Before I go any further, I really need to be upfront about this section of the Challenge. I hate Social Networking Sites. For me, they are among the truly appalling aspects of the web. OK, I know I am being Pauline Pessimist here and not entering into the whole spirit of the Challenge, but I cannot help it. I am sorry to be so negative (what a surprise), but I am not interested in showing my face to the world, being connected to everybody, or looking for scads of new "friends." I have a very active life on the web, but I choose to live it quietly. I am quite happy with Live Journal (yes, I know, it is one of the original social networking sites, but the feeling is totally different)
However the Challenge says we must be social, so social for the moment I shall be. But the minute the Challenge is over, my MySpace account is history.
I set up a very, very minimal MySpace page, since I don't plan on keeping it: Darien's MySpace
I found MySpace (this may not be true for other sites) to be very difficult to use. It was not intuitive or user-friendly at all. I was able to add the Challenge MySpace as a friend (but needed help). I sent off a couple of friends requests, but received no reply. *so sad*
EDIT: I was able to get a friend - a co-worker and I friended each other! :-) However, my gmail account was spammed by two friend requests that turned out to be from a singles site. So not likin' the MySpace!
EDIT THE SEQUEL: Hey, I have 2 more friends! Your co-workers can be your friends in more ways than one. :-) However, I was also friend-requested by two ladies looking for relationships. Denied. *sigh*
What are some of the pros and cons of using a social networking sites?
I suppose the pros would be to meet new people, make new friends, share your life with family and this every widening circle of acquaintances. *sigh* The cons include being inundated with contacts and messages from people who you know little or not at all and being in too much contact with everyone. People really do give away much too much personal information to the world. In the case of MySpace, the plethora of intrusive, animated ads just makes me want to run screaming from the place.
Why do you think social networking sites are so popular?
Today it is all about staying in constant contact with everyone (and his twin brother everybody). Email, mobile phones, IM, texting, twittering (dear Lord!), it's relentless and unending. People walk, drive, and even talk to each other while simultaneously talking to someone else on their cell phones. Texting has spawned a new language and new medical conditions. Kids today are conditioned almost from birth to stay in constant touch. Social networking sites allow you to share every tiny tidbit of your life with everyone else and everyone else shares their tidbits with you. They help fulfill this rampaging need to know everything about everybody.
How can the library make use of social networking sites?
I suppose the only reason is to be where the patrons are. They are, especially teens, on social networking sites. Therefore, we should be there as well. I know other libraries are using MySpace, Facebook (I tried to take look at Facebook, but you had to sign up just to view it and Lord knows, I didn't want another account!) and other sites. Perhaps the best thing to do is to visit lots of other library examples and see what might work for us. I know that our experiment with a Teen MySpace has already been abandoned. Frankly, I am just not sold on the concept.
