I’ve been listening and quietly taking in all of the talk about social networking software and the library’s place (if any) in that software. I’ve raised a few questions on e-mail lists about whether or not we are invading our patrons’ space by building presence in MySpace and Facebook (perhaps) and whether it is at all ok to ban the use of MySpace because it is not an “academic site” and “people are using it a lot” (ummmm… no). I’ve devoted a whole chapter in my book to social networking software and plan to speak about it at the Vermont Library Conference next week. But I didn’t realize until Friday, after discussing the subject with Casey Bisson, that I’d never actually discussed my thoughts on social networking software with other librarians. I guess I’m at the point where I’m forgetting what I’ve written for my book vs. for my blog. (Frankly, I’m lucky my brain still functions at all.)
I think I tend to ride the fence between unrelenting enthusiasm for technology and healthy cynicism. Anyone who knows me knows how excited I am by social software. I wish playing with social software and thinking about how to use it in libraries could be my full-time job. But at the same time, I’m really pragmatic about technology implementation in libraries. I hate the idea of implementing new things at libraries because they’re “cool” and not to serve a specific purpose. So I often question why librarians are doing the things they do with social software. So this is the orientation I am bringing to the discussion of MySpace and Facebook and where libraries should be in all this.
Are Facebook and MySpace bad?
I guess I can answer that question by asking this, did these same problems exist before MySpace and Facebook ever came on the scene? Before social networking sites existed we had teens exposing themselves with Web cams, we had teens posting inappropriate pictures of themselves and writing inappropriate things. We had perverts going after young people in chat rooms. And before MySpace and Facebook, teens used the Web a lot. They used it to IM with their friends, to visit online communities they were involved in, to blog, to game, etc. Before MySpace and Facebook, however, there was no one site that was so huge and pervasive and captured the attention of so many teens. It’s hard to point a finger at the Web and say it’s bad for kids and they shouldn’t use it; it’s easy to point a finger at a specific site or a few sites and blame them for everything that’s wrong with young people today.
But it’s seeing librarians — in public and academic libraries — targetting Facebook and MySpace that really concerns me. It’s one thing to have certain rules of conduct and computer usage that apply universally and that don’t target any specific group. The idea of banning a single site because patrons (mostly teenage patrons) use it a lot on the computers (and perhaps get loud) is wrong. If you think MySpace users are loud, have a rule about noise that applies to everyone. If people are using MySpace when others need to work on papers for class, have a rule regarding the time people can spend on the computer or what tasks take precedence (if you really want to police that — I sure don’t). But we have no right to ban a Web site based on the subjective value judgments we place on it.
Whether we like it or not, our patrons between the ages of 16 and 25 overwhelmingly use MySpace and Facebook, and are not going to stop using them no matter what policies we put in place. As librarians who should know our users, we should at least be aware of what they’re doing online and see what roles the library can play in our patrons’ online social worlds.
Library as educator
Since before we even had a graphical Web, libraries played an important role in educating patrons about the Internet. Just because most of our users are much more capable of surfing the Web now than they were 10 years ago doesn’t mean that our work is done. More techno-savvy doesn’t necessarily mean they have more common sense when it comes to putting personal information up online. We can play a valuable role in educating young people about online privacy and the possible negative effects of putting too much of yourself online. In public libraries and school libraries, we can educate parents about the role they should play in monitoring what their kids are doing online. Parents should know exactly what is on their child’s MySpace or Facebook profile and who their child is communicating with online. If you want to prevent all the problems of MySpace and Facebook, the key is educating the parents and making them get involved in their childrens’ online lives.
Paul Pival wondered in a recent post if young people have a lesser expectation of privacy in the online environment. I don’t know if that’s true. I think they have far less of an awareness of privacy issues. For example, look at this issue that came up when Alan Levine posted a screenshot and link to a publicly available LiveJournal blog. These profiles and blogs are freely available on the Web where anyone (parents, teachers, administrators, potential employers, etc.) can see them. In the case of Facebook, profiles are slightly more private but can still be seen by anyone with an e-mail address from that school. And I’ve seen students who live on “dry campuses” writing about getting drunk the night before. And I’ve seen them complaining about teachers and posting half-naked pictures of themselves. So if they have no expectation of privacy online, why in the world would they be posting these things? And I wonder if they really believe that parents, teachers, administrators, potential employers, etc. won’t find them there. I wonder if they have a false sense of security. And if all that is true, how would they feel about librarians building presence in MySpace and Facebook or even posting comments on their profiles.
