But the by far more important point is that social media only works when it's authentic, not when it is formulaic. And Postlings promise to share a single bit of information on a dozen social services makes that bit of information formulaic and uninteresting. I don't want to read the same thing on FB and Twitter and a blog.

I don't mind easy, but please, think a little further and come up with something as substantial as Etsy was when it launched.

Cool idea, but not enough of a pain point to charge. This functionality will probably get built into Cotweet or Hootsuite soon too.

The 'Convo' system, the Etsy listing process, the forums at Etsy, the search, the favorites system, all tie for the most lacking, un-user friendly, unfinished, poorly designed and poorly thought out website features in all of history.

Thank you again.

I'm not even sure how exactly Postling helps you update accounts easily. According to their website, you use Postling to post directly to your blog, then use Postling to post your Facebook and Twitter update to say you posted to your blog, then, if your blog post had a photo, tell Postling to post that photo to Flickr. With Posterous, you post directly to Posterous or send a post by email, and that's it. Your blog is updated, an update with a link is sent to Twitter and Facebook, and any photos are uploaded to Flickr; all of this happens in one step. I'm not sure is focus and being more businesses oriented trumps all of that.

Maybe Postling has more features than I am aware, and maybe everything is integrated beautifully with a gorgeously functional design and UI. But that is not explained well on their website, and what is explained doesn't make them sound very useful when free alternatives exist and do more.

The likely reality is that very few businesses need either Postling or Posterous. The huge majority of businesses are just looking to update Twitter and Facebook and make an occasional blog post. I doubt Tumblr and Flickr are even on the radar for them. So how time consuming is it to write a post and then write a Facebook/Twitter update that says "hey, go read the new post"? You would still have to do those two things with Postling, but you could do it from your Postling account. Is that really worth $10 a month?

For example GetSatisfaction and Uservoice make it easy for corporations and websites to get direct feedback from their customers.
Imagine how useful it would be for small businesses to have an online suggestion box account.

I think Postling is applying the right strategy, one that creates the proper context and user experience. There are definitely a lot of bugs and a lot of problems with their experience now, but they seem to be focused on making improvements there.

You've got to spell it out for them.

Unique
Value
Proposition ;)

The Social-smart dashboard is customized for the particular needs of each company, allows you to monitor, manage and measure your social media communities, while also integrating your search and email marketing. You access all your channels through one dashboard - one login - and you can have multiple moderators logging in remotely. You also get a Social Media Strategy Checklist in order to make sure your social media is optimally set up for your business model. They also have a demo video you can sign up for.

What about a version for companies like mine: can I have an account with partitioned dashes, one for each client?

I don't see one feature that Postling has that Posterous doesn't. The Postling website doesn't list any features that would specifically benefit a business. All Posterous would have to do is advertise they have more features and offer a paid version for businesses at less than $10 a month; that would make Postling irrelevant and give Posterous a business model, which is one thing that they don't have that Postling does.

By the time most of the business community even knows services like this exist, Postling will be full featured.