Today, we have a guest post from W. Stephen Anfield. Stephen is Co-Director of the DC AmeriCorps Leadership Council and a writer at The Rugged. He’s sharing 5 Reasons Why I Use Gist

#1: Social is as Social Does
Gist manages any social network with the greatest of ease and magically ranks your contacts by order of importance. It also records the amount of email sent and received from each of your accounts, allowing you to see an easy-to-read snapshot of your latest interactions.
It’s intuitive, user-friendly and it has the ability to integrate with all of your social networks. Forget about having to check each of your sites individually – Gist does it for you…without asking! Gist essentially does everything short of remembering your anniversary (or maybe it does that too?!).

Reason #2: “3…2…1…”: FOCUS
Distractions are ubiquitous. Trying to escape them is pretty much useless. As a matter of fact, I have the uncanny ability to zero in on anything shiny and just like that, my thoughts are magically erased – *POOF!*

I know that I have difficulty sorting through large amounts of information, especially when dates are involved. Gist gives me the ability to select what’s most important to me about my contacts and allows me to eliminate the fluff like, “Jim Bob hates the new Facebook,” or “Becky is now single.” I love my friends and all, but when I want to get down to business, I need something that won’t interfere with my focus. Gist keeps me on track. When I think business relationships, I want “Gist the facts, ma’am… gist the facts,” Pun intended.

Reason #3: I’m A Self-Proclaimed Nerd
I plan a large number of community service projects and when I have to report the impact, quantitative results are more valued than the “warm fuzzy” details of qualitative results.

For those of you that don’t measure your year in daylights, sunsets, midnights, or cups of coffee, Gist offers some pretty stellar stats that you just can’t get from any Web-based program. Do you know how many people have posted new items in the last day? Do you know how many total people are in your network? Do you know how many total companies are in your network? No? Then you need to try Gist because it does all of that and so much more.

Thank you, Gist. This self-proclaimed nerd will now be the life of the party!

Reason #4: Links, Links, Links
If you’re like me, you like to share links – it’s part of being social. Part of Gist’s dashboard is solely dedicated to the links you share within your network, so if you ever need to find something, Gist probably stored it there for you…without asking. If you’re looking for a Web-based way to manage the communications of your social network, Gist is it.

Reason #5: Business Is About Relationships
Establishing rapport is key when handling a business relationship. Once I email someone, Gist stores that person’s information and shares information about them to help me build a better relationship. The old adage, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” holds true in the world of Gist-dom. You will learn things about colleagues that will help you forge closer relationships with them.

Overall, Gist is an amazing platform that rivals some of the “big dogs” who have claimed their space in the proverbial “cloud.” If you haven’t experienced Gist, I highly recommend you give it a test drive. Gist is a robust system, so digest it in bite-sized amounts. Spend a few days on one tab of the dashboard and when you think you’ve grasped it, move on to the next. There’s no need for a network administrator with this bad boy. Sign up, add some info, and let Gist do the rest. You’ll be amazed by what you see.