I’m sure every school is different in this sense. Perhaps in one community the library would be a welcome and useful addition to their patrons’ online social network, where in another the patrons would think the library was invading their privacy. I think before we do anything, we should really get to know our patrons and what their attitudes are with regards to social networking software and privacy. We can’t pretend that what works at one library will work at all of them.
Building Presence in MySpace and Facebook
A lot of libraries have started building presence in MySpace and Facebook by creating profiles. And I honestly think this is a really good idea though unfortunately most libraries are doing it really badly. When you decide to put up a library profile on MySpace or Facebook, what is your goal? If it’s to look cool or to make students more aware of the library, don’t bother. A profile that offers nothing but a picture of the library, a blog post or two and a cutesy thing about how we won’t shush you just looks cheesy. I think there is a big difference between “being where our patrons are” and “being USEFUL to our patrons where they are.” I think some of the libraries in MySpace and Facebook have put a profile up, but they have not tried to make it useful to their patrons at all. Just putting up a profile does not make the library seem cool, nor does it make the library more visible.
I have seen two ways that libraries have used MySpace and Facebook effectively. The first is to get feedback from students. The second is to create a library portal within MySpace and/or Facebook (or whatever social networking software inevitably will come next).
Profile as a Two-Way Communications Mechanism
I do like the idea of having a library blog in MySpace, but a lot of libraries are using blogs just like they use them outside of MySpace — as one-way communication vehicles. When I was doing research last year looking for library blogs that build online community, I couldn’t find many. Most library blogs either leave comments off or they write posts that don’t really merit comment (they don’t inspire people to offer feedback). Why is the Ann Arbor District Library Web site so cool? Because they encourage feedback and allow their patrons to have a voice on their Web site (and thus, in the future of the library). Most libraries with profiles don’t capitalize on the Comments area in MySpace or the Wall in Facebook. By asking questions of patrons in a space they feel safe enough to express themselves in, libraries could get valuable feedback from their patrons.
I know of one library who has successfully done this, and unfortunately you’re not going to be able to see their site unless you’re a member of Facebook and add them as a friend. The Crossett Library at Bennington College has asked patrons in Facebook what books and videos they’d like the library to order for them. And patrons really are requesting things there. And even better, the library is letting them know when the materials are ordered. Rock on! Ok, yes, most libraries have an acquisitions request form, but I don’t think most students really think that’s for them. I know I would never have requested anything at my library in college because I didn’t think they’d want to hear from some dumb undergrad. But in this case, the library is coming into the students’ space and is saying “we want our collections to reflect what you need and want. We care about your opinion.” This way we are giving students a safe place to speak their mind. I would love to see a library using Facebook and MySpace to get other sorts of feedback from students about services, library hours, collections, etc. By coming into their space to ask their opinion, we’re telling them that they really do have a voice in the future of the library.
Profile as a Library Portal
Portals are definitely back in libraries. Many library Web sites have portals for faculty, portals for students, and portals for distance learners. While many of the links are likely the same, each portal has personalized content for that specific population. At Norwich, our distance learners never have to visit our library Web site; they can get to everything they could possibly need from our portal for them in WebCT. If it’s a great idea to “go where the patrons are” in terms of their courseware, why not provide the same sort of portal services in MySpace and Facebook? Many students probably spend more time on those sites than they do in their online courseware. And I’m always amazed by how many students at my school are completely incapable of finding the library Web site. No, it’s not on the front page of the University’s Web site, but it’s not that difficult to find! However, I bet they’d have a heck of a lot more luck finding our library’s profile in MySpace or Facebook (if we had one).
