Thing 6 - connecting with your world

Everyday we make connections.  Each connection we make serves different purposes and affect us in different ways. Some are fleeting while some have a lasting effect.  But whether these connections are deep and meaningful or not, they are important to us.

This is a post for Thing 6  not a philosophical discussion... blah!

I'll be honest and say up until this course I only dabbled in online networks. The concept was fine but it wasn't really something I craved.  I kept in touch with people by email and instant messaging and on a professional level, well, I connected with people in other ways.  There were conferences, training courses and online bulletins.  I didn't need online networks (and I certainly didn't have the time for them).

Even though I didn't use them I did know about them.  I jumped on the LinkedIn bandwagon at the beginning but I never kept it up to date and I couldn't be bothered finding connections so I turfed it... guess I should have kept it! Ah well.

It was only with the Bebo / Facebook  (FB) craze that I started to see the merit of online networks.  But again, it was on a more personal level rather than a professional level.  FB was a way of quickly and easily (and cheaply - no expensive long-distance calls) reconnect with lost friends and acquaintances; share photos, holiday stories and status updates.  I still see FB as a personal tool (I don't use Bebo anymore).  It's so much useful than traditional communication tools and is easy to pass on information to lots of people at the same time.

I know, I know... you can use it for business purposes.  My organisation does use it to relate to external contacts and supporters.  But in my role specifically, nuh uhn.  I'm okay with that though.  I don't like to mix up my personal with my professional.

Then there's Twitter.  I avoided and avoided until I had to set up an account for this course.  I'd ask myself 'what's the point of Twitter? ... How can you actually get anything across? You have no characters!'  While I still have problems with Twitter,  the more I use it the more I sort of enjoy it.  I keep it strictly business and I've actually picked up a lot of useful information.  Who knew you could get so much across with 140 characters!

LinkedIn is now my most used networking tool since starting the course.  I know, I know, I just said that I turfed my account... but I set up a new one the other week.  It's been a great new direction for me, particularly with the Information Officers' Support Group.  We tried Yahoo Groups, we tried a blog (or two) but nothing seemed to connect us.  I'm hoping that LinkedIn will be the thing that keeps us together.

So that's what I use. I connect online but I'll be honest and say I prefer to connect face-to-face.  I like to see emotions, body language and non-visual cues.

I saw an interesting article in the Independent the other day about social networks. Seems quite apt for this posting.  Happy reading.  Science of the social network (01/08/2011)

Thing 4 - keeping up with the neighbours

Set up a Twitter account. Check.

Set up Google Reader feeds. Check.

Set up a Pushnote account. Check.

Well that's me in the loop now!  But then why do I still feel so out of touch (and out of time). 

I've held this post back for a bit to see if I could adjust to my new online self and see if with a little bit of work I all of the sudden have this amazing online network.  Sadly I've not. 

I'm fully aware that online communities don't just automatically come together and they take time and effort. But I did hope I might have more than just call girls following me on Twitter by now.  Not to mention the fact I'd hoped to have more free time since I've set up my feeds.  Maybe my expectations were unrealistic and actually it takes so much more time than I'd anticipated.

Ok, so I have enjoyed checking Twitter on my phone and it has given me something to play with while filling a few minutes here and there, but still.

I think the main problem I have with all of this online stuff is that it's hard to understand. Maybe I'm a bit thick but I really need more than just a quick FAQ guide to get me off the ground. I don't understand hashtags and don't get me started about re-tweeting. Not a clue.  That's why I'm getting a friend who is a dab hand at theses things to give me a quick lesson. You know, the 1:1 in person lessons you used to get when you wanted to learn something. I believe in the online world but sometimes a friendly face really does make a difference. You can't ask difficult questions to FAQ sheets.

The other barrier I've found is me, really. I'm just not sure what to write (even with this blog). Are people interested in what I have to say? Not only that but I work in a very internally facing role. I don't generally interact with outside people and I work on very specific projects. What can I add / contribute? What I might find interesting may be completely boring to you my online network. What kind of things would you be interested in hearing about?
I'll say the one positive experience I've had so far with this thing is that at least I've got all the blogs I want to follow in one spot. It does beat the heck out of remembering them and going to them individually! I've not really dedicated enough time yet to sinking my teeth into them but once I do, and I catch up on past blog post, I should find I have more time to wrap my head around Twitter.

But for now, all feedback about topics and issues you think you'd be interested in hearing about (or helpful advice for my conference topic - see last post) would be gratefully received!

Thanks online network.  I'll catch up with ya soon!