LibraryThing and Friends
The people at LibraryThing (LT) have been doing some very cool things with the site, one of which I only just noticed today as I was whiling away time on the computer.
Many of you have a widget on your blog that displays books from your respective libraries. I was going through my blogroll to see which of you were on LT so that I could put you on my LT watchlist. The LT watchlist is a private way for users to track the libraries associated with certain profiles, usually those which have overlap with the one's own collection; it's a neat way to see what others are reading.
While futzing around adding people to my watchlist, I noted that I could also "friend" people on LT. Now, I'm not entirely sure what this translates to. I know what "friending" means on Facebook, MySpace, etc. (I have teen-age sons; I'm not that out of it) but I am not sure what precisely happens on LT because it's a brand-new functionality there. I know an invitation was involved because LT's system informed me that an invitation had been sent to so-and-so after I had pressed a button without knowing what would happen. (Yes, I agree that grown women should have sense enough not to press buttons at random, but I beta-test lots of applications and interfaces in my professional life. I'm supposed to press buttons.)
So, I suppose some of you will have gotten emails or messages on your profiles at LT asking if you'll be my friend. I think I got through the "B"s before it occurred to me that I ought to advise people of my bumbling behavior. Some people think friending is as much of a pain as being tagged for a meme. If you are one of them, please accept my apologies. My profile name on LT is jillmwo so you'll know who to yell at when it arrives.
If the idea of "friending" appeals to you and you have a library on LT, then again, my profile name on LT is jillmwo and you're welcome to "friend" me. I need friends on LT 'cause I'm not having much luck over on Facebook.
If you didn't get a friend request from me as yet, your blog name probably appears outside of the "B's (see blogroll in the right hand column). Give me time; I'll get to you. I just wanted to get the word out early as to who it was who was friending you on LT.
Besides, if our blogrolls touch, doesn't that already mean we're friends?