Some libraries have made their Facebook or MySpace site an extension of the library Web site with links to the catalog, chat reference pages, research guides, calendar of events, etc. The Brooklyn College Library profile has links to all sorts of areas on their library Web site including research tools, instructions for off-campus library access, and their Ask-a Librarian page. They also used MySpace’s calendar feature to display the library’s calendar of events. Finally, under books and movies, where regular folks write down what books and movies they like, the library profile has links to the catalog. The Morrisville College Library goes one step further and actually has a search box in their MySpace profile in which students can actually search the catalog (nice job, Bill!). The Hennepin County Public Library’s profile links to lists of new CDs, books and movies for teens and booklists that provide a valuable readers’ advisory service. The Denver Public Library’s eVolver profile is visually consistent with their regular Web site which brings home the idea of the profile as an extension of the Web site.
I strongly believe that the more links you provide to valuable library services the better. I’m an even bigger believer in providing these links on Web pages your patrons are most likely to visit. And if that happens to be MySpace or Facebook, then that’s where we should be. You can use the library profile as a portal or an extension of the library Website, providing services to patrons at the point of need. Because more than likely, your patrons will be surfing these sites while working on their latest research paper.
In conclusion, I do not think that there is anything inherently “cool” or useful about having a profile on these sites. Just like any social software tool, it’s what you do with it that matters. And many libraries aren’t really doing anything with their profiles. Sorry this is so long! This is what you get when I’m forced to staff the reference desk at night in a nearly empty library during exam week when no one comes to the reference desk in THREE HOURS. 😉 Your reward for reading through this long post is a treasure trove of links to blog posts and other useful resources about the place of libraries in social networking software. I think these posts will offer you some really good food for thought. I would love to hear your thoughts on the role of libraries in MySpace and Facebook and appropriateness of the library building presence in these sites. My opinion of the place of libraries in social networking sites is constantly evolving, so I’m totally open to comments and criticisms.
Useful Resources on Libraries and Social Networking Software
Libraries with good profiles
Brooklyn College Library
Bennington College on Facebook (won’t be able to see unless you have an account and are added as a friend)
Denver Public Library eVolver
Hennepin County Public Library
UT Austin
Morrisville College Library
Birmingham Public Library
Outreach where our patrons are and market research
Brian Matthews, Intuitive Revelations: The Ubiquitous Reference Model
Walking Paper, How about some fun?
Walking Paper, Library MySpace account action
Walking Paper, Whose Space?
Baby Boomer Librarian, The Library, FaceBook, and My Space, Update on MySpace Experiment and Update on Facebook Experiment
Pattern Recognition, Facebook + Library = Good
Hapax Legomemnon, Librarians & Facebook
Library Garden, MySpace and Social Networking Sites
Library Garden, MySpace and teens in a public library
Rhodarian, Libraries and MySpace
Stephen’s Lighthouse, Is MySpace Scary….?
Library Voice, Using Social Software to Understand Patrons
Invading our students’ space and do they want us there?
Distant Librarian: Thoughts on privacy and libraries and social networks
See Also, Social software presentation
ACRLog, Are We Welcome At The Party
Debates
Web4Lib Discussion, January 2006
LIBREF-L Discussion, April (Week 3 – Week 4 – Week 5) and May (Week 1), 2005
Librarian in Black, Please tell me why MySpace is bad for libraries (check out the comments on this one!)
Social networking software (or specific services) are just a flash in the pan???
Distant Librarian, Flash in the pan?
Library Marketing – Thinking Outside the Book, Future or fad? Online social networks in the spotlight.
Questioning the value and alternative approaches
AltRef, Perhaps my last comments ever on Facebook
Maison Bisson, What Does Facebook Matter To Libraries?
Library Marketing – Thinking Outside the Book, Long overdue post about library marketing in online communities
David Free, MySpace Day!
Blocking social networking sites
David’s Random Stuff, MySpace Is Our Space
Apropos of Nothing, MySpace Banned. And the point is?
Librarian in Black, MySpace Discussion
LibraryLaw Blog, What can and should libraries do about MySpace.com?
Useful research and commentary on social networking software
Danah Boyd, “Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace”
Danah Boyd, Friendster lost steam. Is MySpace just a fad?
