Armed with a bit of knowledge about what Twitter is all about, share your thoughts on this fast growing online phenomenon.

After getting a brief introduction from the site, I think Twitter is definitely a quick way to spread news. For example, if there were new disastrous diseases like H1N1 was found and was posted, people from all over the world searched it on the site and would read the "tweets." Since there are over 100 million people using Twitter, news could spread within (or less than) a minute.

Just like YouTube, I can see more and more people in business and marketing would like to use Twitter to promote goods and services their companies provide because it is fast and easy to access.

However, they might need to find out whether those people in Twitter would be their targeted customers whom the companies want to attract.

Overall, I think Twitter is a way for social networking and information sharing for "surfers" but beware of spams, too!

Do you see any practical applications for LibraryThing either at home or at work? Will you start using this site?

After exploring the LibraryThing.com, I think the site is interesting and practical for both at home and at work. At work, I'd like to use it as a tool for reference assistance because it gives me some ideas of the books customers read. So, when patrons ask me whether I could recommend some other books for them, I could tell them and show them this useful site.

At home, I could read reviews and recommendations of books I would like to read. The database is pretty thorough as I could search fictions, mysteries, science fictions and even non-fictions for children, young adults and adults. The best part is I could see whether I would be able to buy the items at Amazon. It comes in handy!

So, I will start using the site and would love to share it to our clients.

Do you see free online tools like these eventually replacing expensive software like MS Office?

I have been using MS Office for a long time. Recently, I have explored the Open Office and today, I just finished playing with the Google doc.

I can see more and more people would pick the online tools because it is free and there is no need to register. In Google doc, people could get the basic needs for creating word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms and even drawings. It comes in handy for most of us.

However, there is a small issue: If people like to use advance features, they might not have too many to choose from in these online tools.

There is one more important thing that I could think of: If people encounter problems of internet access on their computers, they wouldn't be able to create and edit the files.

A solution would be to have both the online productivity tools and the MS Office. It is possible to edit documents in both because they are compatible.

Thus, I don't think the online tools would eventually replace the expensive software.

Comment on the quality, entertainment value, or usefulness of the content on these sites.

After searching for a while on these two social media sites, I found that the quality of pictures in Flickr and some videos in YouTube were very good: Some photos taken in Hong Kong were so pretty with great details of the images.

Some of the videos in Youtube were quite interesting and entertaining. For example, I was looking for an old song by "Platters" and what I got was a long list of different artists performed the same song in a different way. However, I did find some disgusting and obscene videos in YouTube. I don't quite understand why they are allowed to be uploaded on the web.

I would say it is useful for commercials. I notice that there are larger companies using YouTube to promote their new products, e.g., Wii Fit. More and more people use computers on a daily basis. These social media sites would be a success for promotion because different kinds of audience on the Internet would get the messages.

Were you able to successfully set up your RSS feed? If you were successful, does this make information-gathering more convenient for you?

I was able to successfully set up my Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and it's pretty easy and simple to navigate. As I add all my favorites on Bloglines.com, it does make info-gathering more convenient. Thus, from now on, I just need to log on Bloglines.com and check out the updates. No need to sign in to each of my favorite sites. It comes in handy! I like it very much.

What do you like about the Google product? What do you dislike? Would you recommend the product to friends and colleagues?

I like most of the Google products which are quite useful. Some of my favorites include Blogger, G-mail, Picasa, Google Earth, Google Map and Translation. Let me show you an example of "Translation." I use it to translate words for customers who do not speak much English. It comes in handy when I serve customers.

Besides useful, most of the Google products are free to download. So, everyone could use them for free. One example is the "Pack" which is a free collection of essential software for computer users.

My friends and I use Google all the time to search for info. When I teach Technology programs, I highly recommend customer to try out the Google Products. I think customers would use Google more often then before. One of the products they really enjoy is the "Translation" as they could translate and learn 52 different languages.

For you, is Facebook useful or a time-waster?

I have to say Facebook is something I both like and hate.

It is useful as a good source for social networking because I could add friends of friends in my circle of friends if I have the permission. Also, if you are looking for jobs and a friend's friend is in Human Resources, you might be able to make networking with the hiring people.

However, it is also a time-waster if you are "addictive" to those applications. Those so-called applications are actually games. Playing online games are time-consuming.

Overall, I signed up the Facebook because all my known friends are all over the world and Facebook is a place where I'll find out how they are doing in the other continents.

How easy or difficult was it to find articles that needed editing? Were the errors you found factual or grammar / spelling?

After I explored and read some articles about the Chinese New Year in Wikipedia, it was not too difficult to find three articles for editing. Overall, the info was pretty interesting. However, I did find one wrong date for an important historical event, one incomplete process of making traditional kites, and one with grammatical error.

What are the advantages of storing, sharing, and tagging web content this way? What are the disadvantages?

After this assignment, I have a better idea about social bookmarking. In the following, I'll point out some advantages and disadvantages of storing, sharing, and tagging web content this way:

Advantages:
- You could manage & share a lot of interesting bookmarks with the world.
- You could also find and keep track w/ "notable" websites in one place.
- You could access it everywhere.

Disadvantage:
- I found the layout is all right except one of the viewing options - the cloud view. For me, it's not clear.

Just one more note, I think it is a very good source for new immigrants who would be able to check out on to the Federal, Provincial, and Municipal Governments' homepages and get useful information of career & employment and citizenship.

What do you hope to learn from CPL 2.0?

I would like to learn Web 2.0, social networking sites, social bookmarking sites, blogs creating sites and tools, profile and privacy control, and "tagging." It's good to learn new ways to communicate and share info through Internet.