Thing Eighteen

I'm very familiar with Facebook because both of my children have accounts. My oldest created his once he got to college, and my youngest asked if she could have one last year in ninth grade. I was concerned about privacy and security issues, so before agreeing to her request, her dad and I discussed it. We finally said yes, but set up some strict guidelines for her to follow. I even discussed some of these with my son, but because he's an adult, he can basically do what he wants! Yet, he listened and actually agreed with several of them. I'm not naive when I say I have good kids, so I trust them. So far, when they've pulled up their accounts and shown me photos they have posted, I've not seen anything outrageous or inappropriate.

I chose not to create a Facebook profile myself only because I'm not interested in maintaining one. I have to admit that my son's opinion of the site and its audience also affected my decision not to participate. He is incensed that so many adults are involved with Facebook. He does have a point; the site originated for kids in college. His actual quote when an adult family member and mother of his friend wanted him to friend them was "What's this world coming to?!" I told him to reject them if he didn't want them as friends. After further discussion, I came to realize his beef is adults wanting to be his friends, not that adults are using Facebook. I explained how some coworkers use it professionally and that made sense to him. Just don't ask to be his friend!! My daughter is of similar mind, but sometimes feels pressure to accept friend requests from older family members and friends. I think we older adults need to be mindful of what's on our teens' sites, but at the same time, respect their privacy by not making them friend us. I'm not their Facebook friend, so why should their aunt or a family friend be one? If we as adults have an account, I think we should be friends with other adults and professional colleagues unless we have a teen who is begging us to be their friend. I have a good friend and colleague who told me that she never asks anyone younger than her to friend her. But if a younger person initiates it, she'll accept. I like that.

I spent time looking into MySpace because I hadn't really done that before. I know my library system has a page, which I looked at for the first time in awhile. I even found a picture of myself on it! OK, well it was the back of my head, but still! We have some neat video and audio clips on it, which were fun. The publicity was about a month behind, but it's probably one more thing for someone to keep updated. The audience was all ages. I then went to JPL's MySpace page which targeted teens only. I really liked that about it. They also promoted the use of Library Thing, which, thanks to 23 Things, I knew all about. Then I looked into some college pages, but one was geared strictly for the college students in a particular program at the school. The page was all black and white, which at first was kinda cool, but then it was boring. A search for Colby College MySpace just led me to a place for job postings, which I think is a great way to use this site. Lastly I investigated an Ellen Degeneres site, but it wasn't created by her show, but by a fan. Still interesting.

MySpace is a great tool for libraries to use, and I think Facebook can be used for groups that you have something in common with (committees, projects, librarians). I liked how JPL targeted a particular age group with their MySpace page -- perfect for teens. We need to use any available avenue to reach patrons, and social network sites are another opportunity.