Week 3: Social networking – Facebook and Twitter

As I already have a Facebook account (to communicate with overseas and interstate nieces) , I decided to join Bebo for a look at a different site. I hate it! The profile questions and the ads irritated me. They are aimed at a very different demographic to me and I just didn't want to spend time there. I'm afraid I canceled my membership almost immediately. I know I have to at least look at what they're about, but these sites do really irritate me. Myspace looks similar. I'll have a look at Twitter.

I still haven't looked at Twitter, but have learned a few things about Facebook. I just happened to be on the site (to update my info and add some photos) at the same time as my niece in Ethiopia. It was tea time here, lunch time there. She immediately set up a chat session, something new to me. It was quite amazing to be chatting to her in real time (albeit in a somewhat haphazard way, as she's a touch typist and I'm not). I then had a good look around the site, checked the privacy policy, added a photo to my profile and learned how to ignore an invitation to play poker with a niece and to become friends with her son (who I'm fond of, but I want to really limit my friends)

I've finally signed up on Twitter. I don't know why they have such rubbish on their home page as an invitation to look at Twitter. I started by clicking on "iamsinglebecause". Hmm, very strange, maybe there's some titillation value, but I don't think that's what this site is about. Had a look at Obama, Rudd and Radio National's sites. I guess it's useful for a quick overview and there are links to other relevant sites.

I went to the "about us" section where the site is explained. I think Twitter is a less personal space than Myspace, Facebook and Bebo. Members don't seem to confront each other and can get a quick look at what their friends are doing without getting caught up in the site. There is a mobile phone service as well. Why bother? The idea behind the site seems to be to keep it as simple and intuitive as possible.

In terms of library use, Twitter might be a useful tool for reaching a wider audience. Library events could be posted with links to further information. Maybe even mini (micro mini!) book reviews with links to the catalogue.

Week 2 Blogs/Wikis/Nings and Setting up Your Own Blog

Blogs, Wikis, Nings! I'm still a bit fuzzy about what different features each of these offers.

I can't imagine why wikis work - I see the use for them in libraries, for book reviews etc, but it amazes me that there's not a lot of wrong info posted, especially in something like wikipedia.

The Ning seems like a great tool for social interaction, and as an educational site. As I understand it the primary difference between a Ning and a Blog is that a Ning is controlled by a social group, whereas a Blog is controlled by an individual. Are more visual tools available on a Ning than a Blog? Is a Blog always in order (reverse chronological)? I'll find the answers to these (and no doubt many more) questions before I get to the end of this exercise.

At the moment I'm not sure how I can use any of these in my Home Library Service work. Perhaps at some stage in the future it would be useful to have a Ning set up as a forum for HLS recipients. It could be used for information sharing (posting library news, booklists, etc. and for feedback, reviews, etc. from the recipients) and for a level of social interaction which those recipients who are online might appreciate. At this stage however, the majority of HLS recipients don't have access to a computer and are generally not interested.

Of course, as a Reader's Adviser, I need to be familiar with how these areas of technology work and I'm therefore very happy to be involved in Learning 2.0. I hope to be able to sensibly discuss them, offer advice (?), and access more areas, for library borrowers.