Social networking sites can be amazing tools. I know my kids carry out a huge portion of their social lives on Facebook and Livejournal. I liked the little Common Craft videos explaining how social networking works.
I'm still not convinced that they're a good way for libraries to connect with patrons. I started by checking out a couple of the library MySpace pages linked from the best practices wiki. I clicked on one at random
—Peabody Institute Library—and was told "Invalid Friend ID.
This user has either cancelled their membership, or their account has been deleted." The second one I clicked on had such a weird color scheme and such tiny font that I literally couldn't read it. Not exactly an auspicious start.
The WCPL MySpace looks fantastic by comparison, attractive and well organized. The slide show of new books is a great feature. But I found it weird that almost all of the Friends comments are from authors plugging their own books. Do any actual library patrons visit the site??
As for Twitter, I personally can't imagine using it. I don't even like blogging, because I don't see why anyone should be interested in what I'm thinking. What I'm doing—hour to hour or minute to minute—is even more boring!
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