Deep Thoughts on Social Networking

So I'm sitting here in San Diego, looking at the sunny blue skies, enjoying the breeze of the 60 degree weather... and pondering all the homework I have stacked up with Project Play... immediately I turn my wistful gaze from the great weather and hunker down at a laptop, determined to pen some "deep thoughts" on social networking.

Although, depending on your point of view, these may be as deep as a wading pool. Anyhoo...

I rather enjoyed "Winnie Fox's" myspace page - I think it incorporated a lot of great information. What I was really pleased to see on a few of these pages were links to their IM a Librarian. Some people have questions that may need a quick response time - so I believe it's fairly important - if a library HAS IM - to put that on their social networking page.

Libraries, unfortunately, for many many years have had a reputation of being a quiet (cue librarians shushing) and a somewhat somber place to be. IE You have to be quiet all the time, no talking, just reading.... yada yada yada. Giving a library a presence on a major social network ups its "cool" factor. And, while that may sound weird to some people, for others - especially teens and younger adults - being "cool" is an important way to get them into the library. So, whereas you might not get your traditional library users through facebook and myspace, you might get some non-traditional non-library users who might really deepen the dimensions of your patron base - allowing you to reach patrons of all sorts.

Of course you might also get your fair share of whackos - but I believe all of us have seen that whackos come from anywhere, not just the Internet.

If we want to lobby for libraries - legislate for libraries - keep spreading the message how important we are to public welfare - establishing a presence on a major site like myspace is critical.

My deep thoughts for today - time to sip my pina colada....