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Trying to incorporate FriendFeed into my routine lately has made me think a lot about social networking and why and how I use what I use.

As Laura Carscaddon and Colleen S. Harris explain in their article in Library Journal, “Working the Social: Twitter and FriendFeed,” ”a major benefit of FriendFeed is the ability to converse easily on a specific topic with threaded discussions.” This appears to be true for many librarians, but for me, FriendFeed is just redundant. I follow few people on FriendFeed. Even for these few, I prefer reading the individual feeds they produce (via Twitter, RSS, or Flickr) to the context-less aggregate. When I feel the need to comment on what they say, I do so in context.

Why is that?

In order to use Twitter, I use a desktop application on the Mac called Tweetie. I use iScrobbler to record what I’ve listened to on my last.fm account. I go to Facebook daily (usually), and LinkedIn, Yelp, and LibraryThing occasionally. I upload pictures to Flickr using an iPhoto plugin after I upload them from my cameras, and visit Flickr occasionally. I use NetNewsWire (a desktop app that now syncs with Google Reader) for my RSS feeds.

After using FriendFeed for some time, it seems to me that the way to get the most out of the site is to keep it open in browser all day. Otherwise, one is bound to miss something in the sea of information generated throughout the day. Personally, I don’t like this practice. I read or see a lot of the information in other ways, I don’t like web apps, and I don’t like the design of the website. I’m bothered by the fact that I struggle to be an active user of the site.

I agree with Erin Dorney’s post on Library Scenester, “Social networking: be an active, responsible user.” I try to be an active user of social networking tools for different reasons. Twitter is a great way to see what is going on in the library world and to participate in it. I use Facebook mostly to keep up with friends and family, though the library world is part of that, too. As Erin wrote, “I would be on some of these sites regardless of my career because technology is something that is tightly integrated with the way I live my life.” And I also try to be a responsible user, not posting things that are too personal or too hasty.

So the fact that I am having trouble with a social networking tool is jarring to me; I usually get the hang of it quickly and easily. Maybe FriendFeed is just not right for me.

These realizations have made me curious: how do you decide what social networking tools work for you? Are there any that you just can’t use for one reason or another? Do you have a favorite?

(Tangentially, Meredith Farkas‘ presentation I mentioned in a previous post, “2.Broken: Cautionary Tales of 2.0 Gone Wrong” describes a similar kind of struggle for libraries, rather than the individual, and what to do about it. Erin Dorney’s personal social networking philosophy of being an active and responsible user can (and should) be applied to organizations using social media, too.)

Hello from Southern California, where the weather is fantastic and the food is even better!

There have been some big changes afoot: I am now engaged, I left my job in Rochester, and I’ve moved across the country. We moved to Los Angeles for my fiancé to pursue his Masters in Interactive Media Design (AKA game design) at the University of Southern California, and he starts this Fall semester. We’ve been here for a little over a week so far. Things are starting to settle now, but we still have a bit to iron out. I am unemployed again as the searching and applying for jobs in this area has not yet returned any rewards. I still have a lot to do.

ALA Annual is coming up! This will be my third consecutive ALA Annual Conference, and, since I was accepted to a LITA committee for the 2009-2011 term, I will be going to at least 3 more ALA conferences in the near future (including Mid-Winter). As a bonus this year, I will be roommates with none other than the Library Scenester. (Aren’t you envious?) With the lovely Erin around, I’m sure to have a fantastic time.

The LITA committee I will participate in after this upcoming ALA Annual Conference is the Program Planning Committee. My use of Twitter (@library_chan) and information from other librarians I follow were instrumental to my volunteering and getting accepted to the committee.

I follow several people on Twitter who are very involved in the American Library Association. As most know, Jenny Levine (@shifted) works for them, but Amy Harmon (@infowidget) was, and continues to be, an ALA Councilor-at-Large. I also follow Jason Griffey (@griffey), a very active member of LITA and the Program Planning Committee Chair. Aaron Dobbs (@awd) helped me greatly via Twitter. An active LITA and ALA member (and now an ALA Councilor-at-Large — congrats!), he lobbied the LITA president to include me in a LITA committee. Thanks, Aaron!

How did this come about? During the past ALA Mid-Winter Conference, many people were tweeting from sessions and meetings. In particular, Amy Harmon tweeted from ALA Council meetings and encouraged more of us to get involved. Though I love going to the conferences, I find the ALA hierarchy mind-boggling, and I had preconceptions about the inner-workings of ALA and its divisions. Amy Harmon’s call for more involvement coincided nicely with an announcement from the LITA Twitter account that LITA was looking for committee volunteers. What better way to get involved in ALA than to pick one of the most interesting and exciting ALA divisions? So I joined LITA (finally!) and signed up (and tweeted about signing up)!