Rainmaker – Improving Google Contacts

Millions of people use Google Contacts, and nearly as many wish there was a way to make the ubiquitous contact management system a little better. Now there is. Rainmaker is an application that improves the way people use Google Contacts. The cloud-based application pulls information directly from users’ social media accounts into the Google Contacts system, eliminating redundancy and ensuring that important contact information doesn’t get overlooked.

If you already use Gmail or Google Apps, then getting started with Rainmaker is a breeze. Sign in with your current email address and then link Rainmaker to your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts. Once you click the “Make It Rain” button, you can sit back and let Rainmaker do its thing. In an instant, the application will pull all the contact information from your social media accounts into Google Contacts. The names, tiles, and organizations associated with all your contacts will be preserved, as well any profile photos or personal information your contacts have saved on their own social networking accounts. Click on a business associate in Google Contacts and you won’t just see an email address and a phone number. You’ll also see the person’s photo, age, business title, and links to his or her social networking accounts. Rainmaker even organizes your contacts by company and filters people based on their email domains.

Rainmaker will periodically check your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts to see if any information for your colleagues has been updated or changed, ensuring the contact information you have on file is always accurate and up to date. For people who want a better contact management system but hesitate to move their information to a foreign web-app, Rainmaker is a tool that shouldn’t be missed.

Practical Uses:

• Get more use out of Google Contacts
• Keep track of when associates have changed positions or companies
• Ensure your important email messages are never sent to an old address
• Quickly send an email to everyone in your office with one click

Insider Tips:

• Rainmaker works for Gmail or Google Apps users
• Link Rainmaker to as many or as few of your social media accounts as you wish
• Rainmaker automatically checks for updated information at regular intervals
• Users can earn credits to use on Rainmaker by inviting their friends to use the app

What we liked:

• Updated contact information is accessible from any mobile phone
• Users can select whether they want to auto-follow their contacts’ accounts on Twitter
• Users can view a previous version of their contacts list at any time
• Rainmaker only pulls publically available data, so user privacy shouldn’t be an issue

What we didn’t like:

• Company data is populated by JigSaw, so any information that is incorrect on JigSaw will also be incorrect on Rainmaker

Alternatives:

• Big Contacts – http://www.bigcontacts.com
• Highrise – http://highrisehq.com
• Plaxo – http://www.plaxo.com

Company Info:

• Launched: September 2010
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Denver, Colorado
• Web site: http://rainmaker.cc

Costs:

• Pay-as-you-go plan
• Sprinkle plan is $9/month
• Shower plan is $19/month
• Downpour plan is $39/month