If you didn't notice my heading, I'm about to talk a little about "the net" in social networking. No, not the Sandra Bullock flick, rather, the shiny stick with the cabling at one end.
The thing I love most about social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn is that I can easily communicate with friends and colleagues and get my own little piece of www real estate at the same time. Oh and... It's fun!
The thing that I don't love is how they manage to suck me in and wipe hours, nay, blocks of hours from my life. Hence the net part. Of course, this "it's sucking me in" opinion might have something to do with the fact that I'm usually partaking merely as a social venture, which cuts into my free time, and my healthier habits like walking-the-dog and peeling-my-eyes-from-a-computer-screen.
If you are like my mom and exclaiming (and partially accusing), "You are on FaceBook?" as if it is the equivalent to a girls gone wild video, then obviously, you're watching the same Dateline that she is. [By the way, my mom totally reads this. Hi, Mom!] If that is you, then watch this Common Craft Video on Social Networking. It's not all bad.
But, my mom makes a valid point (and she doesn't even know it)- and that is how do you decide what to share about yourself online? I'm pretty darn conservative with the information I put out there- this blog is actually a big step for me. But I'm a believer in keeping up.
As a librarian, if I want to connect with students or patrons, then you better believe that I need to be able to navigate a MySpace page. And if a patron wants to visit my Facebook page, they'll find links to and maybe even use a resource like WorldCat or PubMed that they wouldn't have otherwise thought to use. Another way "the net" works. If they find out that I have a personality along the way, even better.
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