Task 22 Facebook and MySpace

I've got a Facebook account. I forget all the time to logon and see what's happening.
A lot of musicians use MySpace to get their work out there - as good a use as any I can think of - but it's not my cup of tea either.
See my earlier remarks about Twitter.

There are so many social networking sites out there, that I think it's a question of finding what suits you best - or if it suits you at all. I suspect that the most important word to focus on is social - that's how most people want to use these sites - not to be informed or educated particularly, but to keep in touch and be entertained.

Task 21 Twitter

This is not for me.
I can speak face to face with people; I am ancient enough that I still write letters to friends and family from time to time; I pay more than I want to for a landline and I pay way more than I want to for my mobile phone so that I can keep in touch with those I want or need to. I happily use email and texting - and that's ENOUGH. There is a limit to the number of ways I need at my disposal to reach out to people - and there is also a limit to the amount of time I want to devote to staying in touch. Most of the time I really don't care what you are doing right now, and I would hope that you don't care what I'm doing either.
Tweet away - right away.

Task 20 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

The only site I could access from the 23 things page was Podcast Alley - which I found very busy and a pain to search, but there's certainly a lot there.
I have been downloading podcasts to my MP3 player for a while now. I like triple jjj's podcasts and also Radio National's.
I added both to my bloglines account - very easy to do.

I thoroughly enjoyed this task - and think that podcasting is one of the better things I've learned about. I havn't had time to create any for myself - but I think this could be a useful tool for Infoskills.

Task 19 YouTube

Is this worth adding as an entry? I dunno - but it made me grin so I'm adding it for the smile factor. I think that makes it worthy.
I fell in love with Lyle Lovett when I heard him sing this song - made me think that a man should have recorded it in the first place. You remember him - he was Julia Robert's first husband - the guy with the weird hair.

YouTube rules in our house - we all love it. How can you not like a site where you discover death metal folk?

This video of the old song "Stand by Me" is not from YouTube, but it's just WONDERFUL - it'll put a big smile on your dial and start your toes tapping. What fun this must have been to make.

Task 18 iGoogle

A couple of years ago we were all gungho for iGoogle in this library. We all discovered Del.icio.us and iGoogle at the same time. I didn't like it then, because every time I used Google after that it would open at my iGoogle page and that wasn't always what I wanted it to do.
It took me quite a while to figure out how to shut it down and I was relieved when I finally got shot of it - I felt at the time that Google was taking over my world; that my privacy was being somehow invaded.
So - iGoogle is not my cuppa.
Also - fond as I am of Google - making an iGoogle page my personal home page means I probably won't think to look anywhere else much for "stuff" - (does that say more about what a lazy person I might be than it does about Google?)

Task 17 Google MAPS and Google DOCS

I love Google MAPS. We use it regularly at home, usually to check a location on a map, but I always ask for directions , either because I really do need help getting somewhere or because I want to test my directional skills against it. I have found that it isn't always uptodate - worth remembering - but then as I only buy a new street directory every few years it's often out of date as well.

Today I added a place to the map; now I have to wait and see if it's accepted. Fingers crossed!!

I have read the Wikipedia entry about criticism of Google - I never thought about suing them for invasion of privacy, but I would like to force them to put up a new picture of the street view of my house - the day they chose to photograph my street was the day I had put out rubbish for a council kerbside cleanup, so there is a particularly unattractive view of my estate. I'm sure it's value has diminished as a consequence. I also have looked for friend's homes and been given the wrong view - so again not always accurate.....

I didn't know Google Documents existed - but I can see that it might be useful - perhaps if travelling and needing access to your own documents - but I wonder about how secure it is. Think I'd prefer to rely on my trusty USB.

Task 16 Add an entry to Libnet

It was harder thinking of something to add than it was doing it. Well played Libnet.
Here's a clip of what I added - well played Byrds.