23 Mobile Things -- Thing 8 : Social Media Management Tools

Thing 8: "...the opportunity to explore tools to help you manage all of your social media."

I'm on Facebook (mainly personal), Twitter (mainly professional), and LinkedIn (professional). I also mange our library Facebook and Twitter accounts. I have Google+ but I don't really use it. I was on Foursquare but I've pretty much abandoned that.

So looking at Social Media Management tools or apps was a little problematic for me -- I wasn't too impressed with the options that I found or I really don't think that I need them. I was interested in Slices that Heather (@HevWam) talked about in her Thing 8 blog post but I can't find Slices -- guess they've disappeared. 

I do use TweetDeck as a desktop app via my work PC. There isn't an iPhone or iPad app but that's okay. TweetDeck gives me the ability to keep track of both my Twitter account and our library Twitter account all at the same time. I can have multiple columns of display -- news feed, each account, mentions, maybe a hashtag content I'm currently following etc. Here's a snip of what it looks like (not all columns are shown):

For now this is probably the only Social Management tool that I really need. If I want to share something across platforms (say Facebook to Twitter or LinkedIn to Twitter) I can do this directly from those apps/products.  

I guess if I was really in the market for a Social Media Management tool I'd look more closely at Cloze -- it seems to offer a lot of integration with options.  

23 Mobile Things -- Thing 4 : Keeping up

For Thing 4 we were asked to consider this: "Do you follow a lot of news sites and blogs and find that you’re spending so much time going to many different websites? You can make it a lot easier on yourself if you take advantage of RSS feeds and apps to collect them all."

RSS Feeds
I've long since given up using RSS feeds. The last feed reader I used was FeedDemon and I have to say it's been a few years. I don't even know if it's still operational? Back in the day RSS feeds with feed readers were a great way to have information come to me. That is until it became overwhelming with too much information bombarding me and my not keeping up. That big old information monster rearing its ugly head. 

Twitter
For me what replaced RSS feeds was using Twitter. I came to use Twitter because of one of the previous "Things" programs. (Flashback 2009: me on Twitter) At first I didn't buy into Twitter; I basically saw no use for it. Then I gave it an extended try and I started using Twitter mainly for professional use (keeping Facebook mainly for family & friends). 

So how does Twitter replace my RSS feeds? I follow many librarians, tech people, others in higher education, and groups or organizations -- all of these people are talking about and sharing information & topics that are of interest to me in my profession as an academic librarian interested in technology, information literacy, higher education etc. I can quickly see tweets from these people and from that determine if I need or want to read or research a topic more. The 140 character tweet is that little info bite that sums up the topic. The tweets are what is trending now so they help to keep me updated. And the bonus over RSS feeds is if I have a question I can quickly post it and get replies. And don't forget the ease of sharing with others -- either by retweeting or tweeting on my own. I have the Twitter app on my iPhone and iPad plus I use TweetDeck (I handle multiple Twitter accts) on my PC. 

 Flipboard and Zite 
I've had both apps for a long time. I liked Flipboard's format although I don't tend to use it any longer. The main reason is I have it on my iPad and for work I tend to be on my PC more than anything. Zite I've used the least. I guess I haven't really given it a chance so maybe I'll check into it some more and see what it can offer me.

a day in the life of a library...the actual day

07/29/2009
Okay, so this is my account of a “day in the life of a library…” for yesterday, Tues, July 28th. My log is rather long & maybe includes too many mundane, boring things such as hrs prior to & after work … sorry so just skip over or skim. Overall my work day was a rather quiet one since it’s summer & with the economy, budgets etc we were pretty much at barebones basics for class offerings + utilizing online offerings so not the most foot traffic in the library either.

5:25 am
radio alarm breaks the silence; lay & listen for about 10 minutes to the crazy old DJ guys of which I am NOT in their demographic of 55-80 yr old males but my tastes in various things are all over the place so this fits; wish I was at the cabin instead but get up anyway

5:40 am
daily routine: shower & shampoo, TV news/weather, muffin, vitamins & juice, pack lunch, dry hair, do make-up, get dressed

6:30 am
out the door for ½ hr drive to work; continue Audio book CD “Sophie’s World”

7:00 am
arrive at work – park in different lot due to regular lot being reserved for an event; just have to remember this at the end of the day

7:05 am
look over newspapers for current events, news etc; check e-mail & phone msgs – for the library acct & my work acct & respond as needed

7:30 am
open library, turn on lights, check all things are in order for the day

7:40 am
review projects for student worker; review my schedule for the day/week – possible mtgs, commitments etc.

7:50 am
catch up on reading RSS feeds accumulated since I last worked on Fri; answer main switchboard call re: if we have a mtg in our library classroom today – nope; student worker arrives so briefly go over day’s plan; back to RSS feeds; pulled out into the library to assess lighting problems (burnt out bulbs, low/high wattage probs etc); finish RSS feeds until more come in

8:45 am
sit in on weekly general college Student Services’ mtg – mtg was cancelled so instead read some of the “day in a life” blogs; I especially enjoy the creativeness of the blog names

9:00 am
water cooler chat about the bears (see later in my day’s activities) with a co-worker who grew up in that area & went there before it was a sanctuary; shared my Monday’s “awaken to a bat in the cabin bedroom” story with student worker

9:20 am
picked up snail mail forthe library & me; sorted through for save/recycle/toss; give to student worker for processing; rec’d my CE credits & participation prize for “More Things on a Stick : A Library Learning 2.0 Program”

9:40 am
processed our renewal for the database “North American Indian Thought and Culture”

9:55 am
mid-morning snack of peanut butter on 1 slice of whole grain oat bread as fuel for entering some new items into our tech system

11:00 am
check e-mails, RSS feeds again. A favorite blog is WebWorkerDaily when their entries deal with new technology/apps/bells & whistles etc.

