Tech Tips for Catholic Teens

As many of you may have heard, Summize.com has been acquired by Twitter.  For those who don’t know what Summize is (was), think Google for Twitter.  It lets you search Twitter for key words or phrases.

In a post titled “Finding a Perfect Match”, on the official Twitter blogsite, they stated the following:

“We’re excited to announce that Twitter has acquired Summize—an extraordinary search tool and an amazing group of engineers. All five Summize engineers will move to San Francisco, CA and take jobs at Twitter, Inc. This is an important step forward in the evolution of Twitter as a service and as a company.”

Below is a before and after shot of the Summize interface.

As you can see, there really isn’t much difference.

Want to search Twitter?

So I decided to give a new downloadable software a try.  It is called TweetDeck!  What is TweetDeck you ask?  Well, according to their website, “TweetDeck is an Adobe Air desktop application that is currently in public beta. It aims to evolve the existing functionality of Twitter by taking an abundance of information i.e twitter feeds, and breaking it down into more manageable bite sized pieces.”

Here are just some of the features I love about this little program:

• It enables users to split their main feed (All Tweets) into topic or group specific columns allowing a broader overview of tweets.
• Being database driven TweetDeck allows the user to continue twittering even when offline or when Twitter is down.
• Resize TweetDeck as either an unobtrusive column, full screen or anything in between.
• Especially useful running full screen on a separate monitor.
• You can filter tweets from up to 1 hour to the last 7 days using the Timeframe bar.
• Auto updates from the Twitter API.
• TweetDeck is available for Mac OS X, Windows (Vista & Windows XP), and Linux (manual installation).

I asked the TweetDeck Team if there will be skin/theme capabilities or different color options, as well as what other types of things are in the works?  The Developer & Co-Founder of TweetDeck, Iain Dodsworth, answered with the following:

“You’ll be pleased to know that there is a version of TweetDeck coming which will have multiple themes. We are also looking at notifications, support for different languages, integration with TwitPic. Then we will start with integrating other social networks, more about that nearer the time!”

If you are really into Twitter, this might be a program you will want to try for yourself.  Feel free to comment.

For the past few months, I’ve enjoyed using Twitter.com to stay in touch with friends. A few times a day (ok, more than a few), I take a break from what I’m doing and pop over to Twitter to see what my online buddies are up to. Since I work from home, Twitter has made my workday feel a bit less isolated. But those of you who use Twitter know that, as of late, it’s been down more than it’s been up, with repeated service outages.

So today, I finally took the leap and followed a few of my friends over to Plurk.com to check it out. Since I’m a type A personality, Plurk’s funky timeline approach is a bit chaotic for me. I’ve started posting, but will admit to feeling a bit more at home in the “mobile” view which replicates Twitter’s more linear approach.

The big question for a Personal Productivity blogger is this - does use of either of these social networking applications contribute to or detract from getting things done? I think the answer lies in a person’s self discipline - if you can master your ability to use these types of sites as tools to communicate and occasionally socialize, then sign up and get started using them. If, however, you find yourself distracted by the constant barrage of cross-chat to the extent that you can’t get your work done, you’re better off not venturing anywhere near them. The more “friends” you connect with in these sites, the more information there is to keep up with. Another important thing to note is that these communities flourish and do well as communication tools only if you play your part. Use them to share information that is helpful for your contacts and don’t abuse their intent.

For me, the jury’s still out on which quick update site will win my vote - for now, I’m going to try to update both a few times a day and watch what happens. More importantly, I’m going to see which site - Twitter or Plurk - ultimately adds to my ability to get things done.

Do you have a preference? Chime in - I’d love to hear from you! And if you’re on either site, feel free to follow/friend me:

Twitter / LisaHendey
Lisa on Plurk

This post is courtesy of the Productivity @ Home Blog.

This past weekend I attended the first ever PodCamp Ohio.  It was great!  I learned some new stuff and, had I not had this stupid head-cold, probably made some new friends. While at the event, I heard a lot of chatter about Ping.fm, which is a new service that makes it simple to update your many social networks.

Now one of the other things that I learned while at PodCamp Ohio, in the “Orchestrating a Viral Explosion” session, was how to drive “talk” about your online program/application by making it “invite only”.  To suggest that a person is part of an elite.  Gmail is a perfect example of a company that tried this tactic and found it to be quite successful.  This is why Ping.fm is requiring a “beta key code” to join.  Notice that on their login page they give you a hint that it is pretty easy to acquire this important key code. All you need to do is simply contact them and ask for one.  So, does this type of product campaign work?  I’m blogging about, so I would have to say that in many cases it does.  Go get your beta code and see what Ping.fm is all about!

Over at Pro Blogger, Daniel Scocco has a very good look at the etiquette related to the use of Social Networking sites. Take time to read through the comments, which give added value to the article. If you’re using social networking tools to market your work, you want to make sure you are following these rules rather than driving folks away from you by your online behavior. I witnessed something last week on one of these sites that changed my impression of one of the participants (and not for the better). Good to know the culture of these places before diving in!  What Are The Unspoken Rules of Social Networks?

This post is courtesy of the Productivity @ Home Blog.

Here is a neat widget by Widgetbox called the Blog Badge.

The Blog Badge is completely customized and allows you to add links to some of the hottest web 2.0 communities: Digg, LinkedIn, Mahalo, Twitter, Mixx, Flickr, Delicious, Pownce, StumbleUpon, eBay, Facebook, MySpace, Wordpress, Blogger and more. You can choose which to show and adding them is easy: simply enter your user ID or the URL to your public profile (based on the form below).

Tip: If you are adding the widget to your MyChurch.org profile then copy the JavaScript code into your profile settings.

On Mondays, Lisa M. Hendey shares her thoughts on Working @ Home.

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” - Bernard Russell

One of my favorite podcasters, Fr. Roderick Vonhögen of SQPN.com, has been doing a lot of talking lately about “Facebook Fatigue” and the annoyance of things like constantly being asked to join a wicked Pirates vs. Ninjas battle or accept a mixed drink from a “friend” he’s never met. For big guys like Fr. Roderick who have friends in the four figures, use of Social Networking sites helps advance their agenda but can also lead to a drop in personal productivity.

I love Facebook, Twitter, UStream and all of the other places I gather to network and socialize with friends around the world. But I’m learning to carefully discipline myself when it comes to the use of these new media applications. Since I work at home and no one’s going to bust my chops for playing Scrabulous instead of working, the temptation is always present to just hop over to Twitter and spend half an hour checking in on short blurbs about what my friends are doing. A blog post at Geeks Are Sexy even helps put Twitter friends on Snooze - so others must be caught up in the same time dump I find myself enjoying.

I’m learning to take breaks at scheduled times in my workday to interact with these particular sites and to turn them off when I’m working. They can serve as a reward for getting things done, or can provide a needed respite when my brain feels fried at the end of a long day. How do you manage your social networking time and what tips do you have for keeping your use of these tools productive?

Home-Work for Today:

• Examine your use of social networking sites today, documenting every minute you spend on these sites. If you conclude that the time being spent on them is cutting into your productivity, create a schedule for their usage.

Best of the Blogs:
(recent posts related to today’s topic of Working @ Home)

• 7 Killer Applications for the BlackBerry
• Getting Productive with Facebook Apps

This post is courtesy of the Working @ Home Blog.