Jessica Oliva's List: Technology Tools

But the glut of tools and their features — chat, messages,  instant messages, texting and tweets — has led to multiple conversations that  can be head-spinning. That has not gone unnoticed by companies such as Facebook  and Google, which are looking for ways to streamline their users' online  experience with features such as Facebook Messages and Google Buzz,  respectively.

"It's about figuring out how people want to be communicated  with," says Madge Miller, 34, a science-fiction writer in San Francisco, who  uses a mix of Facebook, Yahoo IM, question-and-answer website Quora, texts and  LinkedIn.  "For me, Facebook is too much personal and private mixed together."