Mingly Makes Online Mingling Fast and Easy

Social networks are intended to help us stay connected with others, but a lot of us end up struggling to keep up with all those contacts, updates, and messages. Entrepreneur and engineer Tyler Koblasa noticed how modern communication was becoming scattered across different channels. While he was working on a non-profit project, he had to use a spreadsheet to track all his relationships. Needless to say, it quickly became a difficult process.

In 2010, Koblasa launched Mingly, a lightweight relationship management tool that allows people to stay better connected, right in their Gmail inbox. The Mingly browser extension aggregates all contacts from Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn into a single address book that can be searched and filtered. It also displays a feed of important updates, such as birthdays, job changes, and relocations, without all those cat pictures and gag images that many of our contacts love to share.

If you'd like to greet someone a happy birthday or congratulate them on their recent promotion, you can shoot them a message via the social network of your choice, all without leaving the Mingly dashboard. Furthermore, Mingly gives you a snapshot of each contact, so you can review their details with just a glance. And because it focuses on enhancing personal relationships, Mingly also lets users set weekly, monthly, or quarterly reminders to reach out to the people who matter – definitely a useful feature in today's busy, fast-paced times.

Earlier this year, Koblasa and company introduced two new products – Mingly for Web and MyPeople. Mingly for Web is like Mingly for Gmail, except it's accessed from a browser. Meanwhile, MyPeople is a customized email digest that briefs users on their new connections, contacts' updates, and reminders to reach out, all in an easy-to-read email.

At present, Mingly tracks about 3 million social network profiles, 10 million contacts, and 100 million interactions. Recently, it was named one of Entrepreneur Magazine's 100 Brilliant Companies for 2012.