Thing 4 RSS, Twitter and Pushnote

I've been an avid twitterer for a few months and tend to mainly follow work related blogs, but have also received requests from friends so it's became a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the people/organisations I follow are very interesting and informative, however others tend to tweet about everything and anything. Evaluating my twitter usage for cpd 23, has mean't I've also evaluated the people I follow and as a result I've cancelled a couple. No point overloading with trivial information, when others are straight to the point. I'd rather see 1 relevant tweet every few days, than 6 a day about nothing.

It is very easy to fall into the practice of tweeting about everything but I will now be far more select about what I tweet. Twitter is an amazing advertising tool for information resource.

I'm ashamed to say that I've not used RSS feeds before today, but have found it to be an excellent resource and appears quite simple to use. Once I've mastered the different functions it will hopefully make information more accessible.

Now to pushnote - hmmm, I'm just not sure. It seems quite easy to use and everyone else on the site appears to really like it. It may be because it hasn't taken off yet, but none of my colleagues were on it so found it hard to make links to people. I imagine as it grows in popularity it will be a lot more interesting and linking with friends and colleagues will by easy. I do however like the design, very simple and clean.

Thing 3

Online Branding - I think it is fair to say I don't actually have one. As soon as I have time I'll look at the visual elements of my social networking sites and try colour co-coordinating. Another issue is the lack of a photograph on any networking site that I am member of, not sure why I've been very cautious about putting a photo online, but it's a fear I'll have to overcome.

Searched for myself on Google, slightly wary about what might appear, thankfully everything was of a professional nature. The first item on the search results was an Equality Impact Assessment I had carried out on Glasgow Libraries service provision to the LGBT community. Further down the list were my LinkedIn account and then this Blog, so all the type of things I would be happy about people having access to.

In summary I'm quite happy with the level of online branding I have but will have to look at updating the visuals and content of some of the pages. 

I think in future any personal information I decide to place online will be kept separate from my professional presence.  

Thing 2

After browsing through a few of the CPD23 participants, I found a very interesting and entertaining blogg "Jenni a.k.a. Lady Kenneth Williams...". This blog raised lots of interesting points about our online brand but also about the power of blogging at getting information out and digital engagement. Others are also writing about these points and all seem to be gaining confidence and knowledge through cpd23.

This has got me thinking about the need to have two seperate online brands, one personal and one professional? I shall ponder on!

Thing 1

Joining cpd23 late as I've only just found out about it. Having spent a good few hours looking through it and following the instruction for "thing 1", I've been led to the scary world of blogging, which like most things sounds more difficult than it actually is. This looks like a really useful learning resource, that I will gain a lot of knowledge from and hopefully a few useful contacts along the road.

I've worked within my current post for 10 years and if I'm being honest haven't kept as up to date with technology (especially Web 2.0) as I should have. I'm currently working towards my chartership through pathway 2 and this has given me the kick start I need to start on the long road of CPD and reflecting on my weaknesses, hence my current blog. I'm really enjoying learning all about social networking and how this can benefit me both professionally and personally.

So in short, I'm a complete novice blogger and looking forward to learning all the different elements that go into writing a successful blog. Now onto Thing 2!