I have long had an account at bloglines, which I use sporadically. I sometimes get too busy to keep up with my feeds, and then I just go down the blogroll at Library Garden as my shortcut to keeping up.
When I first became a convert to RSS, I was too eager and added too many feeds so that my bloglines became bloated and often overwhelmed me. That is one of the problems when you first dicover RSS, you just subscribe to every little feed you find and then you are in a feeding frenzy and on overload.
One of my goals for several months has been to set up some must read feeds in Google Reader — to be smart about it and only add the feeds I really care about. Time has always gotten in my way, until this last week when I made it a priority for this challenge. I am proud to report that I have my Google Reader all set up with my favorite feeds — it’s as if I have gone on a diet. I will be consuming less, but thinking more about what I consume. So, I am going to consider the RSS portion of the challenge complete.
On a related note, I took the Pew Quiz that describes what type of user you are of information and technology. I was not surprised to find out that I am an omnivore — even though I am not young or male… Here is the description of an information omnivore:
Where do you fit?
Your Results
Based on your answers to the questionnaire, you most closely resemble survey respondents within the Omnivores typology group. This does not mean that you necessarily fit every group characteristic.
Omnivores make up 8% of the American public.
Basic Description
Members of this group use their extensive suite of technology tools to do an enormous range of things online, on the go, and with their cell phones. Omnivores are highly engaged with video online and digital content. Between blogging, maintaining their Web pages, remixing digital content, or posting their creations to their websites, they are creative participants in cyberspace.
Defining Characteristics
You might see them watching video on an iPod. They might talk about their video games or their participation in virtual worlds the way their parents talked about their favorite TV episode a generation ago. Much of this chatter will take place via instant messages, texting on a cell phone, or on personal blogs. Omnivores are particularly active in dealing with video content. Most have video or digital cameras, and most have tried watching TV on a non-television device, such as a laptop or a cell phone.
Omnivores embrace all this connectivity, feeling confident in how they manage information and their many devices. This puts information technology at the center of how they express themselves, do their jobs, and connect to their friends.
Who They Are
They are young, ethnically diverse, and mostly male (70%). The median age is 28; just more than half of them are under age 30, versus one in five in the general population. Over half are white (64%) and 11% are black (compared to 12% in the general population). English-speaking Hispanics make up 18% of this group. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many (42% versus the 13% average) of Omnivores are students.
What typology are you? Take the quiz and let me know!
