CPL 2.0 and Twitter

• Armed with a bit of knowledge about what Twitter is all about, share your thoughts on this fast growing online phenomenon.

This info from the Twitter site sums it up for me:

Twitter lets you write and read messages of up to 140 characters, or the very length of this sentence, including all punctuation and spaces. The messages are public and you decide what sort of messages you want to receive—Twitter being a recipient driven information network. In addition, you can send and receive Twitter messages, or tweets, equally well from your desktop or your mobile phone.
When you combine messages that are quick to write, easy to read, public, controlled by the recipient and exchangeable anywhere, you’ve got a powerful, real-time way to communicate. And real-time communication is turning out to be ground-breaking for users and businesses alike.

CPL 2.0 and LibraryThing

Question • Do you see any practical applications for LibraryThing either at home or at work? Will you start using this site?

I love LibraryThing and have used it for the last couple of years. I belong to a book club and we've all enjoyed keeping a running list of books we've read and books we want to read. I've also loved reading and participating in reviewing titles. Be careful though, once you start using LibraryThing it can become rather addictive!

CPL 2.0 and Online Productivity Tools

Question: Do you see free online tools like these eventually replacing expensive software like MS Office?

Answer: Yes, I think it is happening already! I use Google's free online software such as Picassa, Google Calender and Google Documents exclusively and appreciate the free factor and that it is with me wherever I go!

Flickr and YouTube with CPL 2.0

Flickr and YouTube are extremely user-friendly! I've enjoyed viewing photos of Mt. Everest, Base Camp and Kathmandu in Flickr as a means to stay connected to my husband who is currently trekking in the area. I can hardly wait to see all of his pictures when he gets home! I've also used YouTube often over the last few years. This particular film of a landing strip that my Mountain Man landed on three weeks ago had me regretting I'd agreed to let him go!

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqgZvb37NX0

PS - Did you know that the world's highest Internet Cafe is at 17,500 feet at Base Camp, Mt. Everest, Nepal. Amazing!

The wonder of RSS feeds as explored through CPL 2.0

I was able to successfully set up my RSS feed without difficulty. I look forward to the convenience of information-gathering through my Bloglines account. I will especially enjoy the many library and book websites with updates that I've subscribed to. Libraries rock!

Exploring Google Universe with CPL 2.0

Several Google products that I utilize and love are GMail, Picassa Web Albums and Google Documents. I would highly recommend these to friends and colleagues. All are extremely user friendly and are with you at any PC with a simple user name and password sign-on. This is very convenient when you want to work on documents or show folks your photo albums. If I had to say anything critical, it would be in regards to the optics in GMail. Unlike Yahoo Mail, when you hit reply it displays at the bottom of the screen instead of the top and you need to click 'show details' to see the full body of the communication. These are minor nuisances however and would not stop me from using this great Google product. Oh one last thing . . . incredible storage capacity in all products, virtually limitless! I'm just wondering if Google will start charging one day for all of these goodies.

Social Networking as explored through CPL 2.0

• Why do you think social networking sites are so popular? What are the main appeal factors?

I think social networking sites are popular because they are a way of staying in touch with friends, family, colleagues etc. and keeping them up to date on what's current in your life. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by workplace (such as Sharepoint), school, or college.

I have used Facebook for several years and appreciate how it has enabled me to keep connected to my family and friends all over the world. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. The addition of photographs and video clips is a great way to reach out as well.

I am selective with whom I communicate with however and I am very careful with what I post. I was made aware of an acquaintance who posted information that she was attending a local concert only to be robbed while she was out. Sure enough, the culprit was captured on camera and it was indeed someone that was a "friend" on Facebook. Yikes!