Thing 6: Digg & Reddit...[et al]

I'd never really been the type to keep up with news and such very much, but these sites seemed quite useful. I knew of Digg and Reddit before, but I never really used them. I would see Digg buttons on news stoies all the time, and I kind of knew the general idea of the site, but I never actually went there and checked it out. They actually do seem pretty interesting, the way that users choose the main news stories. Of all of them though, I think Mixx was the one that interested me the most. The layout of the site just seemed a bit more organized and professional to me I suppose. Not to say that the other sites aren't organized, something about Mixx just caught my eye. Also, of the four, Newsvine was my least favorite. Just as something caught my eye about Mixx, something about Newsvine just appeared very unappealing to me.

Aside from these news sites, I actually recently began using StumbleUpon regularly (which is funny considering they mention it in this Thing). I just made an account the other day, and I'm pretty hooked. I find it to be a good time waster; just click your preferences, and Stumble! Then in no time, you're presented with website after website of things that might interest you. Sure, from time to time you'll hit a lame site, but I've actually "Stumbled Upon" a bunch of really interesting sites, stories, and blogs that I would have never found otherwise. Thanks StumbleUpon!

Thing 5: Beyond MyFaceSpaceBooking

Well, once again, I already had a Twitter prior to doing this... Thing... I had joined probably just under a year ago, right before the Twitter bug hit the entire population, or at least that's how it seemed to occur. I actually followed an interesting usage curve over the past few months of being a "Tweeter."

• First, prior to actually joining Twitter, I held the same opinion as many others that I've spoken to that are also Twitter-virgins: "I don't get it, isn't it just like... Facebook statuses?"
• I ended up joining because I lost internet, thus no Facebook access, so I thought I'd give Twitter a shot to help me stay in touch with my friends more conveniently through SMS notifications.
• I quickly became an addict, Tweeting many times everyday. The addiction grew as more and more of my friends joined and I reached a point where my friends and I would have @reply conversations going... sometimes with all of us in the same room...
• Recently, I've hit my downward slope on my Twitter curve. I've actually turned off my SMS notifications and only Tweet occasionally.

All in all, I think Twitter and other social journals can be a very useful social communication tool, as long as they're not abused and overused.

Thing 4: Social Media

As I'm sure almost everyone can say upon finishing this Thing, I already had MySpace and Facebook. Hell, half my aunts and uncles have a Facebook and even my friend's grandma has one! I know there are still some out there that don't have a Facebook (luckily my parents are two of those people) but it feels like it's only a matter of time until it reaches them too. I'm actually not really planning on using either my MySpace or Facebook for professional networking. While I know they will play a role on the professional side of networking, I plan on using it for more of the social aspect. I keep my profile very limited to the public and try to screen the friends I accept and deny. Even then, I screen my profile for select people to only see limited information. When it comes to the professional side of networking, I plan to start a LinkedIn, which I've actually heard lots of good things about. I may not have much experience in the Graphic Design field yet, but I quite a few contacts that I'm hoping can help me get my foot in the door, and I'm hoping LinkedIn will help them help me. In fact, maybe I'll start one now =)

Thing 3: Online Communication

The main thing that I was looking for on the My Ai Campus site was an events calendar so that I can make sure to keep up with everything going on from day to day. Unfortunately, there was nothing on the My Ai Campus site, but I was able to eventually find it elsewhere.

I also had actually already completed the challenge for this Thing when I first set up my account. I just find it much more useful to forward my school email to my Gmail since that's the one that I use most often. For most anything that I sign up for where I would need to provide an email, that's the one I use; aside from my junk account, my Gmail is what I use as my more professional account. Now, rather than having to log in to both accounts everyday, I just need to go to one place ^_^ (I know it may sound a bit hypocritical especially considering my opinion on using RSS feeds from my last blog hahah).

Thing 2: Set Up and RSS Account and Add Feeds

I've always seen those RSS feeds and subscribe buttons on practically every site and wondered what they were and what an RSS feed was but never actually bothered to find out... well now I know. Having an aggregator account like Google Reader really does seem quite handy if you check a lot of news sites or sites with daily stories. However, I don't really follow those kinds of sites much; there are a few that I check occasionally, but not often enough to warrant the use of an RSS feed. Another thing for me is that I have gotten used to the routine of checking my daily sites and actually enjoy it. If I could use Google Reader and just have everything right in one place all at once, sure it would be convenient, but that kind of takes some of the fun out of it for me hahah.

So, at least for now, the verdict is in for me: RSS feeds, while simple and convenient, just not my cup of tea.

Thing 1: Set Up Your Blog

Alright, so basically, the fact that I am here actually able to write this and you (assuming someone will actually be reading this) are sitting there reading it is proof positive that I was able to successfully set up my Blogger blog, Ta-Da!!! It really wasn't all that difficult; fairly self explanatory with easy directions.

Aside from Blogger, I'm not exactly new to the blogging community. I started out on LiveJournal probably around 6 years ago, but have since stopped using it. From there I moved on to Xanga for a few years, but this past year I stopped using that as well. I currently have a Tumblr which I use relatively often; mainly to blog about random stuff and let people get to know me better. If you're interested, you can find it at KalYouByeIn.tumblr.com I don't exactly have the most interesting life in the world, so please don't get your hopes up, hahah.

I'm brand new to the school and don't know many people, so I'm hoping this might be one way I can kind of start to meet people. If you're interested in making a new friend, don't be afraid to subscribe, comment, get in touch with me on here somehow, I'll be hoping to do the same ^_^ I'll be finishing off these 16 Things as an assignment, but I'm thinking I might stick with the blog after that too; just talk about the school, experiences, classes, assignments, etc. so any and all feedback would be much appreciated.

See ya next Thing =P