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Google Keep vs. Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Keep

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Keep is a note-taking app launched by Google in 2013 and available free, providing a tool to capture text, images, video, etc.N/A

    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board

    Score9.1 out of 10
    Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
    Social Squared is a SharePoint Discussion Board App that can be deployed across SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams. Social Squared improves productivity and efficiency by providing structured discussion forums for employee and student discussions. For Microsoft SharePoint Social Squared is a SharePoint discussion board application where users can post questions within relevant forums and receive answers to their questions from subject matter experts. The…

    $2,200

    per year per installation

    Pricing
    Google KeepLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Social Squared Discussion Board
    From $2200
    per year per installation
    Social Squared Discussion Board Enterprise Edition
    POA
    per year per installation
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google KeepLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Prices stated are minimum per installation for "stock" products. $2.20 per user/year on top of base price. Enterprise editions can be amended to suit business needs if deemed necessary, additional costs incurred and TBD. All packages include free technical support. Free upgrades available to latest versions of tool as they are released.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google KeepLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Lightning Tools
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    14 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    11 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Google KeepLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Google Keep and Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Feature
    Google Keep
    -
    Ratings
    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    9.1
    1 Ratings
    16% above category average
    Mobile Access00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Search00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of Google Keep and Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Feature
    Google Keep
    -
    Ratings
    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    9.1
    1 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Chat00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Notifications00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Discussions00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Google Keep and Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Feature
    Google Keep
    -
    Ratings
    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    9.1
    1 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Versioning00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Video files00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Audio files00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Document collaboration00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Access control00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google KeepLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google KeepLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.5
    (15 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.5
    (5 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.9
    (10 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google KeepLightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    We use it to post photos of a given area or circumstance, so there is never a question about the current appearance or the desired appearance, as the case may be. We also use it a lot for checklists. When items are needed, possibly from different locations, team members can check them off a shared list as they are acquired, so we can see what is still required and what has been acquired, and the person responsible can initial the checked-off entry.
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    Their customer service it top notch and always responsive. I struggled in the beginning a little bit because I'm not tech savvy and we had to add it to our SharePoint site but they helped me along the way and even had share screen meetings with me to assist!!
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • It's incredibly quick to load, it doesn't take long to pull up any note you have no matter how much information is in the note.
    • The ability to collaborate on a Google Keep note is also great! It allows for two or more of you to work on a project in one space.
    • I also love that I can color coordinate. I can make all my meeting notes one color, my personal notes another color and so on.
    • Enjoying the pinning feature that allows me to keep my important notes right at the top so I don't have to go searching for them when needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Organizing Data
    • Opens up discussion, whether publicly or anonymously
    • Easy to setup
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • The iOS app sometimes gets into a state and doesn't update your notes (won't show new notes from other devices / computer), needs to be re-installed to resolve
    • Your notes take up space in your Google account's quota, though this is not very apparent at first - you have to keep an eye on what you are storing - huge pictures better not go in there
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • I would love to be able to assign various people as administrators of different topics (this may be an option now but a couple years ago it wasn't)
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    It does everything I need it to do. It is easy to organize and categorize what I need and what I want to see.
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Google
    They made it simple for anyone to use. There are no complicated steps involved to create a note, edit a note, or search for a specific item located in a note. They also made it simple to share it with others, making it easy to collaborate. Google kept it basic without a thousand "bells and whistles" to overcomplicate it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    Our employees really like the fact that they can find things easily with the search feature and add questions and comments as they see fit.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Google
    I gave this rating based on the ease of use, the simple functionality and how well it does at keeping my attention and helping me continue to use it and stay on track. The functionality mentioned before alongside the reminder functions and how it utilizes Google's powerful machine learning tech to better its software is remarkable.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    The main differential of Google Keep is its simplicity and efficiency for quick notes. I can draw on the card, put a photo, record audio if I can't write at the moment, in short, for everyday tasks, simple things, it is superior.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Quick note-taking and easy access to reminders reduce time wasted on forgotten tasks, improving efficiency.
    • Digital note-taking reduces the need for notebooks, sticky notes, and printed task lists.
    • Employees sometimes need to move notes to Google Docs for better formatting, leading to extra work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • We signed up for a 3 year contract and hope to do another 3yr contract when this one is up. :)
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board Screenshots

    Screenshot of MODERN, RESPONSIVE SHAREPOINT DISCUSSION BOARD
Discussion Forums can be created for a variety of different reasons. This example is a Forum Group for the Microsoft 365 technologies such as Teams, Planner, and SharePoint. Forums are then created within the Forum Groups for more specific discussions. Under the SharePoint Forum Group, there is a Forum for SharePoint On-Premises and SharePoint Online. Anyone looking to ask a question regarding SharePoint 2019 for example would be able to post their question under SharePoint On-Premises rather than SharePoint Online. This also allows subject matter experts to focus more on the questions that they can respond to and provide value.Screenshot of SHAREPOINT DISCUSS BOARD – TOPICS VIEW
When navigating into a forum, the topics and discussions that are taking place are shown. Any new topics that not yet read will be highlighted. It also displays whether topics have been answered, their average ratings, how many views and posts are within the topic, and also provides the ability to subscribe to the forum to be notified of new posts within it.Screenshot of READING DISCUSSIONS AND PROVIDING FEEDBACK
Social Squared offers a threaded discussion view with the ability to provide feedback to other users.

Posts can be rated, voted upon, or liked by users in order to give feedback to the user creating or responding to a post. Additionally, replies can be marked as answered or marked as featured, which gives readers of forums assurance that the response they are reading is validated to be the correct answer.

Users also receive feedback through the earning of badges. The more users post or mark posts as answered, the more points are rewarded. This makes it easy to spot subject matter experts.Screenshot of SUGGESTED TAGS
Social Squared provides a rich text editor for creating and replying to topics. The Rich Text toolbar provides functionality such as inserting images, YouTube videos, Stream Videos, Formatted Code Inserts, as well as font formatting.

While typing, suggestions on how to tag a post appear. Selecting an existing tag will provide consistency in the tags used making it easier for other users to discover the post.Screenshot of SOCIAL SQUARED TAG CLOUD VIEW
The Social Squared Tag Cloud view makes it easy to navigate to posts within a specific category even if they span multiple forums. The more a tag appears in different posts, the more prominent it will be in the tag cloud. Users can navigate to posts with the tag in one click.Screenshot of DISCUSSION BOARD WITHIN MICROSOFT TEAMS TAB
Social Squared is a Discussion Board App for Microsoft Teams Tab’s and Microsoft Teams Personal Apps. Social Squared provides information workers the ability to post questions within relevant forums, and receive answers from their team. The Discussion Board layout for posts makes it easier to find answers to questions that may have already been asked before. Through features such as “Mark as Answered”, “Forum Moderation”, “Post Rating”, “Post Likes”, “Post Voting”, users will be assured that the answers they are reading are validated.