I have had a g-mail account for quite some time now, so am somewhat familiar with the Google+ offering. I mainly use my G-mail as my personal email account and have of course used YouTube, Google Earth and so on.
I was unaware of the functionality of the various apps available through Google+ such as Blogger, Hangouts etc and it seems that potentially these apps could be very useful in a library setting. Hangouts has great potential as a communications tool. Scenarios where it could be used in my work environment could be as a communications tool with our off-campus libraries. Similarly Hangouts - on -air has great potential as a training tool for off-campus staff.
Google+ is also very impressive as a networking platform for either, family, friends or colleagues. Which leads to my next thought?
With the multitude of online platforms available to us such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, are we in danger of social media overkill??
Reasonably, how many social media platforms does a professional librarian need to be active on?
From the modules I have completed so far, Google+ would be my preferred option as it is so versatile and offers so much functionality.
Regarding LinkedIn, is it imperative that we have a presence on it?
Hi Brigid
ReplyDeleteYou raise some very interesting questions in your post! I think that one of the aims of Rudai23 is to get people to simply try out new tools, and in the end you will choose the ones that suit you best. Personally, I use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus, but all for different reasons. Briefly:
Facebook: for keeping in touch with family and friends, and for sharing interesting photos.
Twitter: mostly as a professional network tool, for collaboration with colleagues and peers. Also for some serious, yet informal, learning.
LinkedIn: for keeping in touch with colleagues and past-pupils. I do not update my profile as much as someone who might be using LinkedIn for job-seeking, but I find that the alumni group that was set up for my graduates is a great resource for the students sharing job opportunities amongst each other.
Google Plus: I use this mostly for reading articles from Communities that I am interested in (mostly tech stuff). It's also a great place to ask a question, if you find the right community, as there are usually plenty of users that are happy to share their knowledge.
So, I think it's okay to use many of the tools in parallel for different reasons. I don't think there's a "holy grail" platform that will do everything in one place for everyone. It is a matter of trying them out and building your own personal online environment to meet your needs.
The Rudai23 Team