Thing 12: Reflecting on Social Media

Thing 12 provides an opportunity to reflect on social media. As I never really had an online presence before taking part in cpd23 I thought this would be a good opportunity to access how things are going so far.

The positives

Meeting people - there's a LISNPN meet up planned for later in August which will give me a chance to meet people who I wouldn't have come across if it weren't for LISNPN. My intro post on LISNPN also lead someone who works in the same sector as me to get in contact.

More in the loop - thanks to Twitter I now feel I have a better understanding of what's going on elsewhere in the library profession. LinkedIn has also alerted me to some useful resources. I've spent time this week adding more blogs to my Blogger reading list which has proved to be time well spent.

Blogging - whilst my posts aren't really of interest to others, thanks to cpd23 I am getting into the habit of posting regularly which will help when I get going with Chartership.

The negatives

I feel like a stalker - especially with Twitter. Whilst I'm finding some of the conversations interesting I don't feel I've much to add and I'm fed up of eves dropping. I'm slowing coming to the realisation that I just haven't found the right people to follow. Next week's task will therefore be to find some new Tweeters to get into conversation with.

Time - I noted in one of my earlier posts that you only get out what you put in, to build your online reputation you need to tweet, respond and comment. At the moment I'm struggling to find time to do this effectively. I'm wondering whether the solution is to take a more structured approach to when I check into different sites?

Will I continue using social networking sites?

Definitely. Working in a commercial library in the South West makes it more challenging to network face-to-face. Whilst I don't feel what I'm currently doing constitutes online networking I can already see the benefits. It doesn't replace face-to-face networking but is helpful.

Does social media foster a sense of community?

This was the final question thing 12 posed. I think it's a bit early for me to answer this with any authority. I can see that the prolific tweeters of the library world have a strong online network which is both encouraging and a bit daunting for a newbie. Whether I'll ever find the time to truly feel I belong to this particular community I'm not sure.

Thing 4: To Tweet and Feed

The aim of Thing 4 of cpd23 was to introduce us to some tools that would help us keep up-to-date with things going on in the library and information world. Here's my thoughts on Twitter and RSS feeds.

Twitter

Until now I've shied away from Twitter. To be honest I just really didn't get it. In the past I only ever seemed to stumble across fragmented conversations and stuff of little interest or relevance. To say I've had a Twitter epiphany this week wouldn't overstate the case.


thewikiman's post "3 essential things to do as soon as you join Twitter" could have come a few days earlier and offered some sound advice; put in a picture, proper engaging bio and write a couple of tweets. When I set up my account my only aim was to try and get my head around how Twitter works, however now realise I was doing myself no favours not doing these things before following people. 

So, default egg replaced with mug shot and a blurb in place all I had to do was tweet. Sounds so simple, but I really struggled to get my first tweet out there. Searching for #cpd23 lead me to a fab list of people on Twitter who are following the cpd23 programme and I've since replied to a few of their tweets.

I'm only following a few people at the moment, however from what I've seen so far I'm impressed. Yes there's still a lot of stuff that's not of interest, but there's also lots of links to articles, blog posts and events and some enlightening conversations. As I follow more people I must remember Woodsiegirl's advice that you do not need to read every tweet that pops up in your stream, instead treat Twitter as what it is; a conversation to dip into as and when you can.

Now the negatives. Building an online presence from scratch is time consuming and I'm definitely learning that you only get out what you put in. I know I can't conjure up an online network overnight, but I’m struggling to find the time to get the most out of blogging and tweeting. I know what I need to do; tweet, respond and comment, however just finding the people I want to interact with, having the confidence to put myself out there (without feeling like a stalker) and finding something relevant and interesting to say is proving a problem. I'm still unsure of what I have to offer?


RSS Feeds

I'd already set up a few feeds using my Blogger account and so far so good, although I find it easier to view posts in Google Reader.

Working in a commercial environment I run regular press searches and often find when I'm reading the Sunday papers I can't help but read the headline, some of the lead paragraph and skim the rest of the article if it's interesting. Whilst frustrating when reading for pleasure, this habit really helps when it comes to keeping on top of my reading list. I'm happy to skim through, see if anything takes my fancy, ignore the posts that don't and mark the really interesting ones to come back to later.

I'm starting to sound on top of things, but I'm not. Seeing what others are posting all in one place is great, but I need to make time to interact with people and their blogs, otherwise I will remain forever disconnected.

Pushnote

Pushnote was the final thing on the to do list this week, however proved to be a step too far. I'm mentioning it here just to remind me to take a look later.