Networking sociably pt 1 - Thing 6

Just when I thought I was catching up, things 8 and 9 got published today! So, will get onto those post-haste.
But for now, things 6 and 7 were networking - online and face-to-face.

Online
I'm not a natural social networker, so the CPD program has really pushed me to address this. As already posted, I rejoined Twitter and am trying to pursue this. It has definitely reinvigorated my interest in new developments and let me find lots and lots of cataloguing people, which is great. I use Facebook, too, but as I've said before, keep this solely for personal use.
I also took a little tour of a few of the other networks mentioned on the CPD blog:

I joined up for this but after a short time clicking around, quickly lost the will to continue. I really liked the look of the exemplar profiles posted on the CPD blog, but they also made me feel a bit inadequate too! I didn't want to create a poor profile, so haven't added anything yet, to give myself time to think about it. I couldn't quite get to grips with the whole thing tbh, so obviously need to devote a bit more attention to it. I also got a little confused about registration - is it enough to just sign up without paying, or do you only really get the benefit if you subscribe?

I have dipped in and out of Cilip Communities in the past, making the odd posting. For some reason, I find the logging into and navigating round the Cilip site more of a chore than I do for most other sites. But for this 'thing' I followed the short cut to the Cilip Communities sub-site which is perhaps what I should do in the future. I like the scope of coverage in the communities - you never quite know what you are going to find a comment on. I probably should visit this more often than I do, or at least investigate the RSS possibilities to see if I can view it through my blog reader instead.

I also recently signed up for Google+ after receiving an invite from a work colleague. My first thought, particularly as I've been signing up for a lot lately was - another network?!?
I’m sure there’s a lot more to this than I've been able to explore yet, but even so, I don’t feel convinced it’s enough to make me want to switch from the networks I’m already using.  I like the idea of circles of types of contacts, but I have been developing a pattern of using different sites for different purposes in any case, which seems to have suited well enough. And I think the crucial ‘problem’ for me is that I can’t find that many people I know on Google+ yet.

I have a feeling that it may be one of those things that I make a jump to in the future but only when it reaches the tipping point and everyone is using it. It makes little sense to be trying to network alone on a different site to everyone else, after all - slightly defeats the purpose, doesn't it.  I believe that you no longer need an invite to join, which makes me feel slightly less special already, but might mean that some more people that I know join it. So, we will see…