Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Thing 19 Casting out the social nets


I have never joined any social networking groups or online communities.  I am part of a mom’s group, a hula troupe, and a German organization, but nothing in the virtual world.  I signed up for the APSU TeacherPop website and spent time time looking around.  There are some areas in TeacherPop that I think I would use in the future.  It seems like a good place to find resources, suggestions, and feedback for education.  There is always a comfort in knowing that other people are having similar experiences.  It helps to have a place to find advice, get help, … and sometimes even vent frustrations.  After poking around TeacherPop, I clicked on a few of the other social networking sites that were listed as suggestions. 

The networking sites that I especially liked were Bake Space and Good Reads.  Since I love baking and cooking, I thought Bake Space would be a good place to start.  I did not think much of it at first, but as I began to click on different links, the site became much more interesting.  This site allows members to swap recipes, share ideas and tips, and even sell recipes.  I particularly likes the the section where you can make and publish your own cookbook.  Granted you will have to pay for it yourself, but hey, you will have an official looking cookbook!  Pretty cool!  There is also an interesting tab for a mentor program.  Here, you can connect with other members who have a culinary skill that you are interested in learning.  Through the website, those people will mentor you and help you learn that particular skill.  As if that is not enough, there is also a tab called My Kitchen, where you can save all the recipes, articles and cookbook reviews that you like.

The second networking site I reviewed was Good Reads.  I really liked this one because I love to read theme based novels.  According to its ‘About Us’ tab, it is the largest website for readers and book recommendations.  As I was exploring, I kept thinking, “Wow, this is really great.  I will totally use this.”  I kept reading and searching, and the next thing I knew, one hour had passed.  Yikes, I was so sidetracked by all the great things the website had to offer that I totally did not hear my laundry buzzer go off.  Now I will have to iron!  Ugh!  Anyway, there are a number of fantastic features on this website.  First, you can set up your own virtual bookshelf.  There are two areas within the bookshelf – one where you can ‘place’ the books that you have already read, and the other where you can list the books you want to read.  Once you finish reading a book, you move it over to the already read section.  This way, you will not have to remember if you already read a book, or if you overlooked a book within the series.  There is also another tab for book recommendations.  Here you can read reviews about books you might be interested in reading.  This will certainly save you a few dollars by not choosing a book that will be disappointing.  You can also leave your own review for the books you have read.  If you want, there is an opt-in option that will assess the books you have on your bookshelf, and then recommend other books in which you might be interested.  That is great, because I am always on the hunt for different authors within my chosen genres.  

If you are an avid reader, I highly recommend this website.  I am not one for keeping up on different websites, but I will definite use Good Reads.  It is a perfect match for me.  Now I can get rid of all my scraps of paper on which I write my newly found authors.  I usually lose these anyway and end up having to start all over again.
 
Bakespace website:  www.bakespace.com
            Goodreads website:  www.goodreads.com

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