Pushnote

Since I've already talked about Twitter and RSS feeds in an earlier post, I'm just going to add that I have been using Google Reader a little more over the last few weeks. It seems I've been converted now that I am following more blogs (some cpd23 and some Cam23 2.0 participants).

Onto Pushnote, then - a tool that allows you to rate and rank your favourite websites and share this with others on the web. The principle of sharing information about useful websites is one that I'm sure most cpd23ers support, and Twitter is often used as a means of sharing useful websites via Bit.ly links. Having set up an account to try out Pushnote, I think it's unlikely that I will use it though. Many people like to rate things and give them scores, but this side of Pushnote isn't something that really appeals to me.

I managed to find some other cpd23ers on Pushnote and look at their latest and favourites lists. For me, a drawback of Pushnote is that (unless I missed something) there doesn't seem to be a way of organising or tagging the sites you rate and comment on. If I was going to use it, I'd like to be able to search for sites that have been rated on a particular topic (such as 'libraries' or 'technology'). If Pushnote really takes off, it could be used by libraries to rate the websites that might be useful to their users, as another form of useful links page. For most libraries though, I imagine this would only work if you could organise the links in some way. Just seeing a list of people's favourite sites may appeal if you have time to browse and like the serendipitous approach, but this isn't something I will use. However, Pushnote is only in Beta so perhaps this facility to organise your favourites may be added later. Personally, I would rather share information and learn about useful websites via Twitter and blogs. A useful feature of Pushnote then, is that you can share your favourites via Twitter and Facebook.

For me, the most interesting part of Pushnote is the browser extension, so that you if you come across a website you can click on the Pushnote icon and see how users have rated a site.

Overall, a mixed review from me. Some useful features, and I'm sure some people will enjoy using it, but it's not something I can see myself using at the moment.

Tweets and feeds and extra things - Cam 23 2.0

So, first up is RSS feeds. I think these are very useful, but I'm not sure if I use them in the most effective way. I just logged into Google Reader to see the feeds that I had subscribed to last time round in 23 things. I haven't looked at Google Reader once in the last year! I do, however, like to add feeds for blogs to my iGoogle page and my blogger dashboard. I find these easier for following a relatively small number of blogs. On first impression, Google Reader is just a bit too confusing for me - there are so many options down the left side of the page, such as notes, starred items and trends that it's hard to know where to start! I would prefer my subscriptions to be at the top of the list and not hidden away at the bottom! On the plus side, it is useful that it highlights the unread items and shows how many unread items there are. If I find myself subscribing to more feeds, then I may well revisit Google Reader and would probably get used to, or at least put up with, the layout!

Next up is Twitter - the thing that surprised me last time round with its usefulness! I'm not much of a regular tweeter although I do follow several librarians including other 23 Thingers. I've just had to refresh my memory of how to search for people and hashtags. Luckily, it's user-friendly and so this wasn't too tricky. I had never tried any of the applications before, apart from Bit.ly which is very useful for posting links. Hootsuite looks like it would be a very good application for those with multiple accounts, or for teams who contribute to an account, but neither of those apply to me at the moment so I didn't bother to try this out! I have just signed up for Twitterfeed, which looked like the most useful application for me. I will have to revisit this once I have published this post and have tested how it works. Watch this space!