Rudaí five : Online Networks

Twitter and Facebook

I've had a Facebook account for a good while now and I used it to keep in touch with friends and family who are away. I was busiest with Facebook when I was in college and I used it for networking with classmates. I am a member of a few groups on health matters and the UCD school of information. So thanks Siobhan for the list of groups in that link. I don't really use it for anything other than social activities.

Twitter I joined two years ago. I know some people love it and swear bit but I can't get excited by something that limits you to 140 characters. It is very restricting. There can be something as being too concise! But maybe I'm too long winded. 

I primarily joined because of the libchats that used to be held at regular intervals and are still in the UK. I love these. They are a great way of discussing topics, networking with people and getting advice and diverse opinions very quickly. The # is its strength. It allows for you to create headings of a sort and others can then respond to it. It allows for discussions to grow naturally or to be planned. 

One of my favorite things about twitter however, is its speed. Messages can be send and replied to very quickly. I follow Irish rail and during the storms and ice and snow last year delays and cancellations were put out on twitter. Though granted this is more of use to those with a smart phone. As its important for us in our careers to reach out to our communities this is a valuable tool. I know some people who use as a form of shorthand note taking which is a good idea.

Lists is something I never about until I read thing 5 and is a brilliant idea for catagorising your tweets.

The 140 character limit is still gnawing at me though. It is very frustrating at times. I follow some of the tweets from events and seminars. I find if you don't know the speaker and have some knowledge of what is being said its next to useless as the tweets can be meaningless. I have also found recently the same thing that happened to Facebook lots of adverts are creeping onto my Twitter feed.  

That's my opinion anyway.