Fred Stutzman, Summarizing Facebook Research (this is an absolute treasure trove of research on students’ use of Facebook)
Whew, nice post. One nit to pick: it isn’t quite true that “In the case of Facebook, profiles are slightly more private but can still be seen by anyone with an e-mail address from that school.” Under “My Privacy,” Facebook users can select who can view their profile: everyone at their institution (the default), just friends of friends, or just friends. Early this year it seemed like just about everyone at CC was set to “everyone at CC”; since some controversy about people getting in trouble due to photos on Facebook (here and at other institutions) it seems like more and more people are choosing to restrict their profiles so that only those in their social network can view them.
Interesting. Yes, I know about the ability to restrict access, but it seems like Norwich students are by and large not taking advantage of that. And I think it usually takes an incident of some kind to get them to realize how damaging it can be to publicly show some of this information (their natural impulse is not to protect their privacy).
Great post, Meredith. I’ve been looking doing this (MySpace/Facebook for the library) and this is a useful resource of what others have been doing.
I agree with Derik – this is great post. It’s definitely being tagged to my Del.icio.us account. But your comment about having a discussion with librarians makes me wonder if it wouldn’t be better to ask users in MySpace how they feel about libraries in social software sites? Have you gotten any feedback from Facebook or MySpace users? Just curious.
Thanks again for such an informative post. Can’t wait to read the book. 🙂
Meredith, I owe you at least one drink in Monterey for this post – I was lamenting the fact that I wouldn’t get a chance to pick your brain in person until *after* the Edmonton presentation I’d mentioned, but now, with both your thoughts and especially the links, you’ve given me a great boost. Thanks!
Cool! Glad it was helpful!
And I’m never one to say no to a free drink. 😉
Mmm, drinks.
Awesome post! Thought of a bunch of stuff to say about it but will post to my blog.
Meredith, you rock. I was thinking idly the other day, “I ought to put together a list of stuff about MySpace,” but you’ve gone and done for me far more than I ever would have gotten around to. Thanks.
This isn’t MySpace or Facebook, but I got a nice message about my library’s Flickr presence today:
“I’m glad someone else at CC is on Flickr! What a great use of it too! I’m glad these pics are on the web and accessable – I’d like to see more!”
Which I think goes to prove Meredith’s point that if you put interesting or useful stuff on these sites, you can get a positive reaction. Flickr is less loaded/coded as student/youth space, too.
Great point, Steve! Often being on these sites is not just about “being cool” but about providing a useful service. It’s great that one of your patrons sees it as being useful. And thanks for letting me see your Facebook profile. I poked you, though I’m not quite sure what that means. 😉
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> I poked you, though I’m not quite sure what that means. 😉
My first Facebook poking! I wouldn’t go around poking the whole student body, though. This from the Purdue student paper:
“Malavenda said one topic he discusses is ‘poking,’ something that started off innocently and has turned into a form of flirting. He said poking has taken on the definition of being ‘creepy’ and being poked by the wrong person could be considered sexual harassment.”
http://www.purdueexponent.org/index.php/module/Issue/action/Article/article_id/2916
You creep. 😉
I’m still not convinced that the libary’s presence in MySpace is wanted or even looks “right.” I’d like to see some serious surveying done about whether the 16-34 set even wants us there. From a web design standpoint, I just haven’t been impressed with what I’ve seen so far, but maybe that’s a function of the templates that MySpace makes you use. I read somewhere else that maybe MySpace should create a “library template” that looks more professional, and doesn’t force the creator to put their age and Zodiac sign! The whole thing, to me, smacks of embracing technologies before we really know whether or not we should.
One of the core aspects of a social networking website is the open question about, and unique nature of, personal identity in a virtual space.
Also, it seems to me (I’m not a librarian) that there is also an open question about the identity of a library in the 21st century.
By there very natures, social networking spaces and libraries share aspects, including: they are aggregators of information, they disperse information, and there is a social aspect of them both.
However, there are definite aspects of libraries that are not shared, including: libraries have basic identification (library cards) that are a basic social contract. That social contract is one of accountability and responsibility (And one I remember distinctly and with great pride as my 7 year old daughter got her first library card.)
