My apologies for being a week behind, but with good reason. I have officially begun my permanent full-time position after completing a six months contract. I completed a one week training and I am happy with the organization/team members.
In honor of CPD23 Programme, Thing 4: Current Awareness- Twitter, RSS, and Pushnote, I will talk about my experience using Twitter and RSS.
Twitter Photo Credit: Google Image
Twitter is considered a micro-blogging service that allows users to publish up to 140 characters. You can follower others by subscribe to their updates. According to the CPD23 Programme Twitter summary, it is a common belief that celebrities tweet about minutiae things. However, it is believed that few users actually use Twitter for networking or sharing ideas. My personal ‘love affair’ with Twitter is that I use it to comment on reality tv shows or use the hashtags in my FB comment posts (i.e. #CBSBigBrother). I see the value of Twitter as a consumer because I rely on Twitter hashtags from my Linkedin Profile feedreader.
I recently discovered the usefulness of Twitter in the Genealogy Community. I recently became interested in researching my family history. I have connected with a local Genealogist who showed me how to search Twitter using Tweetdeck to stay up-to-date within the Genealogy community.Tweetdeck is an extension of Twitter, which allows users to view tweets on a desktop and mobile devices.
Here are some of my favorite Genealogy Tweeters that I follow: @AYWalton, @geneabloggers, @DearMYRTLE, @GederGenealogy
Here are some of my favorite Library Tweeters that I follow @JustinLibrarian, @librarianbyday, @hacklibschool.
Photo Credit: Google Images
RSS (known as Really Simple Syndication) is my favorite Web 2.0 tool. Google has a RSS tool called Google Reader that comes with signing up for a Gmail account. I proudly confess that I have not paid for cable in two years and get more enjoyment out of my RSS Feeds. I like the flexibility that Google Reader has- it allows me to categorize my feeds by subject and also keeps up with the blogs that I have not read. A common opinion among CPD23 Thing participants is the need to balance information intake. I allow myself a hour before work to read several blogs and take a small break (i.e. 15 minutes) during the day to check out my Reader. My participation with CPD23 Things have made my RSS list longer, however, one goal I hope to accomplish by the end of this programme- organize/minimize my RSS list.
FURTHER READING:
CPD23 Thing 4 Spotlight User: Angela Pashia
Hack Library School: LIS Blogs to Follow- Edition 3
the Wikiman3 Essential Things to do as soon as you join Twitter
Jul 13, 2011 @ 03:51:01
I’d never thought of using Twitter to help with genealogical research, so thanks for the tip!
Jul 13, 2011 @ 08:07:05
Hi Laura, it’s super cool to use #genealogy and then you get into all the other individual researchers. You can use it to send out a research question about swapping research favors, i.e. looking up Census information at Regional NARAs. Glad to see that this post was helpful.
Jul 20, 2011 @ 15:33:32
Congratulations on the contract job turning into a permanent position!
I’ll have to pass along the tip about using Twitter for genealogical research to my sister. She is researching our family history.