11:10 am
update my “day in the life” log for the morning's activities getting it ready for my blog

11:20 am
assist student in what should have been a quick internet search re: Minnesota Indian tribes but we encounter probs with research computers – while using Dogpile.com Internet Explorer goes into error msg mode. After trying 3 different machines I abandon them & go to the service desk computer and search with quick success. Then off to the IT Dept to get further assistance. Brad troubleshoots with me and still we run into probs so he determines it’s needed to update the patches. We use Deep Freeze on these machines so they might not have been updated recently and Deep Freeze not been reset.

12 noon
quickly fix a few label problems on some videos

12:15 pm
lunch w/gals from other areas/offices/depts as a way to connect & catch up on what’s happening in other areas

1:15 pm
check e-mails & respond; iron out details of an upcoming mtg (where, when, contact people etc); give directions to student worker for a sm project; ck on status of backordered DVD & status of 2 DVD replacements that were ordered

1:50 pm
inquired about install of security cameras in progress; checked w/contract workers working on finishing touches related to recent glass installation for noise reduction

2:05 pm
reviewed e-mails rec’d back in regards to some catalog record fixes that I had requested previously; cleaned up some other catalog records

2:20 pm
read some links from a fellow librarian with good info re: twitter uses/stats etc since I’m getting ready to start up a twitter acct for our library

2:40 pm
tried to handle an upset student at the circ desk who didn’t have a student ID card (she opted not to get one) & who wanted to check out several DVDs (our summer session ends tomorrow); our library barcodes are on the back of the ID cards and until a student/employee brings in the ID card the 1st time we don’t have the barcode entered or activated in our circ system (separate system from the student services system that creates the IDs); and now IDs won’t be issued again until the start of Fall semester. Hmmm…might have to come up with a better way to work-around for these ‘last minute’ students keeping in mind it would provide them better service even when they’ve ‘dropped the ball’ … but does this constitute ‘enabling’ them? Ok, I’m pretty sure that the point of this blog session wasn’t ethical situations in the library but it is food for thought.

3:00 pm
prep library for closing; makes rounds to ensure library patrons are heading out & don’t need last minute assistance – summer session hours are short and I am the only library staff person on duty save my student worker (when I have one); lock up about 10 minutes prior to the end of my day.

3:30 pm
leave work; ½ hr drive home; continue Audio book CD (darn thing is due today & I’m not going to finish! Is it a sin for a library worker to return an item late???)

4:00 pm
meet GZ at my house for 2 hr drive north to see the bears! Quick drive-thru food order at Virginia, MN & eat on the way

6:30 pm
arrive at The Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary – this was WONDERFUL even though it started to rain right after we got there. It did clear up after about 45 minutes & we stayed until the end so back to the truck and on the road by 9 for a 2 hr drive back.

11 pm
home again; hurry up to hit the bed ‘cuz 5:25 am comes quickly and I do like more than 6 hrs of sleep – oh, well the evening was especially fun!

Thing 41 -- Mashup your life

05/01/2009
okay, so another thing that I'm probably not buying into -- at least not right now. I did logon to Friend Feed -- I can be found at www.friendfeed.com/dianerauschenfels if you're so inclined to look for me. :0) I looked around a little bit trying to find a things group but I wasn't successful -- I only found Linda Wadman. ;)

I might consider trying HelloTxt as a way to update my status on facebook and twitter. Okay, so I took the time right now & signed up ... I got my twitter status to update but my facebook status didn't work ... hmmm, need more detective work but later ... it's lunchtime!!!

Back to Thing 31 -- More Twitter

03/30/2009
so I ran across this YouTube video and I LOVE it!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w

Thing 31 -- More Twitter

03/10/2009
Okay, so I've said I'm just not that into Twitter ... but I looked at a few of the suggested links.
- I quickly checked out Spy -- and spied on some recent facebook updates ... interesting I guess? I think my time is better spent on other things.

- I tried out Twitter Grader is see how I rank -- not so great (although not surprising since I've only posted twice1) -- I'm 1,424,024 out of 1,558,762 with a grade 6 out of 10 (how?).

I was surprised/interested to find that since my 2nd & 3rd tweets I've had 3 request to follow me -- a person I don't know, an organization I'm following, and my nephew!

I think, for at least now, I'm not convinved that I should be tweeting........

Thing 27 -- Twitter

03/02/2009
hmmm, not sure that I would find Twitter as something that I personally would use. I already use Facebook status updates for letting my group know what I'm doing. So I'll have to check into this a little more and think about it.

I will share an interesting use of Twitter that was in the Duluth News Tribune yesterday (Sunday, March 1, 2009) "Twitter's new twist: UMD journalists track use of handicap parking spots" ... here's a link to the article:
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/113658/