25 Social Networking Tools for Librarians

I found a great article today on 25 great networking sites for Librarians! Several of them we have already explored in the 23 things activities. But some are new and will be fun to look at in the future! There are also several other great articles on this site about how to avoid online procrastination. Of course none of us have that problem I am sure... :) And 25 facebook applications for online education.

Thing #19

Thing 19! Wow what a cool idea to put together a page of all the web2.0 winners. I first checked out the short list! I found several sites we had visted on the 23 Things project, as well as many new ones to explore. In my library I would definitely use this site to find new 2.0 tools to use to help my teachers and students search more effectively, organize bookmarks, tag sites, use online productivity tools and be more productive online.

Some of my favorites were Lulu where you can self publish your own book. I am sure this is something I will use in the future. I would love to write a book for my family for Christmas of Family Recipes. I could also use it with my students at school for a special project. I also found a neat site called Farecast to find the best fares for travel on the net, that will come in handy for summer break. I liked the Peer Trainer site, which is an online site to log your workouts, eating and progress toward fitness goals. You have an online support group to help you achieve your goals. 43 Things is an online goal setting site where others cheer you on toward your goals. What I learned most exploring this site is there is a site out there for everybody and many of these sites can save you a great amount of time! The categories for the awards were as diverse as the internet ranging from business applications, social networking to entertainment. This was fun to explore and I bookmarked it so I can checkout the other winners when I have more time!

Thing #22

Ningswere new to me. I first visited Texas School Librarians Ning and found a friend of mine already on the page. She is a librarian in FBISD. I also invited a teacher friend to join and explored some of the discussions and pages. I found a neat page of a Plano librarian who creates his own videos to use in the library. I also explored the Teacher Librarian Ning it has members from all over the world and has a wider view of the library world. I created a group here for all my fellow Librarians 2.0 in class to join and share as we start our careers as librarians! Nings are a great social networking tool for librarians and others to use.

I also added badges from both pages to my blog so others can check out the nings! I think Nings could be very useful to get input, ideas, comments, feedback etc. as we work as librarians. Often librarians feel isolated but with the internet, nings, wikis and other tools we are learning we will never be alone.