LIS 9763

At the end of this course my view hasn’t changed that much.  Most of the readings I had already read as I have been interesting in this topic for the last four years.  It was interesting to see how everyone else interpreted the tools and philosophies behind social software (web 2.0 or the read/write web).  Of the eight tools we looked at, I think that online social networks would be the “low-hanging” fruit because of the popularity and familiarity with staff.  I believe that the most important step with implementing new tools or change is to have staff

Two main philosophies strike me when I thin of social software:

My first experience with Facebook was a few years ago. It was about 6 months prior to facebook being open to business and high school registrants, and then later to public registration. When I started using it, only my post-secondary education peers were able to access and create profiles. In the short time between then and now, Facebook has exploded into more than a gossip-, homework-, and image-sharing tool. It's become a resource for unofficial background checks, family reunions, and, yes, library reference.

Of the readings this week, the Farkas blog entry identified what I consider to be the most relevant thing libraries should keep in mind when exploring the possibilities offered to them by social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook. While Mack, et. al.

Do libraries have a place within online social networks? I say yes, there is great potential to reach current and potential users in a variety of meaningful ways, but we must tread carefully into this territory. As Roush (2006) illustrates, there are huge numbers of inhabitants in social networks – 95 million MySpace users in 2006…and then came the ridiculously successful advent of Facebook. If all of these people lived in one physical place, they would make up one of the most populated countries on the globe!

I don’t actually understand the way Myspace works, so AADL’s Myspace page is just plain strange to me because of this. The oddest thing about the AADL Myspace page is that it has 284 billion friends. I am not sure how that is even possible since there are only about 6.8 billion people on earth. Who are these friends and where did they come from? 

...not facebooking instead of blogging.
 

 As I read this week's articles I started to reflect how my teenage daughter uses mySpace and Facebook.  I'm not convinced that MySpace is used more by teens and Facebook by Undergrads - this may have been the case a few years ago, but today I'm being told that everyone is using Facebook and that MySpace is more for music. 
 

I have to say this week's readings appeal to me much more on a theoretical level (related to sociology, cultural studies, info & media studies) than on the practical level required for this course.  I found Danah Boyd's article particularly insightful; it comes as no surprise she is considered an expert on social networking sites.