Threading a Social Needle
A post on a Bibliographic Wilderness caused me to think of how to thread together a few services to share my reading with others. In fact that's what that post is about, sharing a reading list in the Web 2.0 way.
I don't really want (or expect) my friends to come to WorldCat.org to view my lists. (Though I would love it if they did! Hint, hint.) So I want to expose my list on other Web sites.
After a few minutes of poking around, I set things up to post a tweet to my Twitter stream whenever I add a new item to a WorldCat.org list. Because my Twitter account is linked to my Facebook profile and my FriendFeed page, I can share books, movies, articles and more with friends on many networks with one action on WorldCat.org.
Here's what I did:
- I copied the RSS feed from my list using the "view xml" option on the AddThis page which appears when you click the "RSS Feed" button on a list.
- I jumped to TwitterFeed.com and set up an account there.
- I stuck the RSS URL into a new feed on TwitterFeed.
- I set up some of the parameters on that TwitterFeed page, including a hash tag for #reading so I can pull together all of the stuff I've added using that tag
TwitterFeed took about 30 minutes to update, but once it did the most recent edition to my list appeared on Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed.
A super simple mashup of services without a lick of coding can thread content through your social networks. Try it and let me know how it works. Or better yet ... tell me some other ways this can be done!
On December 30, 2008 at 5:00 PM Memo said:
This is such a simple but great tip. I suppose you can share your Google Reader favorites this way as well, right? RSS FTW!
On January 1, 2009 at 6:54 PM Judielaine said:
Indeed, a cool tip and today is a perfect day to start a new practice like this! Thanks!
j
On January 2, 2009 at 11:00 AM Lisa said:
This is really interesting. Have you used WorldCat for long distance book clubs communicating on-line? I would like to get one started and thought RSS feeds might help but I'm not sure how it all works.
thanks
On January 3, 2009 at 4:53 PM K.G. Schneider said:
OMG! Privacy! Patriot Act! Everyone will KNOW what you're READING!!!!!
Oh wait... wait... wait... that's the point. ;-) Cool trick. Now make it a WC thingy so it just happens automagically without twiddling with Twitterfeed. Oh, and give us status for items in those lists -- past, present, future (read, reading, will read).
On January 5, 2009 at 9:24 AM bobrobboy
said:
Memo, I assume so. The magic is just in RSS and TwitterFeed. Just use the feed from Shared items in a TwitterFeed account.
On January 5, 2009 at 9:32 AM bobrobboy
said:
Lisa, I know of a couple book clubs that have lists on WorldCat. They are using the lists to keep track of what's been read and what is up next. Each member of the club could use the list's RSS feed to keep track of what needs to be read next. Within the list, the book club administrator could add notes to the items indicating the next meeting time and when the book should be completed. The RSS feed would allow members of the book club to get updates in whatever software tool they are using and perhaps on whatever site they are used to going to. For instance if all or many of your club members are on Facebook, you could use the WorldCat in Facebook application to keep track of the list of books to read. If any readers of this blog have other suggestions, please post them for Lisa and the rest of us!
On January 5, 2009 at 9:47 AM bobrobboy
said:
Karen, Actually I thought about privacy as I threaded the three services together, and I fretted a bit because the user (namely me) would need to remember that everything on that list is public, archived on Twitter and potentially discoverable via Internet search engines. This "trick" is rudimentary; it is inelegant. Right now the trick relies on manual input. You could have a status if you have three lists (read, reading, will read) and set up three feeds. Actually I'd argue that you need a fourth list as well to store your private reading list. Regarding making this a part of WorldCat.org, I would rather see WorldCat.org play nicely with the rest of the Web than make WorldCat.org do everything. That said, there are things we could do to make these threaded, or mashed up, services easier or more obvious.
On January 6, 2009 at 11:33 AM Anonymous said:
Or you can call your friends on the phone and tell them what you're reading.
On January 6, 2009 at 4:53 PM bobrobboy
said:
True enough. And something we should remember within all this read/write Web talk. A phone call can strengthen a relationship more than a tweet, but any relevance the phone conversation might have to friends is lost because they are not aware of what was said. These new communication tools provide aggregation and permanence which in turn provide at least peripheral awareness and much further reach. So while my immediate family may know that I'm reading The Three-Martini Playdate, my many friends, who are new parents, may not. With these tools, our phone conversation can be about what we've learned from the book and the online conversations about the book not just that I'm reading it. I've never proposed that online communication takes the place of face-to-face. But I've always found that one enhances the other considerably. Thanks for the comment ... sorry to riff on a tangent.
On January 6, 2009 at 6:38 PM Andy Havens said:
Also, you can't call people you've never met. Well, you can... but it's annoying.
I've made new friends based on information I've posted about books read, poems written, musical interests, etc.
On January 7, 2009 at 1:59 PM Mack Michaels said:
Wow, talk about a time saver. I wish networking would become more efficient and integrate seamlessly. That's a tip nearly everyone could benefit from, but I know user's (Hi, mom) that wouldn't know what to do, even with step by step instructions. I do appreciate the time saver. Great tip.