Social Networking

Facebook is a fun way to peek into the lives of coworkers and fellow students, as well a great means of keeping up with far flung relatives and people I knew once upon a time. Right now I have 114 Facebook friends, many of whom I haven't seen since my freshman or junior year in high school. There are even a couple of people I haven't seen since elementary school! I tend to use it as a social, rather than professional tool, but I include less personal information on my Facebook page than I do on MySpace. This is in part due to the fact that I'm Facebook friends with many people from the library, which does raise the issue of the line between work life and personal life becoming blurred. I've even had a patron friend request me!
I keep meaning to create a LinkedIn account, maybe one of these days . . . As for Twitter, it just hasn't grabbed my interest. Maybe it will at some point.
I've seen a lot of articles lately about managing one's online identity, which prompted me to create a Google profile that will provide some basic information about me when someone searches for my full name. I do have some privacy concerns when it comes to Google, though. Between my Google profile, the content of my Gmail messages, and the searches I perform, they certainly have access to a lot of info about me! Let's hope they stick to not being evil.

Second Life

It appears that Second Life is much bigger and more rich and complex than I had imagined. The corporate world is definitely paying attention to the virtual world, and we should too! The OCLS presence in Second Life sounds exciting and as it grows I hope I'm able to get involved.

I wonder if, in a few years, most people will be involved in virtual worlds, similar to the way it seems like everyone is now using social networking sites. It could be a fun way to try on a new persona, learn new things, or meet people you might never have the chance to encounter in real life. Visiting virtual worlds also seems like an excellent way for someone with physical disabilities to socialize and get out into the "world."

Dark Side of the Web

This week's lesson was a great reminder that we need to be on guard when online. Now that I do most of my bill paying and holiday shopping over the internet, I shudder to think of what could happen if my financial info fell into the wrong hands. Thanks for helping to keep me on my toes!
The IE7 tutorial was also helpful--even though I've been using it for quite a while now, I hadn't explored some of its features, such as the RSS feed button.