Social networks do not have a basic identification “card” and in fact, the profiles are often lies/fake/experiments-in- identity (take your pick).
The result is, I believe a weak social contract, the pre-eminence of the “personal over the social, within the social” resulting in the kind of social mayhem — leaking into real space — seen daily in evidence if you go to Google>News and type in “myspace.”
So my question to you the librarians is “What can a library card teach myspace?”
Meredith — Ditto on the “good post” stuff.
What convinces me that it’s a good idea for a library to at least seriously think about having a MySpace presence is that businesses are going there; some companies set up on MySpace instead of having a teen area on their own site. (There was a good cover story in BusinessWeek about 6 months ago; I’m too lazy to go find the link right now.) If a library’s going to have web content for teens and twentysomethings, might as well put it on a site where they already go.
Aaron Schmidt spouted off a great idea re: online safety education for teens in a conversation after his presentation at PLA — Have someone who knows MySpace do a “how to make your MySpace page really cool” workshop, and include stealth safety info in that.
I don’t think libraries need to be too worried about committing bad design on MySpace; the most popular person there – more than 1million friends – has a really terrible-looking page. Except for the pictures of herself. 🙂
Re: Opening comments on blogs … I really, really want to see a legal opinion about whether a library creates a public forum when it turns on the comment function; I have visions of lawsuits being filed after a library removes an “inappropriate” comment. (The one librarian I know whose library got legal advice about this said they were advised not to enable comments.) It’s possible that the TOS for the commercial social networking sites would provide libraries with some cover for removing comments the library deems offensive within those spaces.
Oh, you need a link to the Daily Show bit on social networking in your “useful commentary” list! (Again, I’m too lazy to go fetch a URL.)
Daily Show link: http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/news_team/contributors/demetri_martin.jhtml
Then social networking clip.
Daily Show piece on MySpace, featuring Siva Vaidhyanathan (aka Dr. SmallBeard): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Neeti2xDNDI
Meredith, you raise valid points and these things plague me as I try to relate to teens! I ponder these same questions OFTEN. Mostly, though, I feel frustrated that I can’t do what Ann Arbor does because we have had some drastic changes in IT, and also because time is of the essence for my small library. I started the library space in MySpace and have a teen blog that I try pretty hard to get my teens on and commenting. Maybe my inspiration is all wrong (that’s another question for another time :] ), but I do agree with Brian’s post here that we still need to go where they go, just as businesses have. I have some good conversations offline and in-house because of that web presence.
Thanks again for you thoughtful post.
Here’s the BusinessWeek story I mentioned:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_50/b3963001.htm
Angela, I totally feel your pain. There are so many things I’d like to do at my library, but we have a very small staff who are all doing the jobs of several people as it is. There just aren’t enough hours in the workweek to focus on all the things we could do to make our libraries better. Ann Arbor is very unique. The population of the city is probably the most unique thing about it; they are extremely literate, much more tech-savvy than average, and are extremely civic-minded and into community life. It is reflected in how they fund their library system. Not every population would respond to blog posts made by their Library Director, no matter how engaging the posts were.
We can’t all be Ann Arbor because we don’t have the same funding, staffing, technology, techie staff, and most importantly, population. We have to serve the patrons we have with what we’ve got in terms of staffing and skills.
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Please delete the aborted effort of my previous comments. I’ll try this again, from the beginning. Some keyboard shortcuts do not work with WordPress!
1. As a musician/photographer, I USE the MySpace account for creative networking (yes, in spite of being nowhere NEAR 25…music is a little more forgiving about age), so I witness some of the phenomena mentioned first hand.
2. My ACADEMIC interests in MySpace and Facebook have not been addressed in any of this discussion, i.e., what are the long-term preservation and documentation of cultural heritage materials impacts of MySpace and Facebook? Who among us is looking at this phenomena as manifestations of popular culture that we, of rights, should be looking at in terms of documenting the culture of the early 21st century?
If librarians do begin to utilize MySpace/Facebook as an integral part of how they do their business, how are they planning to record the history of this?
