Wednesday, May 07, 2008

How are YOU Rocking the Web?


Enough about me--I am very interested in hearing what tools YOU are exploring or playing with, and what little (or big) projects you have undertaken, whether it be in your professional or personal life:
  • Have you tried out utterz or seesmic?
  • Have you set up a new blog for your organization?
  • Did you help your kids get started with Club Penguin or Webkinz?
  • Are you using Skype to talk with family members? Have you tried the video option?
  • Do you have a new favourite app in Facebook?
  • Did you set up a wiki to organize a family reunion?
  • Have you found a great use for all those digital photos you have been taking?

Whatever it is, please share it here! So often we are in our own little corner of the world thinking we are the only ones who haven't tried something. Meanwhile, what I see is everyone is so busy we don't have a lot of time to play with these things.

Please share your story in the comments so we can learn from each other!

Photo credit: by N1NJ4 - some rights reserved under Creative Commons.

9 comments:

Jeff Cutler said...

This post is very Chris Broganesque, but I'll share.

I don't think right now I'm fully rocking the Web. More like getting swept along in the tidal pools that are moving social networking along.

I belong to MULTIPLE sites and host and run many blogs. As a freelance writer, I'm also contributing content to a bunch of online publications in an effort to build my brand and get recognized. But that's part of the process.

My theory, before I list the tools I use, is to get noticed in a positive light. To get an editor or two to grab my stuff and think it's genius. To land a column or commentary gig that will pay the bills while I enjoy breathing and living each day.

That's the goal and that is what's dictating my actions on the 'net.

Ok, here's the list.

Facebook
Myspace
Linkedin
Twitter
Jaiku
Pownce
Blogger
Friendster
iChat (AIM)
Blogs - jeffcutler.com, bowlofcheese.com, thingstoworryabout.com, 189riders.com, jeffcutler.blogspot.com, thingstoworryabout.blogspot.com, ideas2words.blogspot.com, uncommentary.blogspot.com, withjeff.com, withjeff.blogspot.com and many more.

I've also got a site to reveal how my one-year writing sabbatical is going - jeffcutler.com. And I have my professional writing services site - ideas2words.com.

How's that for being immersed?

Jeff

Anonymous said...

Hi Connie,

I'm trying to be involved in all the good things :-) I used to try everything but had to really decide what makes the most sense and is the most fun.

I've got a few blogs running (and also really come to realize that it's a full time job to keep them all running http://www.ukunto.net, http://www.rethinkable.com, http://www.hansandcarolyn.com), I'm a heavy user of facebook (user: hans eich, not the addict kind though, really just to keep up with friends, minimum amount of apps), I'm using flickr for company and personal (http://www.flickr.com/hansandcaroln , have some videos on youtube... and I twitter (http://www.twitter.com/hanseich) :-)

I wish there was a good way to share videos and pictures from my cellphone. I find Canada is really behind in supporting all the capabilities of a cellphone. I'm pretty computer literate, but it's still to much back and forth getting all the content online.

That's pretty much it :-)

Cheers, Hans

Dan Messer said...

Well, I've finally found uses for a lot of these social networking sites that people use. Up until recently I really didn't see them offering anything I needed.

Then I discovered FriendFeed, and the lights came on.

I'm a very active web user. I blog, I'm active on LISnews, I comment occasionally on Digg and Reddit, and I Twitter like a fiend. I've recently gotten into Last.fm and Pownce and I love both. Then I find FriendFeed and I realize "Hey, I can actually find that comment I made X weeks ago because it's tracking me and what I do!

And I can do the same with my friends too!

Besides that, I adore Google Reader for RSS feeds. And when they added the Note feature, well, that was just another thing to pop on the FriendFeed and track.

I don't use Skype as often as I'd like because I'm not always near a computer linked to the net.

Professionally, I learn a lot from Twitter and I'm starting to pick things up from Pownce and other's FriendFeeds. I follow a lot of people interesting to me on a professional and academic level. I learn about new stuff from the librarians, I get fascinating news from the scientists, and I jot down notes about how this information flow can be used more effectively for me and for my colleagues.

I'm still getting the hang of much of this. Up to now, many of the Web 2.0 and social things were, to me, solutions looking for problems. I guess I finally had a problem worth using them!

Connie Crosby said...

Jeff, I like the idea that you are "being immersed". I would definitely consider you an early adopter, and the idea that you are just kind of going with the flow of whatever comes up is appealing. It is amazing how creating a web presence (or presences in your case) can definitely build our personal brands and get our name out there. It seems to me the web gives us much more control over that aspect, that if we work hard enough at it we can get noticed in ways that were not possible in the past.

Hans, you make a good point, that it makes sense to be selective where we put our time and effort. Since I teach these tools I do tend to play in a number of arenas, but find that I do have my favourites.

