In the last column webDotWiz took you through some major changes that had been made to Live Spaces. In particular he showed off the new layout on each person's Spaces homepage where we can see what our Spaces friends have updated on their space, whether it be some writing, a new photo album or new list.

Ok, so let's work out a simple way to make use of this information. Note these updates come to us so we don't need to spend hours visiting lots of web sites. It's just a matter of getting into the habit of doing a couple of things once we go online.

webDotWiz is now urging everyone to sign in to Live Messenger as usual - perhaps scan through your contact list to see who's online and who's updated their Space by looking for a gleam alongside their nickname. The next step is to click the icon at the top of Messenger to open up your Space's homepage where you can check the What's new section to see your Messenger contacts who have updated their Space lately.

At this stage all you need do is hover your mouse over each contact's profile picture and wait a few seconds for their contact card to appear. The contact card will give you the title of their last blog entry and display the latest photos they've added to their Space. Hint: choose those people who have a gleam alongside their profile.

Nothing new? Then hover your mouse over the next profile picture.

An important point to make at this stage is to ensure you type a short but informative title for each blog entry you make on your Space. For example, it took webDotWiz a few days to realise that his titles for his Sites for the day (e.g., Sites for 27-Jul-2007) didn't mean much unless he added a couple of keywords to describe some of the sites he was listing. So US trip movie provides more information to your family and friends than Overseas trip.

Were you expecting to see some new photos on a relative's or friend's Space but there's nothing new? Now is your chance to use the Send a message link on their contact card to remind them. Or you've looked at their photos or they've put their latest Photo Story movie on their Space and you want to congratulate them or ask a question - use the Send a message link. Or you want to check the date when that family reunion is to be held and ask who will be taking photos - another use for Send a message.

But, you say, all I wanted to do was do a search for some information, and you've made me go through all those steps. Ok, have a look at the top of your Space's homepage and you'll see where you can either search all Live Spaces or the Web.

In summary, get the gleam glowing alongside your name and profile picture on your family's and friend's Messenger and Live Spaces and send a message to say thanks when family and friends gleam in return.

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• The webDotWiz Column is published fortnightly, on the same day as Rushworth's volunteer, fortnightly paper, The Waranga News, and updated regularly as sites are added to the webDotWiz Sites Directory.

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