Facebook and online communities
Just about a year ago, my daughter was in Costa Rica doing a research project for college. A 7.0 earthquake hit the area where she was staying. Even before I heard the news of the earthquake, she had posted to her Facebook page that she was okay. That saved me and all of her other family and friends a lot of worry! I keep up with both my kids, nieces and nephews, new friends and old friends on Facebook. It’s a fun place to share pictures and just tidbits of random thoughts, kind of like casual conversation. One of my goals for this year is to use Atchison Library’s Facebook page to connect with the community in a casual conversation way.
A couple of years ago, I joined a Ning group for Colorado birdwatchers because I was planning a trip there and wanted to connect with some fellow birders and maybe join up with a tour. Ning is a platform that allows people with similar interests to form their own social networking group. For this week’s 23 Things activity, I decided to see what other Ning groups have formed for birdwatchers.
Birdspace is a “Social Network for Birders, Bird Watchers and Bird Photographers” so I decided to join that. There are lots of beautiful photos, and a recommendation for the book Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share The World’s Greatest Destinations. I’m going to definitely check that one out. Yay, road trips!
Webjunction has an online community, too. I am going to friend some of you there. Funny, isn’t it, that “friend” is now a verb? So is “unfriend” – which was named the word of the year for 2009 by the New Oxford American Dictionary. I guess that’s fitting for an unfriendly kind of year.
Hi! My name is Elizabeth and I work at the Coffey County Library – Burlington Branch. Great blog! That is too funny that “friend” is now a verb. Good to see that the dictionary is keeping up with the times!
I see that you are a ning member. Is there anyway that you can search for people on there? I’m trying to figure out how to search for others taking the 23 Things class. I’m not understanding it too well, at least not the best ways to navigate to areas you are interested in.
Hi, Elizabeth! You can explore Ning networks that you might be interested in by going to http://www.ning.com/discover and search by categories. I didn’t find that very helpful, though, because I didn’t know which category I would find networks about birds. So I just did a google search and that’s how I found Birdspace. Anyone can create a Ning network and then invite people to join it. I have a friend who created one for her family. Now they have a private space where they can post – kind of like their own family “Facebook”.
Hello there, Diana!
I am so excited for you~ this wonderful world of blogging can be quite an adventure! I never thought that I could make so many wonderful friendships in cyber-space! I will be keeping up with your articles and would love to check out that birdwatching site! I think I’ll hop right over there now…
Have a fantastic Sunday, the sun is shining…*woohoo*!!!
See you Monday!
Christina