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Wednesday 27 July 2011

Online Networking - Thing 6 (cpd 23 Things)

Online networks are vital resources these days - even more so for those people like myself who work on their own a lot, or are removed somehow from their professional group. This doesn't necessarily mean that I like it.  I often find online networking a bit of a chore, and the last thing I want to do at the end of a long day looking at a PC is to go home and log onto a PC.  So, I see the value of it but I do it reluctantly, a little at a time. 

This Thing has asked us to look at some well known online networks and comment on our experience on them, or lack of.  Here goes...

LinkedIn
I do use LinkedIn, and it is fairly up to date, although I can't say that it has been useful professionally as yet.  there's hope, though.  I probably need to be a bit more active on it.

Facebook
I'm really naughty here - I don't bother with Facebook unless someone sends me something on it.  I know that  lot of my friends and contacts use it endlessly, but I just find it too time consuming, and a bit cumbersome.  I find myself going round in circles, coming across people's comments about what they had for tea, then I get bored.  And frankly, what people are doing right now are often less than riveting.  And again, (I've said this before) I do get concerned about the amount of personal information available - you can easily in many cases find out where someone works, their email, where they live, etc.  And why do people think it's fine to announce they are leaving their house and going to Marbella for two weeks (hello burglar) but wouldn't put a notice to that effect on their front door?  Do they forget that the whole world can see this stuff? 

I'm so sorry, I went into rant mode there.

LISNPN
I am a member of this, and want to stay in touch with what's going on, so I find this useful in that case, but find it's not so much directed at those recently qualified and not working in traditional library roles.  This may change as more members join, as it's user led which is a great thing.

CILIP communities
Again, I want to keep in touch with what's  happening, and so find this really useful.  I've also used the CILIP site a lot during my chartership, as it has loads of information - not the most easily navigated site I've ever seen, though. 

That actually about sums up my online networking.  There's loads of stuff out there, and I think a key thing is to choose and use what works for you, rather than trying to be on everything.  I've yet to see Google+but I'm interested to hear what those people who are using it already think, and how it compares with the other networks out there. 

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