Thing 4: Social Networking

I have an account at Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Mostly, I set them up to maintain contact with friends and co-workers but I realized I could not keep up with all four. So I mainly use Facebook for purely social contacts and I keep LinkedIn to add contacts with people I either have worked for or with in the past. I thoroughly enjoy my Facebook account because I have definitely found another side of my colleagues that I would not ordinarily know - their family, interests, etc. I also use it to keep up with some of my friends in genealogy and we all use Facebook rather than the online forums because we can post pictures. But I also enjoy re-establishing contacts with my old high school friends, many of whom I have not seen for ages. And I have made contact with a number of former high school students whom I taught when I was employed as an English teacher in Shenandoah County.

If I were to pick one of the social networks to use to set up a library presence, I think I would use Facebook. Most of our students seem to use Facebook more often to communicate. Lord Fairfax already has several departments with a Facebook page and I am envious. I would like to be able to announce new books, display photos of various areas and students, and promote events there. Maybe one of these days!