Stay Connected

Stay Connected, literally. You're almost always on and always available with BeejiveIM. This is your one stop shop for virtually every chat service - AIM, Yahoo, Hotmail/MSN, Google Talk, Facebook, Myspace and more. Not only that, but you can tell BeejiveIM to send you email alerts for up to 24 hours after your last login. When you receive an incoming message you'll get an email pushed straight to your phone. You might even be able to forgo the text message plan on your iPhone by just sending and receive text messages through your AIM account on BeejiveIM. Now that you can always be connected, you have to ask yourself whether you want to be.

While text chatting is great nothing beats audio or video communication. Do you have WiFi or 3G? Then you have free calling to anyone with Skype and stay connected in an even more personal way. This app uses the iPhone as a phone but it uses your Internet connection instead of your minutes. If you're willing to train yourself, your family and friends to use Skype whenever possible, Skype on iPhone means you might even be able to go down to that cheaper package with less minutes by using Skype. Who doesn't want free calling? Well, besides AT&T and Verizon, who doesn't want free calling? Another perk is Skype now provides video calling through the app and can be a handy FaceTime alternative.

As awesome as calling is there is another way to connect with others and it is known as Twitter. New to Twitter? New to iPhone? Twitter is the app to start out with. Twitter is a wonderful way to stay connected with those you hardly know and those you know really well. Twitter apps are among the most competitive in the App Store. Each one offers a slightly different feature set and interface. Some come in stripped down free versions as well as more powerful paid ones. Twitter is the official app and provides the majority of what any Twitter user would ever want.

Staying connected in this modern world for many has not meant calling, but texting. This app provides free texting. This is especially useful for those that can't run iOS 5 and the new iMessages app. This app gives you access to your address book and lets you send and receive texts without using the iPhone's built in text messaging app. If you don't have the app open you can tell it to send an email to you when you receive a new text through Textfree Unlimited. Almost all the power of texts without the cost.

Texting and calling people is great, but how do you take control of it all? Google Voice is here to be you communication and connection command center. The service/app allows you to initiate calls on traditional and WiFi based phones. You can also send text messages for free. Voicemails you receive will be transcribed and available for reading or listening to. Google Voice is a great service that is your "connection" or communication center. The GV Connect app provides the best interface to all of this great functionality on your iPhone or iPad.

Connecting with others is something Facebook excels at. Got something to say or show to your real or fake friends? Facebook is the answer. Facebook for iPhone brings one of the most fully featured apps to the biggest social network. Send and receive messages, update your status, upload photos, comment on other posts, chat - all the essentials are here. Stay connected virtually 24 hours a day with Facebook.

Are you a MySpacer? If so, this app gives you most of MySpace's features on the go - -updates, photos, blogs, comments, bulletins, moods, mail. Even as the social networking wars continue to rage between Facebook and MySpace, you can have both on your iPhone for free. Why choose?

All play and no work means you're probably poor. Once you've had your fun with the apps above, install LinkedIn - the social network for professionals. LinkedIn is a clean, official and no-nonsense social network. You make connections with current and former coworkers, post your work experience and things like that. The app isn't as fully featured as the MySpace and Facebook apps, but it does give you most of the basics, like updating what you're working on and inviting new connections.

At the end of the day all of these virtual connections are meaningless without some real physical interaction. That is where the Meetup.com app comes into play. You'll be able to connect with others in real life. Simply search for something you are interested in and you'll find others with a similar interest. A great way to meet people and connect with others in real life. Now go out and be more social and not less social because of your iPhone.