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Permalink Reply by Cathy Jo Nelson on April 30, 2007 at 9:06pm

Julia, the bottom of the home page for the social network and the forum (and most other pages in the social network--members, videos, etc.) have RSS feeds. This means you can track them through the use of an aggregator--I'm using Bloglines. Each afternoon when I get home from work--before i start supper, I sit down with my laptop, log in to Bloglines, and read up on the feeds that i am subscribed to. In my Bloglines, I have a folder for Ning, and it contains the feeds from Ning I want to track. My daily dose of my bloglines can be compared to reading a couple of newspapers or magazines. It doesn't take a whole lot of time --for me less than an hour to read up on the feeds I follow. In my Bloglines, I can skim to decide if I want to read it more carefully or skip--yes, sometimes there is stuff i am not even remotely interested in. When I am invited to be a "friend," if don't know them, I check to see what kind of other social networks they are joining---sometimes that weeds out a few, as I am not even remotely interested in material that is risky or questionable. I visit the Ning once or twice a day, just to see how many members there are in the social networks I am interested in, but for the most part, i have found that I can follow most of what is there right through my aggregator (Bloglines.) If you are not usin an aggregator, you might want to check out Bloglines, GoogleReader, or a few others. The aggregator really will help manage the new information posted, and best, it's delivered to you in one place, instead of you having to visit many blogs or Nings. Hope this makes sense.

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Permalink Reply by Janice Banser on May 1, 2007 at 10:31am

Hi Julia,

Like Cathy, I use bloglines and manage to read way too many blogs and newsites at home. I really like the folder idea.

However, part of my job is to stay on top of new technology and I have posted topics in the forum asking for input from the community on issues at work. In that respect, I do put aside a small period of time at the very end of my work day usually to review relevant postings.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer G on May 2, 2007 at 9:20pm

I read the Casey and Savastinuk article in Library Journal from some time ago--Sept 06, maybe? I didn't realize that they now had a book. How is it?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Costa on May 2, 2007 at 8:27am

If you use the network to communicate about professional ideas, then I believe you can check it during work hours. If you're trolling the boards looking for dates, well then you need to do that on your own time.

For most professionals, the lines between work and play are really blurry. I am not big on employers that draw distinct lines, it takes the fun out of what I do. Plus, there is some really good, practical information here.

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