Facebook

For once a 'thing' that I am already quite familiar with. I've been on facebook since June 2007. I know that because that is when I left the UK for 18 months and found it a really useful way to share photos with friends back home. I guess I still use it mostly for this sort of thing, even since I've come back. I send people messages via facebook too, as it is often convenient to do so, although it is rarely as though I do not have their email addresses too. Initially I found it hard to see how a social site between friends could spill over into the commerical/public services world. I guess the principle of sharing information with interested parties does work, if you reduce facebook to this kind of basic definition. I first came across a library using facebook through contact with York Minster Library in early 2009. York Minster currently has 602 friends and uses its page to promote news, invite comment and showcase images from its collections. York Minster Library relies heavily on volunteer support (many of whom are students from the university) and also uses facebook as a way of sending out messages to these people too. This facebook profile seems to work very well and is particularly successful at generating comments and feedback and I suppose, an electronic community.

I wonder whether facebook is offering libraries cheap and easy ways to create something like a website. I'm sure that most libraries which use facebook have websites already, but many of the features are quite similar. Basic information on the library, news, links, enticing images, - even something like a 'number of hits' feature (ie. 602 people like this). Perhaps with facebook, there comes too a sense of belonging and direct communication. Otherwise, I think the danger is that the distinction between 'friends' and 'library' may sometimes become blurred. Mostly, each library needs to decide how appropriate facebook is for its potential users and the tone it wants to set.