Thing 12: You digg?

I’m not able to share my BBC News Story via Digg, Reddit, or Stumbleupon without accounts with them, but I did bookmark it in del.icio.us account, and posted it to my facebook account directly from the site. That saves time! And, I realize that I am willing to sacrifice privacy for access. (I assume, but cannot tell for certain, that the pop-up windows for sharing are secure sites.)

I have to say that I prefer social tagging (del.icio.us) to ranking (digg), but they both serve their purpose. If I were looking for sites to add to the homework help resources for the library site, I would use del.icio.us. If I were trying to catch up with what’s going on in the world, I would use the “Top Diggs in 7 Days” category.

Positives (It might increase productivity)

• If you are responsible for uploading content, it is great to not have to open a new tab or a new window to log into your (blog, del.icio.us, digg) account, and interrupt your train of thought.
• If you are scanning for news in the areas of technology, entertainment, science or business, these sites are a great first stop. (My DH reads reddit first thing in the morning, and he’s set for the day).

Negatives (It might slow down productivity)

• They have odd stuff right there. Who can resist that? These sites really encourage browsing in a way that I haven’t done since the late 90s. I could get lost linking from site to site.