Do you feel trapped by your place of work? Is the computer you use every day locked down tighter than the doors on a submarine? Are Facebook and Twitter considered “colorful metaphors” to the IT staff? Well, there may be some relief and a way to get back to the social networking world you desire. Firefox Add-Ons!
I recently went back to work, this time for a very large company with an IT staff dedicated to keeping things on total lock-down so we (the employees) can’t waste time or share corporate secrets via the internet or installed programs. What this meant for me was a return to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as my one and only browser choice. My first thought was “how bad could it be?”
Fast forward 6 working days and find me strongly considering the purchase of an iPad, just to use at work for surfing the internet and keeping up with my Facebook and Twitter updates and follows. Just as I was about to justify the purchase cost to my significant other, we discovered something miraculous…. we could install Firefox!!! Whether it was allowed via an error on IT’s part or simply the granting of my third wish, I couldn’t be happier. Why, because now I was in control.
As soon as Firefox was finished installing, I jumped to the Mozilla Add-Ons web site. From there, I can choose from thousands of add-ons, which let you add new features and change the way your browser or application works. Think of them as little programs that run from within your browser and not your operating system. Add-ons start when you open Firefox and can do anything from change the color of your navigation buttons to notify you when your friends are on their XBOX. If there is a special need for anything internet related (in some cases even that doesn’t matter) add-ons are the resource you need.
The Yoono Sidebar
Yoono
Once within the add-ons web site, I stumbled around a bit until I found Yoono! What a discovery that was. Yoono allows you to get all your updates, update your status and share across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube & more – all at once! As it turns out, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Look at this list of features:
- Update your status across all your social networks at once!
- Chat while surfing the web via AIM, Google Talk, etc., right there in the browser!
- Discover “cool stuff” while surfing, all related to what you are currently viewing.
- Easily share links, images and video with all your social networks.
- Drag and drop links, images and video into your IM conversations.
The best part is, this is all done from within the browser, so if you can install Firefox, you can get Yoono.
Don’t Stop There
Yoono is a wonderful tool, but one of only thousands of add-ons available from Mozilla. Visit the add-on web site now and see what is possible in Firefox. Also, if you are interested in getting regular updates on new add-ons and updates, follow Mozilla (also known as mozamo or AMO) via one of these methods:
Related Articles
We’ve written about Add-Ons before. Want to know more? Check out these articles:
Take Back Your Browser with JumpstartMyFirefox
Firefox Add-on BarTap – How Did I Live Without It?
