Cosmetic Chemists Guide to Staying Informed on the Web

The Internet is an excellent source for information, learning, and research. Unfortunately, it is not nicely organized and it can make you unproductive if you spend too much time trying to find the information. Here is a system I use to keep informed about the latest in cosmetic science using the minimum amount of time. If you follow a similar set-up you will be able to maximize the information you receive while minimizing the time it takes to get it.

Objective

Staying informed of important developments in the cosmetic industry.

Step 1: Create a homepage

The first thing to do is to create a homepage which is the first thing you see when you access the Internet. On the homepage, you'll want to include only the most relevant information and links. There are many different options but we suggest you use iGoogle as your homepage. It's easy to set up and best of all, it's free!

Step 2: Find websites to follow

In the old days you used to have to go to websites to see their new content. Today, the websites will send links to their new content to you. This is much more efficient for you because you will only have to go to a page specifically to see information you want.

So, what sites are the best to follow for a cosmetic chemist? Follow these and you'll be off to a great start.

List of sites to follow

1. Cosmetic Industry news Cosmetic World C&T GCI Happi Perfume and Flavorist Cosmetic Design EU Cosmetic Design Cosmetic Business Specialchem 4 Cosmetics 2. Beauty Blogs The Beauty Brains Total Beauty Blogs Splendicity Glam Network beauty blogs Beauty Blog Network Alltop Beauty 3. Science sites Science Daily Eurekalerts New Scientist Science blogs eScience News 4. Innovation blogs Innovation Tools Killer Innovations Idea Connection Opine Consulting

And you can find other blogs of interest by using either of these sites.

Technorati Blog Search

Step 3: Subscribe to relevant websites

The way to follow websites is to click on their RSS feed and add it to your Google Reader page. There are other RSS reader applications but Google is by far the easiest to incorporate into your home page. The RSS is the little button in the address bar that looks like this. (See the top of your browser).

When you click on the orange button it will take you to a page asking if you want to subscribe through your reader or your home page. I suggest adding the website to your reader for most sites. For websites you want to read every day, you should add it to your home page.

Step 4: Scan your feed reader daily

Now that you are subscribed, you should check your feed headlines. Most sites update once a day so checking your feed daily makes sense. This doesn't mean you have to read every article every day, it just means you should spend some time checking your feed to see if there is some relevant information that will help you do your job better. Checking your feed for 30 min to an hour at the end of the day is a strategy that has been successful for me.

Step 5: Read or tag articles to read later

Just setting up the system is not helpful if you don't use it. So, when you do your daily check of your feeds be sure to read headlines that you find most relevant. Scanning articles is helpful here too. Another trick is to use bookmarking to tag articles you want to read later.

If you want to be an informed cosmetic scientist who knows the latest happenings in the world of cosmetic science and the cosmetic industry, there is no better way to accomplish this than by following and reading the feeds of relevant websites.

Good luck.