This week's assignment has been fun and a bit frustrating. I hesitated to invite people to my Facebook page, knowing how many of them would not be amused... I did enjoy learning how to set it up and exploring the different applications, but it is not a tool I can see using in my library. My users don't care about bells and whistles and extraneous information to wade through. They want to be able to get straight to the information they need as fast as possible. I consider the privacy concerns far outweigh any advantages in having a personal Facebook. Having said that, I know adults who do, but they are musicians or artists or software consultants (a form of advertising for them) or uncles who want to be able to chat with their nieces and nephews.
Social networking is an idea that just may catch on in smaller applications, such as MLA using one to connect members. The problem I see is if there are too many places to go (blogs, wikis, social networks, etc.) the less likely a busy professional will use them. What would be ideal is for social networking to replace listserves as a tool for communication. I'd love to receive fewer e-mails and only go look when I had the time - or during my daily look at my RSS feed.
LinkedIn was my favorite - I found several of our top administrators have joined this, including the President of the hospital.
My favorite experience with Facebook? I searched my address books and added a few select people. Right away I got a response from a nephew I haven't seen in years. He's out of college and working for Clinton's Global Initiatives project and at 24 has become quite chatty.
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