Facebook

I just created a Facebook account and I can see why people are so into it. It is interesting to see accounts of people that you have not seen for a while or to just look to see what other people's interest are. I felt like a slack having such a plain profile so I may have to go back and change that at some point, especially since it is easy to use the network to find people (I searched library and I came up as the fourth entry). The applications seem easy enough to use but I would like to take some more time to select any before adding them. Overall I found Facebook easy to use and I can see why people like this tool as a way to network.

OverDrive

I did find working with this tool gave me a better understanding of how it works. I did not realize you needed the OverDrive Media Console to transfer the downloads. I did transfer a book to my MP3 play and found it relatively easy. However, when I went to place a hold on an item it did not recognize my card, so I will have to go back and try it again. This was a good exercise since I will feel more comfortable helping people with OverDrive and I enjoyed the easy so I plan on using it myself.

Podcast Search

I found the site Podcast.net to be the most useful when searching for different subjects. I found that it broke down subjects more specifically, and with so many podcast available I found this helpful.

Several times while searching these sites I came across the podcast Grammar Girl. I decided it was an interesting idea for a podcast and added this one to my bloglines account . If found it was as simple as adding a RSS feed.

Use of You Tube

I posted this video below about the recent Big Read for the Joy Luck Club because I think it demonstrates how You Tube can be used to market an event. Of course we have similar postings, including one for our upcoming Anime Convention. These simple videos can make a program look more interesting since You Tube can be a tool to create an active multimedia campaign to make library programs seem up to date and interactive.

I found up loading the embedded code fairly easy to set up. It would be interesting to see the other side of the process. I would like to know how hard it is to make and load videos on to You Tube or other websites.

zillow

I went the real estate section of the Web 2.0 Awards and found a site I was familiar with, Zillow. When I previously used this site I did not think about it being a Web 2.0 tool but with the helpful map mashup this site is clear that this is a helpful Web 2.0 site. For the buyers this site makes it easy to see where a property is located and what similar properties are going for. For the buyer this seems to be an easy way to get your property online through this popular website.

Even having a section like real estate also makes me keep in mind how many ways Web 2.0 tools can be effectively used.

online productivity

I found Zoho to be a good document format. Having used Google Documents before I found that Zoho had several additional features with such tools as their additional layouts. I also found that they had a pretty good selection of additional tools like their wiki creator and I especially liked their spread sheet option. Online productivity tools has been one of my favorite Web 2.0 functions. The portability and the ease of sharing and publish these items is a good addition the the web.