The value of rss and twitter to my RA & Reference skill set

I was over at Sandy Fussell's blog recently and found a cute little button for the Top 50 Australian Blogs for Writers. Curious I followed the trail of breadcrumbs and was taken to Copywrite and an amazing list of blogs.

From a Collection Development point of view this is an invaluable resource.
From a Readers Advisory point of view this is even better. Not only do I have a quick pick list of Australian writers, I've got access to their blogs - ie, to the information about them, from them, about their books, etc. What's out now, what's coming soon, where in the world they happen to be right now, that sort of thing.
I realised that over the last 12 months my selection of rss feeds and twitter streams has developed to a more organised and focussed agenda. This got me thinking about the way I use Twitter and RSS feeds to inform my Readers Advisory (and Reference) skillset. I have feeds set up for various writers, including Sandy Fussell, Anita Heiss, and Stephen Fry. I also follow a literary agent and Amanda Palmer this way (this last one mainly because I've found this is the easiest way for me to read Amanda Palmer as opposed to via Twitter, Facebook, etc).

When I look at my twitter stream I'm following Sandy Fussell again, Stephen Fry also, Neil Gaiman, Katrina Lantz, Melissa Marr, Kate Forsyth, Diana Tixier Herald, The Reading Agency (UK), Waterstones (UK), Nancy Pearl, the British Library, GalleyCat, AusLit, Australian Literature, Penguin Books Australia, Random House Australia, Simon & Schuster Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia, Harper Collins Australia, and Aurealis Xpress .... thus far...... There are many other people I follow whose opinion and comment also inform my skill set but these ones I've specifically earmarked as worthy and useful for my personal interests and for the questions I find myself being asked. This list is certainly not finite and I most certainly see myself adding to and subtracting from it over time as I discover more authors and publishers and literary agents and booksellers whose comments and contributions I find useful and bring light to the day.

Back to the value of the Top 50 Australian blogs for Writers though. Here I now find a myriad of blogs to follow should I choose. What I really like about this list is the options it offers me: - here's the blog name - add them to your rss feed; here's the blog writer's name and what genre they fall into (whether they're a novelist/copywriter/screenwriter/etc so at least you know what perspective they're coming from and just who on earth they are); some Technorati etc stats (always good for understanding why they're ranked at the spot they are); and finally their Twitter tag should they have one 'cause maybe that's an easier option for you to follow them.

I can see me spending a lot of time with this list working out just who I want to follow and how. I'm sure to meet some new people along the way and learn so many new and exciting things to further enhance my continually expanding skill set for both Reference and Readers Advisory.

Can't wait.