Sunday, May 10, 2009

TSS - Networking in the Blogosphere

I am not a morning person by nature, so I need to allow plenty of time to wake up before I officially start my day. My typical routine is to start with a cup of coffee (that was pre-assembled the night before and put on a timer), read my emails, and catch up on book blogs. Just recently I have added checking the tweet deck to the schedule. Weekends are the best (for a variety of reasons) but some of my favorite posts happen over the weekend: Weekly Link Round Ups (most notably Beth Fish and Kittling: Books), Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon, and The Sunday Salon. I can spend hours following all the links to all the book-related posts and enjoy every single minute!

This morning I felt as though I were playing the children's game Operator. (You know, all kids stand in a line and the child at the head of a line whispers a message to the child next to them. The secret is then whispered down the line until the last person has to reveal it. And of course, the message has been so garbled along the way that it is never accurate.) The difference between the adult "internet" version that I play and this childhood version is that the secret is ALWAYS accurate because we have hyperlinks to lead us to the direct source.

Here is the example: This morning I read Nymeth's tweet that she had uploaded her Sunday Salon post. I followed the hyperlink and read her amazing post of all the books she currently wants to read (added at least 4 books to my ever growing TBR pile). Nymeth credited Debi with the idea of using one TSS posting in May to create a Coveted Books List in honor of Dewey. Well, of course I had to visit Debi's blog, my first time ever, and spent quite a bit of time looking over her entries (found an amazing idea to use my classroom next year, but that will be the subject of another post). I then followed the link to Dewey's Sunday Book Covet posts and read through them to discover the history behind this great idea (I am so sorry that joined the book blogosphere too late to enjoy this great woman's dedication to the love of reading).

So there you have it: from one tweet message I found 4 books to read, one new blog to follow, a great teaching idea, and an opportunity to learn more about a beloved book lover. Have you had a similar "operator" experience in the blogosphere? Isn't it wonderful?!

13 comments:

  1. Blogging is truly an education. I have found loads of books unheard of before blogging. BTW I'll get back to you later in the week; I love the Summer Vacation Reading Challenge.

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  2. This happens to me too, Molly. :-) One link leads to another and then another. I am not always so good about keeping up with Twitter, but it has lead me to some very interesting conversations.

    I hope you have a great week!

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  3. This happens to me too. I am very choosy as far as who I follow so that I am really reading only what I truly want to read as far as blog posts, twitter, etc. One link always leads to another though so sometimes I have to "turn it off" and remind myself of the ever growing stack of books that are already calling my name.

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  4. This is one of the best parts of blogging. There are so many wonderful books out there and so many I'd never hear about if I didn't blog. This is a bad thing, too, considering I have so many books of my own and don't precisely "need" more. At least, not for a few years. ;)

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  5. We all loved Dewey. She united us. I do miss her times, especially when I do my book coveting posts!

    TSS: Sunday Book Coveting

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  6. I know how you feel! If I weren't a book blogger, my reading pile would be comparatively tiny. To me, the best part of blogging is discovering all the great books that other people are reading!

    BTW, I finally installed Tweet Deck today and I LOVE it! :-D I was inspired after reading your post.

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  7. That's the beauty of bloggimg to connect and find wonderful books and posts. For me, it's finding a balance with time in fitting it all in. I just joined Twitter this week and plan to install the Tweet Deck.

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  8. That's what happens. You start out with the best intention and suddenly it's three hours later and you've added four books to you TBR pile and bookmarked several new blogs! Great post.

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  9. Ah yes, you can fall into the blogosphere and never come out! I love Debi, and loved Dewey, so I'm glad you discovered them in your trails. :)

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  10. Hi Molly! I just wanted to say thanks for joining in on the HP CoS discussion! You're MORE than welcome to join in on the challenge if you want to! Shoot me an email and I'll include you on the scoreboard. :o)

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  11. I know what you mean, Molly. I'm retired, have lots of free time and treat myself to the daily tour around the blogosphere. The only problem is that I find myself looking up and it is five hours later. Where did the time go? And then people ask me what I do all day!

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  12. One of the best thing book blogging community entails is the promotion of books that I have never heard of and that which I would not read out of my comfort zone. One blog leads to another, one post brings on another, I can get lost in the cyber bookish world all day!

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  13. That definitely happens to me too :) I'm very happy to hear I introduced you to Debi's blog! She's definitely one of my favourite bloggers out there. And Dewey was so amazing.

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