Twitter
I do not have a Twitter account. It's something I've thought about a lot, but I've never done. I always ask myself what am I going to add or write or post or do, and I always end up thinking nothing. However, I'm totally a Twitter lurker. And, I acknowledge, that's completely unfair. I'm taking all of this information from everyone, but I'm not giving anything back in return. This week has made me face my lurking self, and I'm grateful for that.
Thankfully, others posted some helpful info in their blogs about using Twitter. Woodsiegirl's Current Awareness, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the "Mark All As Read" Button had some tips about following. Confessions of a Library Addict shared a link to Phil Bradley's Using Twitter in Libraries, which had a lot of positive reasons to use Twitter. Thewikiman had perfect timing for me by posting 3 essential things to do AS SOON AS YOU JOIN twitter... during Thing 4 week. Once I become a little more familiar with it, I can use some of the tips from The Plugged-In Librarian. Overall, the many blogs I read mentioned how positive an experience Twitter is, and quite a few mentioned they entered into Twitter unsure of if they would use it frequently or how they would use it at all.
From everything I've read and my lurking guilt, I know now that I have to set up a Twitter account. Some might be curious as to why I haven't because it's rather simpler. Well, one huge problem for waiting forever to set up my Twitter account is that so many others have, and I'm having difficulty with my name. A lot of them are already taken. Plus, since we had our personal brand talk and the importance of naming things, specifically one's Twitter account, I'm trying to use my name or variations of my name. Unfortunately, so have other people. I could always add numbers, but I'm not a big fan of having numbers in my username. Kind of picky, but, ultimately, I want a username I like as well as one that easily represents me.
RSS Feeds
I've often heard mentionings of RSS Feeds, but my lazy self never took the time to actually use them. Man, am I an idiot because they're awesome. Having a Google account, I could have been using Reader for awhile now. Again, idiot (or, more accurately, lazy idiot). Before, I just relied on my bookmarks bar or memory, but Reader is so much easier and much more convenient. I also love the Mark All as Read button. For sites that post a lot a day, I usually have to file through a bunch of posts to get to one I want. Now, I can check the title, click it if I want to read it, and Mark it if I don't. Much nicer. Obviously, my experience has been very positive. It also makes me aware of the fact that when I see something I'm curious about, I should check it out. Not wait and wonder or ignore it completely (or wait until I'm involved in 23 Things...).
Pushnote
I looked into Pushnote, but, so far, it isn't really for me. Given that I don't really leave comments or like rating things much and that's pretty much the premise, it's probably not something I would use. Though others didn't have the same reason as I did, I realized other CPD23ers weren't as enthusiastic about using it either. I think I'm going to take the wait and see stance several people have mentioned. I feel a little strange making that decision because I realize with both Twitter and RSS Feeds I took way too long to get involved in something that is good for me. And I feel like now I'm not being open to something yet again. However, I also have to acknowledge that just because it is out there, I don't have to use it. Right now, I'm not really into using it, but I'll continue to look into it.
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