Have you ever wanted to share a link or a status update to more than one social networking account? You’d either have to copy and paste your message, or sign up for a social sharing app like Hootsuite or Buffer. I haven’t seen anything similar designed for the Mac until I came across a nifty menu bar app called Crosspost.
Similar to the simplistic Twitter app Wren with a little bit more to offer, Crosspost brings convenient sharing to users who’d post to multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts. It caters to the needs of the Mac social butterfly by enabling “cross-posting” to Twitter and Facebook profiles/pages from the comforts of the menu bar. Simple call out the app from the menu bar, type your message, select the accounts to share to, then click on the blue Post button.
It’s certainly an interesting and straightforward app, but I’m particularly drawn to two unique features that make Crosspost even more convenient: the get from browser feature and the Twitter selector.
Get From Browser
Let’s say you’d like to share an online article to your Twitter and Facebook timelines. You don’t want to go through the same copy-paste process to do this, so Crosspost allows you to share the page by simply retrieving the page’s link from your browser.
Retrieve a post’s URL by clicking on “get from browser.”
Here’s how it works: Click on the Crosspost menu bar app to appear on top of the browser and the page to be shared. Click on the “get from browser” link and the URL of the page will appear inside the body of the composer. If you’re posting to Facebook, Crosspost will automatically create a link preview. You can edit the message further before sending it off.
Twitter Selector
One of the biggest problems I have with social media apps like Hootsuite is having to delete words from the message to make it fit the 140-character count. Although this looks all right on Twitter, the essence of the message is somehow lost when posted to Facebook.
Select a portion of text to share on Twitter.
Crosspost’s Twitter selector solves this by highlighting a portion of the message and using it as the alternative content to tweet to your Twitter network/s. Just highlight the lines you’d like to share and click on the tweet selector link. This will tell Crosspost that only these lines are to be shared to your selected Twitter accounts.
It’s Not for Everyone
Though Crosspost has its advantages, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all kind of app. On one hand, social media marketers and active Twitter/Facebook users won’t find Crosspost useful because it lacks the core features needed to maintain social presence. For instance, you can’t schedule messages for the future, or view and respond to interactions and mentions.
On the other hand, users who simply want to share nuggets of interesting content may find Crosspost easy to work with. It’s so accessible, no-nonsense, and self-explanatory that you may not even need to go through the welcome tutorial.
For improvements, I suggest being able to upload and share photos, shorten links, and more social networking services under its umbrella. The developer has planned on including LinkedIn to its list of services, so there’s definitely something to look forward to in the next update.
Your Thoughts?
What do you think of Crosspost? Is this something you would use to update your Twitter and Facebook accounts? Why or why not?