Online Social Networking = Good Times for All

So much to discuss when talking about social networking
sites – where to start?

As a reluctant Facebooker and non-MySpacer, I honestly don’t
see what the big deal is regarding these sites; however, this may partly be due to the fact that I have so little time to really dive into these sites and use them for all that they can be. You see, I am lazy, and that is one of the things keeping me from becoming a determined Facebooker and a devoted MySpacer (in reality, I won’t be getting onto MySpace anytime soon either, because most of the bands I have heard who are labeled as ‘MySpace phenomenons’ have little appeal to me). I totally see how teens can get caught-up in this, though, as
the ability to have many friends on Facebook gives each of us some social caché and apparently makes us ‘cool’ (or at least we think we are cool because of the number of friends we have on these sites). Who am I kidding - my wife and I compete with each other to see who has more friends on Facebook! We’re just
like teenagers, too!!!

As far as libraries are concerned, these tools can be used
to enhance a library’s profile with their teen clientele, but, libraries should be careful, as noted by Meredith Farkas, not to build a profile just to try and come across as being ‘with-it’ to impress the teens – teens have major BS
detectors and they will most likely see us as being lame unless we put the space to good use. As for the two case studies we looked at that are using Facebook, both are effective in that they provide useful information (e.g.
direct link to the library’s website or catalogue, online chat with a librarian, using the ‘Wall-to-Wall’ option to post relevant information or act as a message board, etc…) without coming across as trying desperately to be ‘cool’.

As far as the MySpace example, I didn’t really like how AADL’s
MySpace branch was set-up, but again, I have no experience with MySpace so I could be totally wrong about this. However, I do have an idea for how libraries could use MySpace to enhance their user’s experience – why not offer users the
ability to preview music that is in the library’s CD collection via MySpace? Sure, there are probably some legal hurdles to jump over to make this work, but what a great way this would be for library users to listen to something before
deciding to come into the library and sign it out. Sure, some libraries probably have listening stations located inside their walls for patrons to preview music onsite, but having previews available through MySpace is something that would allow the patron to listen to the music in the comfort of
their own home and would potentially really enhance their experience with the library.

Some final thoughts:

• In some cases, there are going to be people working inside your library with little or no experience with these sites, so if your library is going to try and use something like Facebook, it would be best to make sure that staff has some experience with the technology – just make sure that they are not surfing the site to the detriment of their own work (this happened at my library, and now we are not permitted to go on social networking sites on work time for any purpose).
• Sure, the spaces afforded to teens on these sites is somewhat of a safe environment for them to hang-out in, but we should also be encouraging teens to come to another somewhat (or mostly) safe environment to hang-out in – their local library branch! Maybe we can do this through promotion on these sites, but if teens are looking to really make a connection with others, then the library can be a great place to do this.
• I am all pumped-up about teen services and public libraries this week, if you haven’t noticed.
• If any of you are on Facebook and want to friend me, go ahead, ‘cuz I think the wife is catching up to me and the game is ON!!!

Have a good week,

Chris