Thing 30. More Ways to Use RSS and Delicious

I have only been using my RSS reader for feeds that I know I will read on a regular basis. Otherwise, the overload of stuff would get to me. I know that there are a lot of interesting things out there, but if I add them all to my RSS reader I will end up getting burnt out and never read anything. I suppose I could create more than one reader for the other “stuff” that I do not want to read regularly. This maybe something I do in the future.

I have not found myself using Delicious very much. Most of the sites I have bookmarked I use often enough that I end up just typing them in. I should use it more often and get used to adding sites. Right now I just don’t think about it. I know Delicious has a lot of possibilities; I just need to devote some time to exploring them further.

Thing 29. Google Tools

I set up a couple of Google alerts and I have to say that it was incredibly easy. I am not sure how useful it would be for the library as a whole but it would be useful for individuals trying to keep up on a specific topic. It would be great for students doing large projects where they would have an extended period of time for research. It may also be useful for an institution’s archives. They would be able to keep track of any information about them that is put out on the web. I thought that the article about using Google alerts to check for plagiarism was very interesting. What a creative way to use this tool.

Thing 28. Customized Home Pages

I am using MyYahoo for my customized homepage. I had already set up My Yahoo page during the last round of 23 things. The first time I set up the page I added widgets that were more fun rather than useful. Because of this I have not used the page that often. This time around I deleted those things that I very rarely look at and added widgets for Facebook, Flickr, and various news sources that I enjoy. I also changed the layout to make more sense. Overall, I feel that My Yahoo is very easy to use and very easily altered.

Thing 27 Twitter

I played around a little bit with Twitter and it seemed like it could be an extremely useful tool. I could see Twitter being used in our library in a variety of ways. Twitter could be used to advertise events going on in the library, share information about new (or old) resources that are available, and provide important information about the technology in the library. A group for our student workers may also be helpful. We could send them payroll reminders; alert them to any changes to the manual, or any information that may be important for them to know right away. Twitter would be a great place to share a variety of information with our users. However, I also think that it is a tool that could very easily be over done and eventually become annoying. I feel as though one should be selective about what they are putting up there. If you were to update too often and have only minimal content I think people would start to feel bothered by the updates and begin ignoring them. I doubt that I would use it too much personally but that could change in the future. Right now most people I communicate with in this manner use Facebook for updating. If you would like to follow me my username vikingp.

Thing 26 Join the 23 Things On a Stick Ning

I joined the 23 Things On a Stick Ning during round 1. I was not overly impressed at that point and I have to say I am still not a big fan. I feel like MySpace and Facebook are much more ingrained in our culture that if people are going to look for library information on a social networking site, they will look there first. Also, I do not think that Ning is as intuitive as Facebook. This is the first time since round 1 that I have even gone into Ning. I joined the NLLN group this time around. It didn't seem like too many other people had used Ning much since round 1 either. I believe the last post in the group was from April. I guess Ning is just not my thing.

Thing 25. Bloggers' Toolkit

For thing 25 I decided to add widgets for Outbrain, Clustermap, a search box, and Meebo. I choose Outbrain because I thought it would be interesting to see how people would rate my posts. I also thought that it's recommendations for other blogs may be enlightening. Clustermap just seemed like something fun. I enjoy looking at maps on other blogs so I thought I would add it to mine. A search box just seemed like a good idea and the Meebo widget is a great way to be in contact with blog readers.

I chose to stay away from any widgets that involved pictures. I realize that these are more visually pleasing but I didn't feel like spending the time on them. The 4 widgets I added to my blog were fast and easy and did not take much time at all.

Thing 24. Refresh Your Blog

Obviously I have not been blogging since finishing the first round of 23 Things. I also have not found myself following blogs religiously. I will on occasion skim through a blog but I very rarely read the entire thing and I almost never leave comments. I am not sure why that is because I do enjoy reading other peoples comments. Maybe I just need to get out of my comfort zone and join the conversation.

I took a peak at the blogger templates on third party sites. I was completely overwhelmed by the choices. It was tempting to pick something ridiculous like the I Luv Zac Efron template, but I decided that I liked my dots and I wanted to keep them. I guess there is just something about that comfort zone...