As an Archives/Special Collections-oriented digital librarian, I hope that there will be further discussion of this…
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Tangentially related, “Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market research, announced today that April’s top 10 social networking sites collectively grew 47 percent year over year, increasing from an unduplicated unique audience of 46.8 million last year to 68.8 million in April 2006, reaching 45 percent of active Web users.” You can view the 3-page press release as a PDF at http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_060511.pdf
Your conclusions smack of the principles of the Cluetrain Manifesto: http://www.cluetrain.com/
Just insert “library” or “library administration” for “corporation”.
“[M]arkets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can’t be faked.
Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do.”
The theme of the Cluetrain Manifesto:
The “conversations” are not going away. Ignore them at your (library’s) peril. Don’t even think of trying to stop them.
I was doing a presentation on keeping current with social software a couple of weeks ago. After I showed how to use blogs and Blogger, someone asked about MySpace and how it differs. When I went to pull the site up to show them, it was blocked. So I’m wondering how many libraries are already blocking social networking sites without even really knowing what they are or how they can be used — this audience didn’t, had never seen MySpace, and yet it was filtered system-wide.
I don’t work in a library, I’m a Web manager with a library degree. But it does seem that libraries play an important roll for giving teens and others who may not be able to have a computer or Internet connection at home because of economic reasons a chance to participate in online social communities.
Seems like it is an important roll that libraries continue to play for their communities. Although I think it would be better if libraries started to be designed with separate computer rooms that didn’t interfere with other patrons.
On the other side of things as a parent — my kids are blocked from MySpace at school and we worry about the site with predators so we don’t encourage its use at home or monitor use. Kids will find a way and certainly the library is the easy access. Makes me a bit uncomfortable but still wouldn’t want filtering to happen in the library. Safety and guidence starts in the home.
But thanks for a very useful and thoughtful article. Enjoed it.
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On this topic, check out article in today’s New York Times- more to keep in mind as we teach information literacy to undergrads (and oursleves!):
The New York Times
June 11, 2006
For Some, Online Persona Undermines a Résumé
By ALAN FINDER
When a small consulting company in Chicago was looking to hire a summer intern this month, the company’s president went online to check on a promising candidate who had just graduated from the University of Illinois.
At Facebook, a popular social networking site, the executive found the candidate’s Web page with this description of his interests: “smokin’ blunts” (cigars hollowed out and stuffed with marijuana), shooting people and obsessive sex, all described in vivid slang.
It did not matter that the student was clearly posturing. He was done.
[Go to full article for more…]
Social networking destroys what libraries were created for. MySpace and Facebook, etc., don’t belong in libraries anymore than libraries belong in MySpace and Facebook, etc. Computer socialization should be on your own nickel.
Just out of curiosity, what specifically about social networking software destroys libraries? How is it any more damaging than using any other Web applications outside of the library Web site and library online resources? Are you saying people should also not be allowed to send e-mails from the library or to perhaps look for a job online (also personal things)? What about people whose only access to a computer is through their local library? And one could argue that if the person paid tuition to the school or taxes to the municipality, that they are using the Web on their “own nickel.” Is it a good use of a librarian’s time to police the computers? It’s a little scary when librarians think they own their libraries, not the taxpayers or the tuition-paying students.
Mrs. Farkas, disruptive because students gather around and behind the computers and laugh and make loud comments about what’s on the screen, disturbing other students who are quietly sending e-mail or searching for a job, or maybe even doing other activities: reading, researching, writing, that one usually associates with a library. Many of us, if not most of us, have limited resources, and those resources should be used to serve the purpose for which they were intended–in an academic library–education. Tuition and fees (the library’s part) are paid to do just that. Social chat belongs in the dorm. snack bar, commuter center, etc., if that’s what they want to pay for, put some computers there; otherwise, go study!
I have no use for Facebook or whatever, but what bugs me is when I’m in the library and need to look up a call number, and I need to use a computer to look up a reference, I find the computers being used by people for these trivial purposes, or for reading their email. I stand in line, waiting patiently, to no avail. I’ve complained to the library people, but they say they’re powerless to stop it. I think it should be easy to control this–set the perameters of the computers to only look up library resources, for example.
