Week 3 - Social Networking Tools

Well... in a nutshell... I get it... but I don't get it.

It's been interesting to look at all these "online communities" (Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin)... I guess they do have a place in today's society, and they're pretty cool, technologically speaking, but they left me a bit ill at ease. I'm not sure why... maybe it's the privacy (or lack thereof) issue... or maybe it's the "busy-ness" of so many of the pages... or maybe it's because you hear the "scary" stories about them in the press... or maybe it's just a generational thing (did I really say that?!). But I'm doubtful that I'll do much with my page... or even keep it active after the course is finished.

I can see why personal MySpace and Facebook pages are popular, especially among younger people. They're a neat venue for expression and sharing... and they can certainly expand the numbers of folks you can communicate with. Your "network" can grow by leaps and bounds! This all sounds good, doesn't it? So why my hesitation? Who knows?

What place do social networking tools have in my library setting - an academic health sciences library? I'm not sure I see a bonus in using one of them instead of or along with a web page right now. But I've also learned never to say never. This is still pretty young technology, and if other libraries use it with great success, we can always try it, too!