It definitely would be nice to have better data plans in Canada so we could experiment more with audio and video via the cellphone--I agree completely with you on that one! I tried emailing a couple photos to a friend via my cellphone once and will never do it again. Think it cost me around $20. Ridiculous.

Dan, it is cool when so many of these disparate pieces suddenly come together, isn't it? I haven't tried FriendFeed myself yet but plan to.

I think what all of you are discovering is that, once you try one or two things, there is something else out there to try that might answer a need or do things even better.

Much like other types of software applications, once we try out a few the others are easy to pick up and play with. Then we can quickly decide whether they are the tool(s) for us or not.

So, anyone else out there? You don't have to be super networkers like Jeff, Hans and Dan....starting small is great, and I want to hear about those experiments, too!

Connie Crosby said...

I'm still looking for more stories! Anyone else out there? Lots of people have been stopping by to read these comments. I'd love to hear YOUR story, too. :-)

Cheers,
Connie

James Milles said...

I still have my blog (wingsandravioli.com) and post occasionally at outofthejungle.com, but I've realized I'm not a natural blogger. I've become a huge fan of Twitter, because it's short and concise. Podcasting, of course, is my favorite medium. I'm putting checkthisoutpodcast.com on hiatus, but still doing ublawpodcast.com and, of course, shadowandjames.com.

I'm also a big chat user, on Gtalk (jim.milles), Yahoo! Messenger (jmilles), and AIM (millesjg), and an occasional Skype user (jmilles). And, of course, Flickr, and I've played a bit with YouTube. Oh, and Ning--I love Ning! Check out lawlibraries.ning.com if you haven't been there yet.

I use Facebook, but I now ignore all app requests--just too much junk cluttering up my page. As for Jaiku and Pownce, I have accounts there but never use them. All of my network is on Twitter, and I'm already following over 400 people there. I don't need to check two more sites for the same thing.

Seezmic and utterz? Nope, not yet. I'm not that interested in doing video, and I haven't had any occasion to send audio tweets via utterz.

Basically, I have too much stuff to follow already. I follow about 400 active blogs on Google Reader, and haven't figured out how to be more selective. There's the law blogs, and the library blogs, and the news and current events blogs, and the Buffalo blogs... So I do a lot of skimming.

Connie Crosby said...

What I like about you, Jim, is that you try new things and find what works best for you. Your Check This Out! podcast was definitely ground-breaking for librarianship, and I am honoured to have been a part of that. I hope you keep it posted (I may have an episode or two to still listen to).

I enjoy listening to the Shadow and James Show, especially the rare time when I listen to my iRiver on the go, because it is like having my two friends talking to me. Well, actually it *is* my two friends talking to me.

I especially appreciate how you have encouraged me in my own webby efforts. And I know you have done the same for others. I am just trying to figure out how to do the same. :-)

Abbie Mulvihill said...

I'll play. Yes, I helped my kid get started on Webkinz. That took all of 2 minutes before she totally took over and started showing me how to do everything. They're born with online knowledge now. She sends virtual packages and letters to her friends and cousins using Kinzpost and reads virtual books, plants virtual gardens, chats, plays games....

As for me, I use LinkedIn, WordPress, Blogger (AbsTracked.net), Twitter (@abstracked), Skype, Picasa online, and most recently Jott.

I use Twitter solely as a link blog. I used Skype to communicate with my family while I was in China. That worked wonderfully. There is nothing like free communication from half-way around the world! I now use it to conference in with family members and I use the video feature so my daughter can see her cousins in Colorado and vice versa.

Digital photos are great because you can share them with people around the world. I have also submitted them to contests like the one on this page (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/4011) and to participate in things like LC's Inspiration here (http://www.loc.gov/experience/inspire/submissions/abbie.html) and I occasionally use them on my blog.

I've been playing with audio lately and am interested in Jott, but am looking for other stuff. Does anyone have any suggestions?

It's funny that you mention wikis for planning family reunions. I was thinking of doing that, but figured there are too many chiefs in my family to make that work. Have you done that or do you know of someone who has?

Connie Crosby said...

Hi Abbie:

Thanks for playing along. Wow--you are doing a lot too, really rocking the web!

I love your Webkinz story. For anyone who isn't familiar with it, you buy a stuffed animal that comes with an Internet code that allows children to set up your animal as a character in the Webkinz virtual world. Children can only connect with others who share their code, meaning that you do not connect to strangers. Brilliant.

Your other activities sound interesting. I don't off-hand know of anyone using a wiki to organize a family reunion, but seems to me a perfect use since it is out on the web and can be accessed by people in different geographic locations. But you are right, a wiki seeks to build consensus so may or may not work with a lot of people wanting to head it up. Perhaps others will share their thoughts with us?

Anyone else using a wiki to organize a family reunion or other reunion?