I finally broke down and created my Facebook profile. A few months back, I received a friend invite and group invite (I hope I am using the right Facebook terminology), but I ignored both. I did not know the person who invited me, and I was not interested in joining Facebook. So, when I joined up yesterday, the friend and group invites were both sitting in my account...waiting for me to make a move. I ignored them both...at least at first.
After discovering that adding a friend was virtually painless (thanks, CJ!), I decided to explore my one and only network...then I began to feel a little lonely and inadequate...one network...one friend...pretty sad, don't you think? Especially when Facebook announces your new connection with a "Such-and-Such and Such-and-Such are now friends" announcement...exactly what were we before?! Oh, well...small complaints.
So, I checked out the lady who befriended me, noticed we did actually share a common real life "friend," and decided she appeared to be harmless....so I accepted her friend request and sent her a quick "nice to meet you" message (btw: I think I like the email feature in Facebook). I also joined the group she invited me to join. With two friends and a group under my belt, I explored my network and added a friend from my non-virtual world. He's living in another state, and we rarely get to see/speak with each other, so it was exciting to get to see his photo albums and get tidbits of information about what is going on in his life.
I definitely think that I will continue to use Facebook after Learning 2.0 ends. I have already witnessed how it can help me keep up long-distance friendships, and, let's face it, long-distance friendships are becoming more and more common in our world. Plus, it just seems sort of neat and fun. As I have admitted before, I enjoy small glimpses into the lives of others, and have been lurking in MySpace to "get my fix" for a few months. Now that I am officially in Facebook, I can "get the fix" without the guilt.
As for imagining how libraries can use Facebook, I am not sure. It seems as if they could use Facebook in much the same way they are using MySpace: to communicate with and/or inform patrons about programs, services, hours, changes, and so on, and so on... Additionally, it probably does humanize a library and its staff just a bit. I would also like to say that I found it interesting to see how students are using Facebook, especially when they are using it for something other than socializing with friends. For example, I noticed in the EKU network that students were communicating with the entire network about the freshman book, along with asking open questions about what types of supplies to bring to campus, how certain dorms "stack up," roommate requests...etc... I found the questions about dorm room set-up and supplies to be very interesting because this is information that can be found on EKU's website, yet the students are asking each other. Don't we all do that? Most of us would prefer to get this type of information from someone we know, or at least from another human being who has experience, rather than from an institution/corporation--or at least, that's what my LIS classes are teaching me! Facebook is obviously giving students a tool to "ask someone who knows" on a much larger scale than may be possible in their own "real world" environments.
I've got to start writing shorter posts...must have more time for adding friends, adding applications, writing on the wall, poking people....
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