Meetups and Alerts

I finally got to meet with my group for the Digital Literacy Labs---even with my hectic schedule due to a new daughter--have I mentioned how cute she is?

Anyway, I met with Megan and she showed me all about Meetup, a site where you say what your interests are, then 'meetup' with other people who share your interests. Similar to Facebook groups, but far superior.

With Meetup, you can specify where you want to meet and about what topic. So, if I'm heading back to MD for a couple weeks, but I want to find people to watch the BYU football games with, I have a medium to find those people! Pretty cool huh? The only downside is it costs 12 buck a month to host a meetup. I think this explains why there aren't that many people on the site hosting meetups, but a TON of people who are trying to join some.

I had the chance to look into alerts. Alerts are a pertty sweet way to stay on top of what the internet holds. I chose Google Alerts, although there are alerts for various library databases and news sites.

A google alert will check the internet (using a google search) every so often, and will send you an alert, by email or RSS feed, when something new is posted. Since the content on the Internet is ever-changing, this feature is essential when doing research for a class, or when you're just trying to stay on top of news for a particular topic.

Here's what you need to do to use Google Alerts:

1. Go to alerts.google.com
2. Enter your search text you want to use.
3. You can narrow your search down more to what type of content you want. Options include: News, Blogs, Updates, Video, and Discussion.
4. Choose how often you want the alerts. Once a day, once a week, or as it happens.
5. How many results to post in an email (if you choose email).
6. Your email address. If you are signed into Google, you can also post the results to your RSS feed. This is what I did, so I can read them with all my other updates I get from around the web.

Its that Easy!!

You just have to be careful as to what you search for, and what type you search for. My search of BYU football with Everything as the content has pulled almost 1000 results in just 10 days! The more specific you search, the more meaningful content you receive.