Free blogging, IM, Flickr and Polling Toolboxes

I discovered a few good lists lately of top tools (free and fee) for three areas that I think are useful for play, display and deployment for libraries.
1. Here’s a list of over 90 instant messaging services. It covers the popular IM clients, mulit-network IM clients, web-based IM and mobile IM. Bring the library staff back into your website – on every page.
2. Here’s a list of over 40 free blog hosts. Every blogger has their favorite and you can get a wide range of answers to the question of what blogging software to use when you ask the blogger commnuity. Here’s an easy way to try out a few or adopt one that’s cost free (although not effort and creativity free).
3. And if you want to take a few polls, here a list of 40+ polling software tools. You can test everything from did-you-like-that-book/event to testing support for bond issues and new branches.
4. Lastly, here’s a Flickr toolbox of over 100 apps. It covers desktop apps, Firefox extensions, fun and games, greasemonkey scripts, plug-ins, tools and widgets. Since so many libraries are using Flickr to document their events and store their photos, this appears to be a useful list for ideas and moving the service to the next level!
I’ve heard from a number of largely poorer and mostly rural libraries that they can’t participate in therse 2.0 type opportunities because they don’t have the money. I can understand that it’s difficult when there are less staff and less support for technology and that it can be very difficult. However, most of these 2.0 type things can be tried for free. You don’t need to try everything at once since that that would be truly overwhelming. Simply choose one and find a buddy. Play a bit and launch it when you’re ready not when someone from afar tells you too. Have a little fun breaking the poverty mindset and inertia. Not every technology is right for your town. But some might be.
Stephen