Pearltrees, a leading online content social curation tool, announced Monday their latest release: Beta 0.7.3, which has added substantial feature updates and performance enhancements, including the ability to browse web pages faster than through a traditional browser.
Users can navigate from pearl to pearl (web page to web page) faster than browsing through a traditional browser. Pearltrees has been able to make this possible by pre-fetching content of all the associated links you are browsing, resulting in dramatically speedier navigation. The content loads in the background, so that when you click on the link, the new page (or video or audio) opens instantly, rather than having to wait for the page to load.
Personal customization is also now available, which is a really great feature for anyone who cares about great interfaces and unique design. In Pearltrees, you have pearls that represent web pages and pearltrees that function like folders but for pearls. Now you can visually customize your pearltrees (that contains pearls) using a photo or avatar that was directly related to the topic, i.e., a flower for your Pearltrees on gardens throughout Europe, a $ sign for all your Pearltrees related to the American economy, an airplane for your Pearltrees on travel, a microscope for your Pearltrees about Science and so on.
Personal customization enables users to better identify all the Pearltrees they have in their library visually by ‘icon’ or photo. Additionally, the new release has taken it one step further by enabling users to zoom in and out. Users can now increase or decrease the size of their pearls with a simple button click; simply drag the plus or minus up or down until your pearltrees are the exact size you wish to view them.
Size customization can not only be done within Pearltrees but also within a blog post. If you embed a pearltree within a blog post, your readers now have the ability to expand the window, increase the size of the pearltrees and get a more extensive explanation about what a pearltree is about by simply hovering over it. A useful detail window pops up with additional information about that particular pearltree.
You can also organize your Pearltrees more efficiently. A key part of Pearltrees is the ability to quickly and easily save links to content that matters to you most on the web. Simply click on a link you want to save and you can either add it to a specific pearltree topic/category through a pull down menu or add it to what’s referred to as a “drop zone,” an open window that displays Pearls which you can later file wherever you’d like. (note: this specific feature only currently works in Firefox.)
You can now also expand or collapase your lists. As you start to use Pearltrees more and more, you’ll find that your lists might get long, just as the number of folders in Outlook would grow the more you used it and the more people you kept in touch with regularly.
The new version of Pearltrees allows you to quickly collapse your list and filter what’s visible and what’s hidden, making organization faster and easier. You can also invite friends and share your content easily and quickly.
Pearltrees solves the information overload problem. With the onslaught of information we’re being hit with daily online, it’s impossible to keep up with content and even harder to discover or curate that content into something that is meaningful and relevant for us. Smart curation online is necessary in the next generation of the web and users are demanding smarter ways to find content and services that help them save time and find their passions and interests faster and easier.
Lastly, Pearltrees has updated their Firefox Add-On. The free service also supports Chrome, Internet Explorer and Safari.
Disclosure Note: I am a consultant for Pearltrees.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
