I thought I’d put out a post on how to follow stuff that I write. I’m not doing this for ego needs but because I’m noticing that things are shifting, and I think it would be interesting to mark where I am now and check in again next year. So here goes:
I write a column for every issue of SLA’s Information Outlook. I generally try to post the pre-editorial draft of these to my blog around when the come out in print.
I write a column for every issue of Information Today’s Internet @ Schools. These are embargoed for 90 days and then I post a pre-editorial draft of these to my blog around when the good copy comes out in print.
I often write chapters of books and have two on the go right now.
I also write forewords, reviews, and endorsements for the books of friends. I seem to know a lot of excellent library authors!
I predict that I’ll still be doing print publishing well into the future. That said, I find that I can find more things I’ve written (or forgotten) in Google Books using freetext search than in library OPAC’s and WorldCat. So I guess we’ve entered a truly hybrid ecology for book discovery.
Electronic Media:
I post most everything I want to keep track of to my blog (this blog Stephen’s Lighthouse). It’s a good memory aid and some folks find it useful.
I’ve been known to do guest posts on other blogs and I usually link to them from the Lighthouse.
On the Lighthouse blog every post’s headline is also posted as a title and shortened link to my Twitter feed (@sabram).
Sometimes, but not very often, I post blog stuff to my Facebook (Stephen Abram) page. Be warned that you won’t get everything on Facebook).
I occasionally write stuff for Cengage marketing like white papers as well as website content.
I am in Google+ and have posted a few things there. I’m not feeling it yet but I’ll keep playing there.
Social Media:
I am on the following social media sites:
Twitter
Facebook
Facebook Branchout
LinkedIn
Plaxo
Google+
SlideShare
Foursquare
Gowalla
Below, I’m here too but don’t do much. I’m just playing there to learn:
Groupon
Yelp
Quora
ALA
Presentations
I try to post all of my PowerPoint slides to SlideShare and link to them from my blog.
There are probably more but that’s all I check with any regularity. Some of these I play with just to learn more about them. If I was a normal person I’d probably simplify and just do my blog and use Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Twitter.
I guess it isn’t dead considering how much e-mail I get! I maintain five e-mail accounts. My business e-mail is cengage.com and my personal e-mail is gmail.com. I have Hotmail, Yahoo!, and Sympatico accounts that I use for research but I don’t check them very often. I do groom them occasionally just to delete the spam.
I occasionally (every 2-3 months), but not obsessively, track what’s happening with my e-presences using Google Analytics.
Anyway, there’s where it stands just before Labour Day 2011.
Stephen

5 Responses
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ummm…you forgot newsreaders. I set up my google reader and never miss a thing!
Anne: You’re right. I have over 1,000 RSS feeds coming at me in Google Reader. I still miss old Bloglines but I’m fully converted now. I do see RSS readers as tools but no too much as communication or social things.
Stephen
I also miss Bloglines!
Can I ask how you prefer to be contacted? I find myself struggling with this sometimes when communicating with people with whom I am connected over multiple platforms.
Amy: Everything works. E-mail is the best way to get a fast answer and have me remember but I have all my Twitter DM’s and Facebook messages forwarded to e-mail just to make sure. I always check any tags on FB or mentions on Twitter.
Stephen