Tubarks Tales, Episode #7

This is another episode of Tubarks Tales; I will be talking about my processing for starting each work day .

Emailing to Diigo – my new best friend

I often review articles using my iPad. If I want to keep an article, I try to save it in Diigo. However, I am not happy with iPad tools used for saving to Diigo. I would like to introduce you to my new friend.

Save links and notes to Diigo by email.

Now when I find a great article, I can email it to my Diigo account. This will save me time and energy as I collect worthwhile links.

Finding your Diigo Email address

1. Go to https://www.diigo.com/tools, ensure that you are logged in.
2. Click on the Save by Email link.
3. Add your Diigo email address as a contact to all your email programs.

Sending links to Diigo

The Diigo instructions explain that you can tag an entry by including tags to the end of your subject in this format:

Title of bookmark/note #Tag1 #Tag2

It is important to note that if the first line is a URL, then it will be saved as a bookmark. The rest of the email content will be saved as description.
If the first line is not a URL, it will be saved as a note.

 

Experimenting with Diigo

I am an avid social bookmarker (over 8,200 saved items) and I like to blog, it is time to marry the two activities together. I was inspired by reading Summer Learning Series-Doing More And Learning More With Diigo. I had previously experimented with autoposting before, but I was posting everything I was saving; I think that was too much. I am now planning to post once a week based on a unique tag. Not only will I cherry-pick the articles I want to share, but I will also take the time to jot a note to indicate why I thought it was worth sharing.

Keep an eye out for the first post next week, and let me know how I am doing.

7 Essential Back to College Applications

Well, at the University of Wyoming, courses are in full session. With that in mind, here are my recommendations for applications that I believe all students should have close at hand. These applications were chosen based on versatility and accessibility. All of these applications and Web programs can be reached from desktop computers as well as mobile devices. Personally, I would recommend loading the applications on all your devices so you can reach them from home, work, school, and on the road.

It is time to do a a social media spring cleaning

Spring Cleaning

With spring right around the corner, it is a good time to do a little social media spring cleaning. Here is are some suggestions for knocking the cob webs from your social media sites.

Facebook

Facebook continuously adds and removes features. Here are some ideas for both your personal profile and fan pages.

• Review your profile settings. Click on your name in the upper right corner and then on Update Info button under your cover photo.
  • This is a great time to ensure your settings are how you want them.
  • Is it time for a new profile picture?
  • Are you featuring the people you want to feature? with the right relationship?
  • Have you included your education and work information? While certainly optional, this is a nice way to find old friends.
  • You should also update your philosophy, arts and entertainment, sports, and activities and interests.
  • Finally, you should review and update your contact information. Are all your social media sites interconnected?
• Review your profile privacy settings.  Click on the “gear”  in the upper right corner and then click on Privacy Settings.
  • Review each of the settings, and adjust them to where you feel comfortable.
  • Once you have updated your privacy settings, select Apps from the left hand menu and clean out all of the applications you no longer use.
• Review your “friends” and lists. Click on your name in the upper right corner and then click on Friends.
  • This a great time to purge your lists of those names unfamiliar to you or individuals that you wish to drop.
  • Lists are a great way to manage your Facebook views. From the Friends link, you can create new lists by clicking on the Create a List link.
• Review all of your Fan pages. Go to your fan page and select Edit Page from the admin panel.
  • Starting with the Update Info. Is your Basic Information Current? This is a great time to make any updates.
  • determine how you want to post to the page, and when you want to be notified of activity on your site.
  • Review and update the Manage Permissions settings.
  • Is it time for a new Profile Picture?
  • You can also identify with pages and page owners your would like to be Featured.
  • Have you considered adding additional admins to help manage the load, you can do this through Admin Roles.

If you take time to go through this list for your Facebook pages, your site will be considered spring cleaned.

Twitter

When cleaning up your Twitter accounts, yes, I have multiple accounts, I recommend attending to three basic chores: removing inactive users, create lists to manage the individuals you are following, create Twitter newsletters to keep you informed, and update your profile.

