I love it when I discover new social media tools that will really add to my experience of existing social media tools. (Complicated sentence I know). That’s why I was super excited to discover Rapportive a fantastic tool that integrates with your Gmail (and MailChimp) and allows you to see more information about a person’s social media habits.
When I open an email in Gmail, the rapportive tool bar loads on the right of the message (where the text ads usually are) and shows me all the information associated with that email address online. I can see at a glance what social networking sites the sender belongs to. If they have a Twitter account. What their most recent tweets were about. Website links, headshot and much more. It’s an incredible way to research and build a relationship with a potential client/boss/investor without leaving your inbox!
Taking my example to the left… someone interested in joining my team of VAs might see my Twitter stream show up and start following me there and on Facebook or Linked in.
They may take it a step further and start a conversation with me relating to something they see in my recent tweet stream.
Those who use MailChimp are in for an extra surprise because there is an available add on that also shows you whether the person is on your mailing list, and if so, which lists they are on. Clicking the link will take you to their profile in your MailChimp account and you can see at a glance which emails they have read, what links they have clicked, and if they’ve forwarded your emails to a friend. A great way to find out how hot a lead is before you spend too much time building rapport.
I am sure you’ll agree that this is just an incredible amount of information to have access to directly in your mailbox, and that this is one of the most exciting social media tools since… well… May, 2010 for sure. 
Want to know the best part? It installs in under 3 minutes and you’re on your way.
I always like to get a few reviews on new tools. Here are some of the other valuable opinions I found for Rapportive online:
Hey Ros, this is Rahul from Rapportive here. Thank you so much for taking the time to write up this article; it really means a huge amount to us
And stay tuned for plenty of exciting things to come!
Rahul, CEO of Rapportive