Thing 6: Online Networks

Image by saintbob.  Used with permission under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-2.0) license.

This week was all about connecting with others.  Thing 6 focused on online networks, which formally or informally enable  people from all over the world to converse, share ideas, and expand their horizons.  The proliferation of online networks means that opportunities abound, but for now, I stuck with a few of the groups suggested by the 23 Things for Professional Development organizers.

I am already an active member of LinkedIn.  Through LinkedIn I am maintaining a connection to many of my classmates from library school as well as a few others I have met through work or other groups.  Mostly, however, I use it to follow discussions in the groups I am in.  Some of the library groups are extremely active, which constantly exposes me to new ideas and answers questions I may not have even thought to ask.  An opportunity I discovered through one of the email alert services I use spurred me to finally ask a few questions that I have had for a while.  It was the first time I started a discussion, instead of responding to others or passing along a message from someone else.  The replies I received were insightful.  I am grateful to all who responded!

I had not previously heard of LISNPN, perhaps because it is based outside of my own locality.  I have just begun to explore the many resources available on the site.  Through joining the 23 Things group, I have discovered still more of my fellow participants.  Checking through their pages was fun and gave me a few ideas for my own blog.

Most of my friends and family members are dedicated Facebook users, but I always hesitated to join in.  I kept hearing from those around me how easy it was to accidentally spend more time on Facebook than they had intended.  My lack of participation meant that I missed out on some fun announcements, but also that I avoided some bouts of drama.  Through the 23 Things program, I finally joined.  One benefit of starting this late, however, was that finding people to add was fairly simple.  I did not have to go through my contacts one by one to see if they were members, as I did when I first set up my Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.  The quick response from most of the people I sent a friend request was also gratifying.  The set up process confirmed my fears a little bit; setting up an account was time-consuming.  The one other downside was that every time I clicked on a person's account, either by accident or to check if the person was actually the person I knew or just someone with the same name, Facebook rearranged the list of suggested contacts.  The person I had intended to add was now hidden somewhere  else in the list and people I had already decided to skip were back at the beginning.  Although scrolling through the list was time consuming, it was also fascinating to me.  Like tweets, it had the peculiar quality of inspiring a simultaneous sense of being overwhelmed and a dread of having the process end.  Luckily, I made it through the suggestions and have a ready-made list of contacts.  I have even heard from a few of them already!

In the coming weeks, I aim to continue to use these networks but to also maintain the self-control to step away.  Balance is my goal.