Thing 41: Mashup your Life

I feel like I've heard of Lifestream.fm before, but I couldn't remember what it was all about. Now that I've looked a second time, it seems to be like an RSS aggregator, but specifically for social networking. I signed up, but the only thing showing up is my Facebook account. I signed up yesterday and checked back today, but still nothing. I did get an e-mail to activate the account that didn't work. That could be part of the problem. The link they sent me was a dud.

A few of my friends have linked their Twitterfeeds with their Facebook statuses, so that when they update one, it automatically updates the other. That's really not for me. Different people are on each service, so I would put different things up, or at least phrase them differently.

I'm gonna keep trying to get lifestream to work, but if it completely fails, I won't be all that disappointed.

Thing 31: More Twitter

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, so if I re-make points here, I'm sorry.

Twitter is awesome. I've been using it consistently since I set up my account. I'm following some famous people (well, famous to me) and some work friends. I've also started following a couple random people. This was a weird, stalkery step, but made easier by the fact that they started following me first. I still haven't set up TweetDeck, but I mean to. It's the one that looks the most popular. My only problem is that I only remember while I'm at work and I want it to be on my computer at home....

I signed up for Mr. Tweet right after I made my account, but so far it hasn't really been helpful. Maybe I'm using it wrong. I've used the text-tweet feature a few times. It's awesome. There are lots of times when I feel the need to share a thought and am nowhere near a computer.

I've been thinking lately about the whole issue with security on Twitter. As of this post, I have my full name and where I live. I wanted it to be easy for other people to find me. But we had a presentation here in the library by a policeman last week talking about all the creepy on the internet and how easy it was to stalk you. Now I'm paranoid. I did add my name to the Twitter directory though...... we'll see.

Other than that, Twitter has been fun. I've found a good site for sharing the songs that are stuck in your head - songza.com and have figured out most of the little twitter nuances. I still have no idea what hashtags are used for.

Twitter questions

What's correct etiquette for Twitter? I know how to not be annoying, but are you supposed to follow people who follow you? All of them? Are you supposed to send a message to people thanking them for following you? What's the deal?

Thing 27 - Twitter!

I've heard of Twitter before; some of the blogs I follow have mentioned it every once in a while. Personally it seemed like a waste of time. Now that I've tried it, it's amazing!! It's like updating your Facebook status, but better. This is stream-of-consciousness blogging, which works really well with my ADD. I can put random thoughts on there or use it to make a to-do list or some other thing that I'll just need to be reminded of later.

It was unbelievably easy to use; you just sign up and go. I was even able to add a widget to my blog! I'm still trying to see how this could be useful in a library setting, so I'm following the Hibbing Library to see what kinds of tweets they're doing. Maybe if I were attending a conference, I could use Twitter to put up quick thoughts on different presentations.

A hint to other users: if you want to share links, but your tweets are getting too long, try using tinyurl.com I've seen a few more experienced Tweeters? twitterers? using it to make long URLs fit within the 140 character parameters.