I read a recent post by Claire Thompson called “Tools and Sites I Use – One Year Later“. I really like what she did – last January, she blogged about the tools that she used regularly, and now she’s gone back and reviewed and updated that list. Sounds like a fun way to reflect.
Here’s my list of tools/sites that I use just about every day:
- twitter – probably my favorite tool now, the center of my PLN (personal learning network)
- gmail – one personal account and one work account
- Facebook – keep in touch with old friends and former students
- Netvibes – my RSS reader, how I keep up with my favorite blogs (or try to, at least)
- Firefox – just curious if I’ll still be using it next year, or a different browser like Chrome…
- WordPress – where I house this blog, and read many others
- Lighthouse – more for my company; great, free application that enables teamwork and good project management
- Yammer – microblogging, within an organization – basically there are about 8 of us at Inigral, Inc. that keep up with each other this way.
- diigo – social bookmarking site where I keep my favorites and love following the daily links that I get via e-mail, through the Classroom 2.0 group.
- Jing – slick image/video capture and sharing tool
- Youtube – I end up watching something on here every day. Will it hold its own against the competition this year?
- Microsoft Office – (threw this one on here to see if I’m still using Word and Excel next year….I’m actually rooting for Google Docs!)
Tools I hope to use more:
- Classroom 2.0 – an outstanding Ning with great discussions and many interesting educators to connect with
- LinkdIn – professional networking site – you can find very unique skill sets here
- Evernote – keeps track of life, in general, with to-do lists, pictures, voice notes, and more
- Backtype – how I keep track of commenting on blogs – need to figure out how to tap into its full potential
- Younoodle – a startup networking site
- Flickr – I hope to start posting more pics
- Any iPhone app, period – hope to get one soon!
Now….hopefully I’ll remember this next January 
What do you use that’s not on my list?
5 Comments
January 8, 2009 at 12:21 am
It’s interesting to check out someone else’s list. I’m curious about Backtype. Is it like CoComment? I’m trying to find a better way to follow conversations on blogs. I’ve used co.mments, but it is shutting down in a week. I also use CoComment, but it is a bit glitchy and sometimes takes months to notify my of additional comments on the conversations I’m following. There’s got to be a better way!
January 8, 2009 at 2:20 am
Thanks for the mention, Kate. If you ever have any questions about using BackType or any feature requests, let me know.
@Claire: If you’re interested in following comments, BackType allows you follow by:
1. Author
2. Keywords
3. Post
It sounds to me like you’d be most interested in #3 using BackType Subscriptions — whenever someone comments on a post you’re subscribed to, we’ll notify you by e-mail.
Let me know what you think, and thanks for your comment.
January 8, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Claire – I’m wondering if I’ll have 25 or so on my list next year, like you did, starting from these 12
I’ve never used CoComment or co.comment. In fact, I’d never heard of them until this week – I may be on a mission to find every comment aggregator out there now, just for the sake of comparison.
Christopher – I’m liking Backtype so far, but I’m especially impressed with the amount of support you guys give your users. One of you was DMing me on Twitter after you ‘overheard’ a comment that I made about Backtype. It’s nice to know that you’re so available to help!
January 8, 2009 at 8:49 pm
@Kate I never would have guessed that after a year I’d be using so many more tools! I used to be very wary to sign up with yet another website, but I’m not as concerned now.
@Christopher, thanks for the info regarding Backtype. Yes it is the 3rd option I’m most interested in. I’ll have to give it a try
January 29, 2009 at 4:27 am
Hi Kate
Hadn’t come across http://lighthouseapp.com/ but it certainly looks useful. Am going to try it out! Thanks for the link.
Patricia