I hate Flickr, I love Flickr, I hate Flickr....

First off, I HATE Flickr....
Just to be clear, I HATE it....
Okay, I don't hate it, but when I first started this new assignment for 23 things extreme dislike developed between me and Flickr...
I have used Flickr before but its been awhile so when I first went to the website I created a new account which just seemed to be a royal pain in the ass and took forever.  I will mention I am extremely impatient with technology.  Cell phones, websites, Internet, whatever...patience has never been a virtue of mine but all this technology has made me even worse.  I expect things done quickly and with relative ease and I think registering for an account on any website should take like 2 minutes, tops...So I was already a little irritated with Flickr after this.
Then I came back to Flick a couple hours later to actual play around on it and complete my 23 things assignment.  I probably tried 20 times to log in and it WOULD NOT LET ME BACK IN!  No matter what I did, I used my yahoo id and account and then my gmail account and it drove me insane!  I have never been so irritated with a website.  I have a school loan account with a tiny little school I attended in New Mexico and I pay my bill online sometimes.  They are a VERY small institution and their website is very low key but it is 100 times easier to use than Flickr in my opinion.  I find this unacceptable...it makes me feel stupid or like I am doing something wrong because a million other people seem to use Flickr with no problem so its obviously my fault, user error, Flickr is screaming at me "YOU SUCK HEATHER".  I consider myself a pretty tech savvy person, I can figure out stuff pretty easily, usually....So how in the world can a website lower my self-esteeem?  I don't know but Flickr managed to do it...
Moving on....

I eventually did somehow manage to get back on Flickr, although I don't ever remember actually putting my password in but magically I'm on again so whatever....
I played around with the World Map thingy and I did enjoy it....don't tell the Flickr people, I'm still miffed at them.
I searched places I want to visit or places I have been.  New Orleans, Greece, Seattle, Istanbul.  I found some AMAZING and absolutely beautiful pictures.  Makes me want to travel even more now :)

I'm thinking Flickr could be helpful reference tool when helping teens with their research projects where they need photos for presentations.  It would also open up a discussion with teens on photo sharing and copyright permissions and whatnot... 
I will say I really liked the Flickr guidelines. I thought they were great and witty, polite and wonderful about emphasizing not using other people's photos without permission.  I don't think I have ever had a reference question about photo sharing though.  Teens just want to know how to upload photos to Facebook most days.  I also really like the Explore option on Flickr.  I don't take a lot of photos and I don't think I will use Flickr right now for much in the way of photo sharing but I do enjoy viewing the interesting photos in the last 7 days and the calendar view of this month was really cool too.  OMG, I just discovered the COOLEST thing about Flickr!  I might just be changing my attitude about Flickr as I write this.  They have this gallery option in Explore!  I love themed galleries of pics!  I just found one on laundromats!  I LOVE IT!  There is this great pic called Loads of Lovin' by Lori Elizabeth, I want it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrysti/galleries/72157622440357680/

So last off, I LOVE Flickr!  LOL, I'm such a freak, I run so hot and cold :)

Twitter and Facebook...

Soooo....I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.  I like how I can keep up with friends that I don't get to see on a regular basis and we can keep in touch.  I like how I can make plans with friends and send my brother messages when his phone is turned off.  I like the gratification of having someone comment on my status when they understand something I am going through or think something I did or experienced was funny.  But honestly I think Facebook is evil.  Evil, evil. evil....I think it sucks up all my time, attention, and happiness most days.  I hate how it turns me into a stalker and I obsess over other people's lives because they seem to have it all, happy marriage, beautiful children (or they are glowing and pregnant), etc., etc., etc...and then when I see all of this I feel like my life is not measuring up, which is SO not a rational thought or true but I can't help it and then I get all depressed and eat a box of Twinkies or several bowls of Captain Crunch.  But then even after I recognize that Facebook is not a healthy thing to have in my life right now, I still get right back on the next day....or fifteen minutes later...
I hate how I have come to measure my happiness by Facebook and friend's statuses and I wish I had more willpower to stay off the damn thing.  Moving on though...
Twitter is new for me, I've been aware of it and I have friends that use it but this was the first time I signed on and played around on it.  I liked it, I like how I can follow my favorite teen authors, Martha Stewart, NPR, Pink, and Sesame Street all at the same time.  Makes me happy for some reason...
Which is a nice change from Facebook.  However, Twitter is a little too high maintenance for me for some reason, I feel overwhelmed when I get on it.  I don't feel like updating it regularly like I do Facebook either.  Not sure why...
When it comes to using Twitter for reference questions I guess if you are friends/followers of other library systems and librarians you could post questions and get helpful responses back from all over the country (or world!).  Also, maybe if I needed help finding book ideas for a teen like maybe GLBT titles or dystopian fiction, etc. other librarians could reply and post their suggestions. 
The things I think are important to know when helping patrons (teens in my experience) with Facebook are the privacy settings.  I have helped many teens adjust their privacy settings because they asked for help in that department.  The only other thing teens ask a lot is how to upload photos to Facebook.
I signed up for LinkedIn as well and found that mildly interesting as well.  Could be useful when looking for a new job...

All in all I think social networking is wonderful, amazing, fun and evil...I am swearing off Facebook for a week, at least one week just to see what its like for me without Facebook for awhile.  I just think that a little too much social networking can be a bad thing, at least for me.  For the past year I have had its not helping me move on or grow or stay positive, its doing the opposite so ONE WEEK!  We'll see how it goes...

Google is taking over the world...

LFPL's 23 things....

Out of all the Google services listed I find the Google Docs and Google Maps the most useful personally.  I already use Google maps to to get directions and also when I was looking for an apartment I liked how I could use the street view to see what surrounded the apt/house.  I also LOVE LOVE the new Google Art Project :)
I used to use Google Docs in grad school but I haven't used it in a long while but I still think it could come in handy.  It makes it easier to collaborate and communicate with others and its more accessible than Microsoft Office. 

In terms of helping patrons I think the Google Docs and Google Scholar would help the most since I mainly work with children and teens.  I have teens that need help with research projects and finding reliable material for homework.  Google Scholar could help with homework while Google Docs would give them a new and free word processing alternative to Microsoft Office.  Since many of the teens I see do not have access to a computers at home it would easier for them to work on their papers/homework and save it on Google Docs while at the library.