Being "Social"

I have a Facebook account that I check periodically, so that covers the assignment for this week.
I decided to read and check out some of the articles on social networking on the 23 Things PB wiki too.

First, I read Micheal Stephen's post: "What Librarians Can Learn from Facebook." He made a comment about the types of privacy that people are accepting of versus types that they balk at. Some adults feel uncomfortable with providing the type of information found in a Facebook account. Yet, Stephens points out that many adults are comfortable providing personal financial information when using online shopping sites. It will be interesting to see how long it will take before providing information found on Facebook profiles such as hobbies, interests, and present location become as comfortable to share as financial information such as credit card numbers and billing addresses.

Next, I looked at a few Twitter sites. I’ve known about Twitter since its inception, but have never joined because I don’t have a use for it. The fallout from the Iran election though illustrates a great purpose for Twitter though. Not only is Twitter helpful because its open access can evade the strict Iranian government censors, but also because it provides immediate updates in real time. I also remember reading a year ago about how librarians used Twitter for work purposes. A woman needed help brainstorming programming ideas. She posted a tweet mentioning that she had trouble. Some of her fellow librarian followers replied back by giving her suggestions. Twitter works effectively in situations like the one above only if there are a certain number of loyal followers.


Lastly, I discovered how I benefit from social networking by looking at a combination of sites. I looked at the Carnegie Library profile on Library Thing, The Green Tree Library's Facebook page and the ACLA Twitter page. All of these turned out to be sources of research and learning instead of sources of social contact. I discovered the “11th Stack” blog run by the reference staff at the main CLP branch and perused some of the recent posts. I found a link to Library Journal a list of top public libraries ranked according to service by viewing the Green Tree Library Facebook page. While the page remained open, I scrolled through the list with an interest in the Maryland libraries, since that’s where I grew up and I found out that one of the local libraries made the list too! I was not too impressed with the content on the ACLA’s Twitter page, but I found a link to their main page and read about a successful program that the Shaler library held recently. The link turned out to be a great source for programming ideas. I picked up new pieces of information after looking at those sites. Once I finished looking at the articles on the 23 Things pb wiki page, I realized that I tend to use social networking sites as static sources of information rather than as an interactive forum to connect with other individuals.