HS
Meredith — Just found ytour ite and I’m really enjoying reading your thoughtful essay on mypace and the like. I’m a school librarian (boys’ boarding school in a fairly conservative region) and am fascinated with these issues and how people at my school react to them. This year we’ll have a new technology director and so maybe a chance to loosen thing up a bit. I’m always considering the social and educational uses of school technology and trying to fight against the “gee whiz! we have new technology! aren’t we great?!” attitude and get people to think about how we use it, how kids use it, and how best to serve our students. You’ve touched on a lot of these issues, and I need to come back to your site. Thanks, and keep blogging — Jane L. Hyde
Interesting blog article. You definitely made me think of some things that I hadn’t really thought about before like the privacy issues of social networking communities.
I noticed actually that when I googled myself, I found all kinds of posts come up from sites and blogs I’d posted comments on. I realize that this is certainly going to be a way that people are using, and more will clue into, on finding out information about a person.
It strikes me now, that if I’m going to hire someone or work with someone, that it would only be right to google them and find out a bit about them, and maybe even take a look into their personal life in social networking sites before I hire them or work with them.
Peace
Is limiting access to social networks in public libraries fair? Websites such as Facebook and MYSpace are under fire in the government and the quiet spaces we call libraries. What are your thoughts?…
…
i agree with everything you saying becaus emost people look at myspace as a place where old 30 year-old guys come to flirt with teenage girls & sure there may be some out there but still most of us [meaning me & my friends] are not stoopid enough to let an old guy trick us into thinking they are 15 were smarter & maybe if parents had a talk to their child about mypace more teens would know better about myspace & know what to do & what not to do while being on the computer!
Fortunately our children are more savvy than we are about the pitfalls of these social networks. There are blocks in place to help protect our shildren.
Unfortunately my children are safer on myspace than on the streets, unlike when I was a child and could walk the streets alone without fear of danger.
I think MySpace grew so fast that they didn’t expect the problems that they are facing (lawsuits). I honestly believe that they are trying to rectify any problems.
I think there has to be verticle social networking based on special interest , http://www.librairansworld.com is one such site for Librarian community . Afterall the ambiance is something which will determine what you would discuss. If it is a around the corner pub , it will be all shouting & bad words but if it is a nice french restaurant – no one wants to shout …..
personally i think myspace is great. and if you think it is bad! just think ok you can make it so no one sees you profile but your friends you have to approve n-e who wants to be your friendand only the kids who weren’t raised right are stupid enough to talk to people the don’t know!! my cousins have a myspace so they can check on their daughters amd son! that sounds like a good idea and some peoples familys are in iraq and thats the only way they can get in tousk with them. and not every one has a computer to check their myspace every single day. so what do you think that is my opion. noone cares for my opion here so why should you but it’s still here!!
It really comes down to what we are trying to accomplish. The cool-factor of being able to say our library is on this or that social site is good, but so what? It’s really just a tool to facilitate reaching more people & provide them with information services, any time/ any place. While reaching out to people online is a good thing, social networks have their limitations. We talk about them as if they’re the silver bullet that’s going to fix all our problems…. sometimes 5 minutes of traditional face-to-face conversation is equivalent to an hour of online chatting.
On one hand, I admit that I do have an account on just about every social site and e-mail with just about every free e-mail provider, but for a purpose – I need to keep in touch with this or that family member or friend. On the other hand, I would much rather see them in person. And on another hand (how many do I have??), I love social sites & Instant Messaging because I’m able to keep in touch with people who I normally would have lost touch with over the years – and I can talk to them online while doing other things (like writing this post). I could be anywhere in the world and communicate with friends – or the library – which I have done & found it extremely useful.
It’s important to keep things in perspective & know why we’re doing what we do.
Very interesting post. We had a very similar debate at a Chinwag ‘Dark side of social media’ in London, which we at Kwiqq and many others developing social media attended. Although there was no concrete outcome but generally people agreed that today’s teenagers, commonly referred to as digital natives, are very web savy and strangely enough understand the implications of revealing their identity online.