Twitter

I signed up for a Twitter account about six months ago and then promptly forgot about it! I don't find it adds any value to my life... but then again I don't recieve twitter messages on my phone or mobile device (don't have one) so it is not convenient. Also, I don't know anyone personally who is posting and the celebrity feeds I followed are, frankly, boring.

I do like the way the library is using twitter to broadcast what is happening at the library. It would be interesting to survey program participants to find out if anyone found out about the program by following twitter.

Library Thing

I have had a LibraryThing account in the past and while I DID find it user friendly, once I hit 200 entries I would have had to pay to upgrade my account. Then I discovered "Goodreads.com" which is a similar website.

I use Goodreads to keep track of books I've read (rather than books I own). I find it especially useful for work at the Library since I'm always needing to recall books I've read. It's also a neat way to see what friends are reading, or connect with authors, get ideas of what to read next, etc. I like the feature of tagging books into "shelves" like to read, read, currently reading, etc.

I would recommend Goodreads over LibraryThing to a friend.

Online Productivity Tools

Yes, I can see free online tools like the Google Calendar replacing microsoft products. I use this program and it is very user friendly and functional and it sync's with my iCalendar at home, so I can update things on the fly and then sync it with my "paid for" program.

Flickr/YouTube

I enjoy using both Flickr and YouTube. My husband and I have a Flickr account and he really enjoys using it to share some of our photos with friends and family. I find it quite user friendly, most notably we can upload them directly from our iPhoto program.

I use Youtube occasionally when I want to hear a particular song or if someone sends me a funny video via email, etc. I think it's interesting that people can garner their fifteen minutes of fame (or notoriaty) on this site. It's truly unique how user-generated and global it is.

I particularly like this Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCFGqEJdSM

RSS

I didn't particularly like the Bloglines reader for reading RSS feeds. My email program at home allows me to subscribe to RSS feeds and I find it much more convenient to get everything in one sport rather than having to login to Bloglines just to get updates from my blogs.

But... I'm glad to know that it is available as I've never heard of this program before.

Google Universe

I chose to try the Google Calendar application. I was able to sync it up with my home calendar, which I use almost daily to keep track of my appointments. Now when I am away from home and I need to know my schedule, I can easily call it up using the Calendar application from any computer. I have found this to be very handy ... and free!

Facebook

Is Facebook useful or a time-waster?

I signed up for facebook a few years ago when it was becoming really popular. I was worried about privacy so I used a nickname and set my privacy settings really high. Needless to say, very few old classmates or friends of friends, found me! I've recently changed my account to reflect my real name and have connected with cousins and family members that live in other provinces and countries. I do enjoy passively seeing what other people are posting, but I do sturggle with the privacy concerns of putting my personal information, pictures and details about my life out there for all to see.

While I don't think it's a "waste of time", (for me at least) there are people who use it much more extensively to keep in touch with a wide group of people. I suppose if useing facebook replaces personal contact, then, that is sad. I haven't personally seen the merit in using it as a tool to drum up interest in a business, website or movement. Maybe it is, I've just never used it that way.

ALthough I continue to be a member of Facebook, I am sort of waiting for the day I am the recipient of some negative outcome of belonging - like having my password hacked, identity stolen, photograph turned into a billboard, etc. We'll see!