Facebook has been a major part of my day for almost a year now. (Okay, I know I got to it late!) I've gradually added friends and joined some groups. My library school has a group, but so far I haven't found any of my classmates. I've also joined some of our local groups, and I admit to monitoring some of the public groups that I haven't joined yet. One of my advisees created a group last summer for first-year students who were coming to Concordia. It was really interesting to see how these people from all over the country found each other on Facebook and how it provided a venue for them to ask each other questions and share information with other group members. These kids had formed a community before they arrived on campus!
I'm fairly cautious about what I post on Facebook--not that I really do anything I couldn't share! It just seems like so public a space, and I'm not by nature a public person. But at the same time I enjoy seeing videos and photos my friends post. But sometimes I see some pretty inappropriate things people have posted. I'm waiting for the first political scandal that focuses on information media folks pull out of a social network site!
There are lots of library uses for social networks. Our Circulation People are using their Facebook group as a student training measure. (Check out Soma on a Stick if you'd like to learn more!) The students used Facebook as a way to gather information about our Pay it Forward purchases. Both of these are good ideas, and I know there are lots of others.
While I know many college age people were appalled when the network opened up to everyone, many people of my generation are also interested. I held a small workshop for friends last fall, and we explored Facebook and became familiar with some of its features. Just as people of all ages embraced email and the web, people of all ages are embracing social networks. Everybody--not just young people--like to belong to a group.
By the way--did I mention Scrabulous? This application alone makes Facebook worthwhile!
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