Use Favs to manage and track Facebook Likes, Twitter favorites, and more

We are increasingly encouraged by social networks to flag things we find online that we like. The Facebook “Like” button is now almost ubiquitous, popping up on myriad websites, but you’ll also find similar functionality in Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and many other networks.

The majority of such interactions are of the “that’s nice” variety, akin to real-world scenarios where you give someone a passing comment or compliment about something, never to think of it again. However, flagged items can also be used as bookmarks, enabling you to build up a curated list of things you enjoyed discovering.

The problem with most social networks is that accessing previously marked favorites isn’t nearly as simple as it should be. Social networks by their very nature have content that is fleeting and transient. Searches are often unwieldy or plain absent, making it nigh-on impossible to unearth things you’d essentially bookmarked only a short while ago. Naturally, this can be hugely frustrating. Favs solves the problem by enabling you to bring all of your favorites into a single app. This not only gives you a much easier means of finding old Facebook Likes and favorite tweets, but it also means you have a local copy of your favorites, accessible without visiting the original networks.

Favs is reviewed and is available for $2.99 from the Mac App Store. A free trial version can also be downloaded from http://favsapp.com. Note that the trial limits access to only the most recent favorites in each of your defined accounts, but it should nonetheless give you a flavor of what the app is like. You can use either version to work through our tutorial, which primarily details how to use Favs with Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Need:

Favs 1.0.3+, OS X 10.7+, an account with one for more compatible social networks, and internet connection.

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How to Track Online Favorites
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    1. Connect with Facebook
    Open Favs. You’ll see the New Source pane with a list of services. Click Facebook and the pane will change to a Facebook login. Enter your email address and password, check Keep me logged in to Favs, and click Log in. Your Facebook Likes will quickly download.

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    2. Add another service
    To add a second service, click the cog icon at the bottom-left of the window and select New Source. You’ll see the pane from the previous step. This time, select Twitter, add your username, then click Add Source. (You may also also need to add your password.)

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    3. Preview some content
    Select one of your favorites from the list and it will load into the preview pane on the right. What you see will vary: some services simply show the original version of the favorite; others provide web page previews of any content the favorite links to

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    4. Access item options
    ≈ or right-click on any favorite and you can perform actions on it, including sending the item to Quick Look, your default web browser, email or the clipboard. Also, note that the Remove option only removes the favorite from Favs, not the original service.

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    5. Filter favorites
    At the top of each list of favorites is a search field and a number denoting how many items are in the list. Type within the field to filter the list, for example by a Twitter username or subject. The list will update rapidly, unearthing long-lost favorites.

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    6. View all favorites
    If you’re more interested in tracking all your favorites rather than those tied to a specific service, click the Favs icon at the top of the services list. This will aggregate all of your favorites into a single list, regardless of where they originated.

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    7. Make Favs slimline
    To keep Favs within view at all times, but have it take up less space, go to View Compact Layout (ç+I). This collapses the preview pane. You can still preview an item using Quick View – press space as normal, or use Quick View from the menu in step.

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    8. View popular subjects
    If you fancy a quick overview of the most popular subjects found in your favorites, go to Window Tags (or use ç+å+2). This brings up a spinning tags ball that can be dragged and clicked. Selecting a tag loads relevant favorites in the main Favs window.

Article source: http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_track_online_favorites