What is social bookmarking? How do I use it?
You may have noticed boxes like the one above across the website, and you might be wondering what they're there for.
The boxes contain links to social bookmarking sites, which are similar to the 'Bookmarks' and 'Favourites' functions in your browser. Social bookmarking sites allow you to save pages for later, add notes and tags to them and to group pages into different categories. More importantly, they also allow you to share your favourite pages with other people.
If you'd like to give social bookmarking a try, click one of the links below to sign-up and get started:
What is RSS? How do I use it?
If you're interested in staying in touch with your favourite blogs, news and updates, without having to trawl around the net looking for them, then RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) could be a good way to stay on top of things.
RSS pulls all the articles through to one site, so that you can see an overview of all the new articles and updates in one place, rather than having to look at each individual site in turn.
To get started with RSS, you'll need an RSS reader. There are a huge variety of RSS readers out there, with many different features, but one of the most popular is GoogleReader.
Once you have a reader, all you need to do is go to each of the sites you're interested in, and click on the small RSS icon (which looks like this
) to sign up for updates.
You can use your reader to stay on top of uSwitch.com articles too,. This means you'll be notified when we post news that relates to your specific interests:
What is a blog? What's good about them?
Visiting, reading and subscribing to blogs are great ways to stay in touch with the topics you're interested in on the web, as well as allowing you to get involved with conversations, share your thoughts and connect with like-minded people.
On the uSwitch blog you can leave comments, vote in polls and tell us what you think about the issues that matter to you.
Having a blog of your own can also be a great way to write and share your photos, opinions, personal experiences and videos with the world. This can be particularly useful if you run a business or organisation, as you can establish yourself as the expert on your subject matter.
The easiest way to set up a blog is to use one of the many free services available, like Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr or Posterous, just to name a few. Once you're set up, you're ready to start blogging.
Using Facebook and Twitter to stay on top of uSwitch updates.
Apart from being able to use Facebook and Twitter to post your own updates, it can be very useful to stay on top of news that relates to your gas and electicity, personal finances, mortgages, savings deals and tips on saving money.
By becoming friends with uSwitch.com on Facebook, or following us on Twitter at uSwitchUK, you can be the first to get newsworthy items and suggestions, all of which can help you stay on top of your finances.