Thing4: #Rudai23

Thing 4 was probably more challenging than the other 3 tasks I have encountered with Rudai 23. I began the task by setting up a Google account. I explored the features of Google+ and it wasn’t really what I expected. I heard of Google+ in the past but I never ventured to see what it was about.  I had no idea that it was a social media site. The site lets you design the page to suit what interests you. For example, I have posts from Manchester United alongside posts from Munster Rugby. I think being able to design the page to suit your interests is a brilliant feature and I’m very happy with my page at the moment. It’s also easy to edit, so if you change your mind about something you can just go back and change it with no problems.  I visit the site regularly now and I’m delighted to have done this task. I also added Rudai 23 to my page so I can see the latest posts and keep up with the tasks.

The second part of the task was slightly more demanding for me. I setup a new Gmail account and was fortunate to acquire a Gmail address using only my full name with no numbers or symbols. I feel this address is more professional than the Hotmail account I setup when I was fifteen old and I’m hoping this will aid my professional brand image in the future. The difficult part of the task for me began when I tried to import my Hotmail contacts into my new Gmail account unsuccessfully. However, this did lead me to explore Gmail more comprehensively.  I found that I could search for my contacts in a search bar with either their names or their Gmail addresses.  I added a contact and we had a hangout session. I started the video call so I know how carry out the process. I was impressed by the fun features on the side of the video platform which lets you change the background behind the person in the video. You can also add facial features such as a beard or glasses for entertainment purposes I guess. 

 I found Thing 4 to be a little time consuming but it was really worth it for me.  I learnt about some very useful tools available through my Google account.  I can also see why librarians use the hangouts feature as a free way to hold video conferences because the quality of the video’s audio and visual is very acceptable.