• Removing inactive accounts. Sometimes it is time to cull the herd. There is a very useful program to identify users who are just not active with Twitter, it is called Untweeps. I personally set it for 90 days to give users the benefit of the doubt. Select the accounts you want to remove and submit the results.
• Create a list to manage users. Lists are a great way to manage conversations on Twitter. You can create a list to follow users around a specific them. Check out this post to learn more about creating lists.
• Create Twitter newsletters to keep you informed. I have found Twitter newsletters using paper.li to be a great way to stay informed. Here is more information about Twitter newsletters.
• Update your profile. You should take this opportunity to update your profile.  Log into Twitter, and select Profile then Edit your profile.  At this point, you can update your account information, password, mobile phone settings, notification settings, profile information, design and connections to applications. It is always a good idea to review which applications are accessing your accounts. Naturally, revoke access to accounts you no longer use.

With four simple things to do, you can have a squeaky clean Twitter account.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an important networking tool, but like most tools it needs to be cleaned and oiled. Here are some things you can do to keep LinkedIn servicing you needs.

• Update your profile. When is the last time you reviewed your profile? Have you changed jobs or responsibilities? Have you updated your profile picture? Have you updated the new skills feature? Have you been published? What about your education? This is also a great time to update your Web sites, Twitter accounts, and interests.
• Examine the groups you are following. Are they serving you well? Are there some you should drop because they are inactive? This may be a good time to join some new groups.
• This is also a good time to reach out to those you worked with and ask for a recommendation.  Speaking of recommendations, you should also review your contacts and take a moment to hand out some much deserved recommendations.
• Update your settings. To locate the Settings link, move your cursor over your name in the top right of your home page. Here you can update your email preferences, group preferences, applications that you use, and your basic account information.
• Update the applications you use. Under the More tab, you have an opportunity to add or delete applications you way want to use. Some applications are extremely beneficial, I personally use seven of them.
• Finally, it is time to review your contacts. You should purge your contact list of names which you are unfamiliar or who simply do not use LinkedIn. Focus on the contacts who will help you succeed and who you help to succeed.

Diigo

Diigo is a great tool for managing favorite links… at least, in my opinion. I only have a couple of suggestions for spring cleaning Diigo: update your profile, update your tags, update your network, and update your groups.

• Update your profile. This is a great opportunity to update you profile. Click on your name that the top of the screen and then select Profile. Review and update your information under the Basic, Interests, Privacy, Me elsewhere, and Picture tabs.
• Update your tags.  I personally have 817 different tags. In some cases, I have a basic name and a plural of that name; it would be useful to consolidate. In other cases, I have only one or two bookmarks under a tag; again, it may be good to consolidate. To edit your tags, go to My Library and then click on Edit next to My Tags.
• Update your network. Click on My Network and see if your network is serving your needs.  This is a good time to search through your contacts and add new ones, or look the individuals you are following and drop them if they are no longer beneficial.
• Finally, update your groups. Look at your groups, again, are they beneficial to you. If not, enter the group and Quit group. Perhaps you have new interests, this is a great time to search out and follow new groups.

Google+

Google+ is another great tool for keeping abreast and discussion issues. I only have a couple of suggestions for spring cleaning Google+: update your profile, update your tags, update your network, and update your groups.

• Update your profile. Take a moment to review an update your profile. Click on your name that the top of the screen and then select View Profile. Then click on the “gear” and choose settings. Review and update your information such as who can interact with you, how you will receive notifications, manage apps and circles, and profile information. Update your image as necessary.
• Review your Circles.  Check your circles to see if you are benefiting from the individuals you are following. To do this, click on Find People button on the left hand menu, and then the Your circles tab at the top. Click on a circle to review its membership.
• Update how much news you wish to see from each circle. Click on Home and then click on a circle name from the tabs provided at the top of the news list.  Adjust the slider to control how much news you want to have appear from that particular circle.
• Finally, update your communities. Look at your communities, again, are they beneficial to you. If not, enter the community, Click on the Actions dropdown menu, and Leave Community. Perhaps you have new interests, this is a great time to search out and follow new communities.

If you have completed these tasks, you have gone a long way to cleaning up your social media presence. If you think I missed something important, please leave a comment.