An Interesting Platform for Sharing Interesting Content Online

Issue That's Being Tackled

All these links you have at your Word document, browser (as bookmarks), and on post-it notes may serve you, but may not be so easy to share with your contacts. Of course, if these links are for personal use, it's not an issue, but when they involve business projects or any kind of group effort (e.g. a course you are taking with a bunch of friends, or a vacation trip), easy of sharing these resources becomes a paramount matter. Naturally, there are ways around it, but it's not always practical, especially if you are on the go and you're using an average-sized smartphone.

Let's Wake Up to a New Way of Listing Things

This is where Wakelet comes it. This British startup is basically promoting a new way of sharing these lists of useful content (URLs, videos, formatted text, PDFs, and images) with others over the web. It's a bit like Pinterest but it enables the sharing of many different resources using a single link. The latter points to a webpage on the Wakelet site where the list dwells. The latter can be publicly viewable, private, or invitation-only (i.e. only those having the link can view it). One other cool thing about these lists (aka "wakes") is that you can download them as PDFs to use offline, to the extent they are useful, since many of their elements may require you to have internet access to view properly. Finally, the platform has a large number of free pictures you can use for your wakes, be it for a thumbnail or a background. By the way, you can check out one of my own wakes I put together in a few minutes, to group all my A.I. related material in a single place.

It All Sounds Good, But...

Naturally, Wakelet is not without its limitations. The wakes don't track how many people view them or how many views they receive. So, they are not suitable for marketing campaigns at the moment. Also, the links are not user-friendly (memorable) since they appear to be generated programmatically. As a result, unless you have a camera at hand or a super-human memory, you won't be able to retain them easily. Finally, Wakelet is a fairly new company and there is no guarantee that it's going to be around for a long time. After all, it's not clear how it makes money, so in a few years we may end up losing all these wakes forever if its website goes down.

Conclusions

Whatever the case, Wakelet's platform is here right now and it's free to use (at least for now). As a result, it's worth checking out and utilizing its many features, either for personal or professional projects. You can create intuitive and easy-to-use lists for your trips, study groups, clients (e.g. past projects), potential employers (e.g. portfolios of your work), or just interesting material to share. I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this, so feel free to comment below.

Disclaimer: I'm not financially or otherwise vested in this company, nor is there a referral scheme in place. I just find it useful and decided to share it with you.