Nov 9, 2007
Facing up to Facebook
Sciencebase readers who scroll all the way down to the footer of any page on the site will most likely have spotted a clutch of new icons in a section I call Geeky Fun Stuff. I never thought of myself as an ubergeek until recently, but I guess it all adds up: big science fan, science degree, science writing as a career, fan of the more technical kinds of music, Rush, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, that kind of stuff, oh and the The Dickies (I jest), and running a blog with literally thousands, well not thousands, dozens of plugins, that you spend far too much time tweaking.
And, part of being an ubergeek is stepping out of denial and facing up to one’s Facebook presence, the installation of Scrabulous, South Park character creator, and of course, the creation of one’s own niche group (science writers, 167 members and growing, by the way).
Once you’re up on Facebook, there’s no reason not to have a Twitter and a Pownce account too, as well as providing readers with direct access to your StumbleUpon and del.icio.us pages (see the footer). But, of course, those of you who reached the footer already know all this. To top it all, I guess fessing up
to
ubergeekicity also
involves giving bits
of your
blog odd namesfessing up to ubergeekicity also involves giving bits of your blog odd names, such as Elemental Discoveries, and Geeky Bits.
It probably also involves including links to a collection of my subscribed feeds known as an OPML file, worrying about how many subscribers the site has, and spending inordinate amounts of time running a science podcast that’s available on iTunes but doesn’t involve me laying down my Geordie accent in an mp3.
So, if you’ve haven’t been down under on Sciencebase, now is your chance, there is lots happening at the foot of this page. Feel free to “friend” me via any of those icons of web 2.0 but only if you want a self-professed ubergeek in your virtual circle.
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Berci Meskó said,
November 9, 2007 at 9:18 pm
You may be interested in my recent post: Top 20 Facebook Applications in Science and Medicine
http://scienceroll.com/2007/11/06/top-20-facebook-applications-in-science-and-medicine/
David Bradley said,
November 10, 2007 at 10:55 am
Thanks for the link Berci. Will check out thos FB apps.
CWJon said,
November 12, 2007 at 9:49 am
*puts on flat cap, attaches lead to whippet*
Back in my day… Facebook wasn’t about how many gadgets, widgets and plugins you could cram onto your profile. It was about honest, decent things like arranging pub times or sharing embarrassing photos. It was about finding long lost acquaintances from school, saying ‘Gosh I haven’t seen them in ages’ and promptly ignoring them. What used to be a perfectly ordinary web-based popularity contest has turned into some kind of… useful tool? Despicable. It flies in the face of everything the internet stands for.
They never should have let non-students on… ;).
David Bradley said,
November 12, 2007 at 11:27 am
…we used to have to like script clean wi’ tongue. But, that’s t’internet for you. Speaking of pubs. I did a guest post on Blah Blah Tech blog recently about communication precedence.
db
ses5909 said,
November 13, 2007 at 11:54 am
It’s a lot more fun to face our inner (and outer) geekiness than to hide it.
David Bradley said,
November 13, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Too right Ses!
Heidi Cool said,
November 15, 2007 at 2:05 am
Nice article, I still don’t know what to do with Facebook. I have to keep reminding myself to check it, whereas Pownce I’ll check a few times per day. I was checking out the stuff at the bottom, and I think posting your OPML file is a great idea. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone do that before, but it’s a neat way to show what you’re reading.
David Bradley said,
November 15, 2007 at 8:57 am
Heidi, I read somewhere this week that whatever you think Facebook is for, someone else will have found a different purpose. That probably applies to almost every Web 2.0 application. I also read that good old-fashioned net surfing via the search engines is becoming less common as sites like Facebook and MySpace take up soooo much of people’s time.
Thanks for the support over the OPML idea. I wonder whether others might care to share theirs. There OPML directories, but it would be interesting to pull together some science readers OPML files.
db