Fleshing out

i'm a total square....

i tried to go and flesh out my facebook page. i just kept wondering why i would want to do any of this. i swear i know how to have fun, i swear. i just can't get into taking little surveys and poking my friends. and it is a lot of effort for me to find things i would like to get into on facebook. i had a much better time with flickr. the photos are pretty, easy to find and give lots of good info. i love finding stuff on youtube for the same reason. i remember being really excited about friendster when it first came out and i got in touch with a bunch of friends. i just kinda stopped looking at it one day.

i consume too much stuff already. i actively seek out ways to be less excited and look at less information. with facebook i feel like i'm looking at a lot of ads and doodads and not seeing the point.

it's cool that so many people are excited and express themselves. that in itself is fun for me to see and i appreciate just knowing about it.

maybe i'm missing the point and not digging deep enough for interesting things to look at on facebook. i would like to use the excuse that i'm too old - however, many of my peers love this stuff. i can theorize about how it is useful as a professional tool to stay in tune with what our patrons are doing and reach out to them. in reality, facebook just doesn't speak to me.

Social networking

Online social networking is another tool that I just don't use in my personal life. I am constantly wanting more interaction with the few people I already know, and it is hard to find time to do even that. Also, guiltily, I am more of a voyeur.

That said, as I look for new ideas for the workplace I can see how being part of a social network would be very helpful- to share information and ideas with like minded people.

A lot of creative thinking can generate from informal interactions and that is the most inspiring part of social networking. People are pro-actively participating and expressing themselves. We can't ignore the popularity of the medium...people feel very comfortable online and that freedom produces a creative environment. Libraries should have a presence in these networks because of their popularity, and because of the ease with which people use them.

There is huge potential for empowerment through sharing resources and contributing to ideas using social networks.