How Facebook and Myspace are Beneficial

Individuals and libraries can definitley benefit from using social networking services. Social Networking is a way to keep in touch with friends and relatives. Since I have opened a facebook account, I have been able to locate friends of mine I haven't seen in years. It's also a good way to share pictures with loved ones that you may not get to see very often. I have several friends that I graduated high school with that I haven't seen in a long time, however, I am able to keep up with what they are up to these days and see how they have changed over the years.

Libraries can benefit from social networking, because facebook and myspace are two services that the majority of people use these days, especially college students. I guarantee you that a student is 99% more likely to check their mail on facebook, rather than their student email through the University. If our Library set up our own page, I believe that we would be able to reach students easier, and they would be more apt to visit our page and find out what's going on here rather than look for it in their email accounts.

If you'd like to take a look at my profile pages, click the link below...but wait...there's a catch...be sure to add me to your friend's list first, so I can confirm our friendship and then you can check out my site to learn more about me! =)

www.myspace.com/brandimize

(when you click this link, sign in to your account and then search for my name using facebook's search engine...once you find my profile pic, click on add friend) www.facebook.com

Searching for Libraries on Facebook

I created a facebook account a few years ago. I found it an exciting and excellent way to keep up with old and new friends. Before Learning 2.0, I had no idea that libraries were utilizing facebook, as well. I searched for libraries using the search engine, and found several. However, all of the sites I found were private, so I would have to add them to my friend list and wait for an approval before I could actually see the site. I understand why personal sites are set to private, however, wasn't quite sure why a library site would set theirs to private...it seems to me that if they kept it unlocked, more people would access their pages.

Podcasts

Well, I've always wondered what the big deal was when it came to podcasts...I guess you could say now I know...
I browsed several podcasts, and I found that there are so many interesting topics to choose from. I came across a podcast called JazzSet that features different Jazz artists. The artist being featured when I checked it out was Johnny Griffin. It gave a brief summary of his life, and told us about many of his accomplishments he has reached during his lifetime...not only did I learn about Johnny Griffin as an artist, I also was able to hear a concert that he did while in New York. His concert lasted nearly an hour, and the entire performance was on podcast. Of course, I wasn't able to listen to the whole thing, but it was very enjoyable to hear what bit I did. I love music...all kinds of music...Jazz is a favorite of mine, so it was exciting to find another way to enjoy a passion of mine.

The library can utilize podcasts in several ways. By creating our own podcasts, we could make it easier for the students to access certain sites. Rather that try to go step by step with each student individually, if we created podcasts to instruct the students "how to", they could listen to our podcast and walk themselves through the process. If they didn't get it the first time, or couldn't remember how to do it again in the future, all they'd have to do is replay it. I believe creating podcasts to help students with various things such as accessing webct, student email, pulling up their library accounts to renew books, ect. is an excellent idea!