Who is Andy McIlwain?
Hi! I’m Andy McIlwain (andymci). I’m a 20-something web geek operating out of Toronto, Ontario. (Previously, I was rocking the web from the historic city of Kingston, Canada.)
I’m a huge supporter of innovative web technology, online communities, user-to-user interaction, multiplayer videogames and online culture.
Aside from technology and web-related geekery, I also have a love for collectable swag, architecture, offbeat illustration and all forms of design.
This website – andymci.com – is my home on the web, where I’m (sporadically) blogging about new media, the social web, internet marketing, web culture, online gaming and all other sorts of stuff.
The Blog
All of my articles and blog posts are personal opinion only, and they’re based on a mixture of life experiences and ongoing research into various topics.
I’m not infallible – nobody is! – so I’m always open to new approaches and new ways of thinking. As time goes on, my opinions on particular subjects may swing back and forth, so don’t be surprised if you see a bit of contradiction here and there.
Aside from the general topics mentioned above, I also use andymci.com as a personal blog, so you can expect to see updates touching on a wide variety of different topics.
The Career
I’m the Community Manager & Online Communications Specialist at Quartet Service Inc., a Toronto-based IT firm, where my primary responsibility involves developing and implementing web-based communication projects. (There’s not much to see yet, but I have some ambitious goals for the months ahead!)
Staying Connected: Social Web Profiles
You can find more of my stuff scattered all around the web:
- Twitter: Sharing links, breaking news and staying in touch. I also try to use it as my online signature (@andymci).
- LinkedIn: Connecting to other professionals in the web industry.
- Friendfeed: All of my status updates and online activity gathered into one spot.
- Facebook: Connecting with others and staying in touch.
- Flickr: Snapshots, mostly. (May start using it for more creative purposes.)
- Foursquare: I’m punching in whenever I go to a cafe or new location for the first time.
- Posterous: Random things I find online.
- Goodreads: Books I’ve read (and reviewed), stuff I plan on reading, and anything I’m currently in the midst of reading.
- Delicious: Bookmarked sites/pages/articles, typically for referring back to at a later date.
- StumbleUpon: Site reviews and pages of interest.
How do I balance all of these darned profiles? (aka the Daily Routine)
I spend some time each morning catching up on my RSS feeds (Google Reader) and check to see what’s buzzing online (POPURLS, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg). I keep Tweetdeck (Twitter) open throughout the day and periodically skim the trending topics.
Stories that I want to share are tweeted through bit.ly via the Shareaholic plugin for Firefox. Tumblr, Friendfeed, Facebook and LinkedIn automatically pick up these tweets and mirror them.
Articles/pages/sites that I’d like to check out again are saved to Delicious, and any repostable content – such as images, audio clips or otherwise – is put on my Posterous lifestream.
All in all, every service has a purpose and specific use. Some are more automated than others, but I use every single one of them in at least some capacity.