Me: That is as much charity as you will get from me and much more than you can expect to get from most people. Good luck to you and be sure to make the right decision…your reward for living an honest life will come in time, your punishment for not changing will destroy you …your choice.

After this incident occurred, i contacted my friend Matt to inform him of the incident and then reported the crime to the FBI. To report cyber crimes and fraud, contact the FBI or fill out a crime report at http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx.

Many of you are all too aware that Microsoft’s Outlook is less than perfect. However, if you are like me and stuck in your old Outlook ways, I have two great recommendations that can significantly improve the speed and performance of Outlook. There are many new and not-so-new Outlook add-ins that you can download for free, however my two favorites are Outlook Attachment Remover and YouSendIt’s Outlook Plug-in.

The Outlook Attachment Remover is perhaps the quickest and easiest way to improve Outlook’s performance. This plug-in works by removing attachments from your Outlook files and saving them to your hard drive. What I love about this application is that you can still access your attachments in the same manner as before; however because the large files are removed from Outlook, the client’s speed and performance is greatly improved. In less than five minutes, I was able to automatically free up more than 500MB of storage space. EZDetach offers a low-cost application with additional features; however, I found the free version offered by www.kopf.com.br/outlook/ to be more than adequate.

YouSendIt’s Outlook Plug-in is another great tool for reducing the size of both your Outlook files and the storage space of your recipient’s email client. YouSendIt offers a free service for sending large files via email. The service works by uploading your attachment files and sending a link to your intended recipient so they can download your documents directly from the Web. (The service offers a subscription service with additional features as well). I have used this service in the past; however I was not sold on it until they released their Outlook add-in, which enables me to use the service directly through Outlook. The application is very easy to use; all you have to do is attach a document to an email by clicking on the YouSendIt toolbar within Outlook. The service will automatically upload your documents and directly insert the link in your email message. In addition to improving your Outlook’s performance, your recipients will appreciate the reduced file size of your message.

For more suggestions on how to get the most out of Outlook, I recommend you read Arrow Tips by Misty Khan of Advena Artemis.

According to a recent Proofpoint study, 34% of the largest companies (20,000 employees or more) reported that employee email was subpoenaed in the last 12 months. While the data does not specify the inclusion of employee’s personal email, the precedent set by the NJ State Superior Court indicates that what you write in your personal email (eg: Gmail, YahooMail) can be subpoenaed. While there exist other examples of employee’s personal email being called into court; these cases were limited to emails accessed through corporate servers (ie: when you access Gmail in the office, the gloves come off). However, this ruling seems to indicate that messages sent from home or your mobile device are fair game too; especially if they mention business matters.

Many experts advise that you use a personal email account for non-work related email. However, it now seems that anything you say or do online can be used against you. The bottom line: It doesn’t matter where you write it, anything you write online can be used against you.

My advice: Never mention anything business-related in your personal emails. If you are not comfortable sending a message through your work account, you probably shouldn’t send it through your personal account.

Roger Matus highlighted some of the key findings on his blog Death By Email:

• 44% of companies reported that they investigated an email leak of confidential information in the past 12 months.
• 41% of the largest companies surveyed (those with 20,000 or more employees) reported that they employ staff to read or otherwise analyze the contents of outbound email.
• 26% of companies surveyed terminated an employee for violating email policies in the last 12 months.
• 23% of U.S. companies surveyed said their business was impacted by the exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information in the last 12 months.
• 34% of the largest companies (20,000 employees or more) reported that employee email was subpoenaed in the last 12 months.

In addition to email, companies must be aware of the inherent dangers of allowing employees free access to blogs, message boards, media sharing sites, and mobile devices.

• 27% of companies surveyed had investigated the exposure of confidential, sensitive or private information from lost or stolen mobile devices in the past 12 months.
• 11% of U.S. companies surveyed disciplined employees for improper use of blogs/message boards in the past 12 months.
• 13% of surveyed companies disciplined employees for social network violations and 14% for improper use of media sharing sites in the past 12 months.
• 14% of publicly traded companies surveyed had investigated the exposure of material financial information (such as unannounced financial results) on blogs or message board postings in the last 12 months.

The bottom line: Email is a critical business application and is not going away. Additionally, new media channels like blogs, message boards, and social networking sites are proving to be useful tools for marketing, collaboration, and research. However, companies and employees must understand the inherent risks associated with these applications. Employers should lay down specific guidelines for employees and incorporate technologies to track and prevent inappropriate use of such channels.

I have found that most people shy away from email forwarding because they like to keep their inboxes separate. According to eMarketer, more than 94% of users in the U.S. (~160 million) utilize at least two e-mail accounts, and 65% of users (~128 million) employ three or more (3+) accounts. A principal reason users have multiple accounts is to stay organized. Personally, I have an account for business, an account for personal use, and an account for my newsletters (my “bacon” or “becn”). I like it that way. I know when I am in my business account, it’s all business. When I am in my personal account, it’s all fun. And my third account is for shopping, reading random newsletters, and killing time.

Gmail offers a forwarding service called Mail Fetcher. Mail Fetcher allows users to access up to 5 non-Gmail email accounts from within the Gmail interface. You can set Mail Fetcher to tag the messages by their source accounts through a color-coded labeling feature.

I am not sold on Mail Fetcher for various reasons. The first reason is that users are required to configure their POP3 server settings to utilize this solution; and most people do not know how to do this. Furthermore, some email services do not offer POP3 capability and others, like Yahoo and Hotmail/Live, charge for the privilege. Most importantly, however, I don’t like Mail Fetcher because it is not an effective organization tool. In my opinion, there is no substitute for the folder structure offered by email clients like Outlook or Thunderbird. Because you cannot filter or sort messages by their source account into separate folders, Mail Fetcher and other forwarding features simply add more clutter to your inbox. I have separate accounts for very specific reasons; my email needs to be organized and neither Mail Fetcher nor email forwarding is the solution. Sorry Google.