Musings on Social Media
I have been asked to create a blog and compose a post about my social media experiences, so here goes. As a 43 y/o, social media and the internet were not available to me until I was attending university in the mid to late 90's. Even then social media was not the phenomena it is today. I first started using social media in about 2007 when I established a Myspace account. Initially I enjoyed the ability to connect with old classmates and friends, but over time I became increasingly uncomfortable. I tend to be an introvert and let few people really get to know me. The discomfort came from the amount of what I would call "overshare" I witnessed on the site. I fairly quickly backed off of being an active participant and mostly observed and responded only if I was directly addressed. My Myspace experience was fairly brief and I stopped using it altogether in a year.
I did not use social media for several years until I established a Facebook account in about 2012. The account was created so I could communicate asynchronously with my fellow library coworkers when we were out of work email contact, say weekends and such. This communication was done fairly exclusively through private messages. I know that texting coworkers is an option as would be private email, but this method was fairly unobtrusive for noncritical communication, and maintained some contact privacy for the employee. I still feel the same discomfort as I did with Myspace and my behavior is the same. I will say there are some features I do enjoy. Such as local businesses that don't have the ability to create a web site using Facebook to let consumers know what's going on with their business. It could be anything from the daily menu at a small restaurant to what is on sale at the local used video game shop. I enjoy that there are legitimate news sources and interest groups available to follow. An example would be the June 10th post on the IUPUI Facebook page which provides a link to a New York Times article "36 Hours in Indianapolis"which showcases some of Indy's attractions. I love the New York Times, and I love Indianapolis, combine the two and I'm a very happy camper. However there are issues with Facebook that I literally despise. Trolling, deliberate misinformation, and just overall drama to mention a few. I guess these sorts of issues wouldn't have such a big impact if users could maintain perspective and use some critical thinking skills, but that's out of my control.
The social media sites I have the most experience with are Myspace and Facebook. I have used LinkedIn briefly and just started using Google+. I established a Google+ account because I use gmail and have an android smartphone, it just seemed a logical step. It does kind of creep me out how much they track you. In the "Suggested For You" tab it's obvious they maintain records of your searches and not just recent searches. I have suggestions for searches I conducted possibly over a year ago. I remember them because the subject was some traumatic issues you don't forget. My memory of Myspace is so poor I can't really comment on it. LinkedIn and Facebook have two different purposes. Facebook is designed primarily to be a site to keep track and communicate with friends and follow topics of interest. It's free and fairly easy to use. LinkedIn is mostly for business and employment social networking. It tends to be more professional. It is initially free but to use all of it's features requires a paid subscription. Both of these services have apps available to be used on smartphones. From a professional perspective, social media is already an important tool for librarians and information specialist. Facebook, twitter, and other social media apps are an important way for us to communicate with our patrons. It allows our patrons to easily share our information with their friends, who may not follow our Facebook page and increase our outreach. It is very cost effective. If we can save postage, ink, and paper by using social media and mass emailing we can use those dollars for more programming or materials. It is clear to me that as librarians our reliance on social media will only grow. So while I do not use social media heavily personally, professionally it will be a constant tool.
I did not use social media for several years until I established a Facebook account in about 2012. The account was created so I could communicate asynchronously with my fellow library coworkers when we were out of work email contact, say weekends and such. This communication was done fairly exclusively through private messages. I know that texting coworkers is an option as would be private email, but this method was fairly unobtrusive for noncritical communication, and maintained some contact privacy for the employee. I still feel the same discomfort as I did with Myspace and my behavior is the same. I will say there are some features I do enjoy. Such as local businesses that don't have the ability to create a web site using Facebook to let consumers know what's going on with their business. It could be anything from the daily menu at a small restaurant to what is on sale at the local used video game shop. I enjoy that there are legitimate news sources and interest groups available to follow. An example would be the June 10th post on the IUPUI Facebook page which provides a link to a New York Times article "36 Hours in Indianapolis"which showcases some of Indy's attractions. I love the New York Times, and I love Indianapolis, combine the two and I'm a very happy camper. However there are issues with Facebook that I literally despise. Trolling, deliberate misinformation, and just overall drama to mention a few. I guess these sorts of issues wouldn't have such a big impact if users could maintain perspective and use some critical thinking skills, but that's out of my control.
The social media sites I have the most experience with are Myspace and Facebook. I have used LinkedIn briefly and just started using Google+. I established a Google+ account because I use gmail and have an android smartphone, it just seemed a logical step. It does kind of creep me out how much they track you. In the "Suggested For You" tab it's obvious they maintain records of your searches and not just recent searches. I have suggestions for searches I conducted possibly over a year ago. I remember them because the subject was some traumatic issues you don't forget. My memory of Myspace is so poor I can't really comment on it. LinkedIn and Facebook have two different purposes. Facebook is designed primarily to be a site to keep track and communicate with friends and follow topics of interest. It's free and fairly easy to use. LinkedIn is mostly for business and employment social networking. It tends to be more professional. It is initially free but to use all of it's features requires a paid subscription. Both of these services have apps available to be used on smartphones. From a professional perspective, social media is already an important tool for librarians and information specialist. Facebook, twitter, and other social media apps are an important way for us to communicate with our patrons. It allows our patrons to easily share our information with their friends, who may not follow our Facebook page and increase our outreach. It is very cost effective. If we can save postage, ink, and paper by using social media and mass emailing we can use those dollars for more programming or materials. It is clear to me that as librarians our reliance on social media will only grow. So while I do not use social media heavily personally, professionally it will be a constant tool.
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