Thing #20 - Facebook and MySpace

I will have to come back to this one later from my home computer. These are block at our school. I can honestly say, I am not comfortable thinking about signing up for either one of these social networks. I will come back after using my home computer and see what happens once I have a change to explore them further.

I did go online on my home computer and registered on Facebook. I was not comfortable doing so but gave it a try. We will see what happens! I did find one person who also registered as one of the 23 Things also and did send a message. I will see if I hear back.

I can see where Facebook & MySpace could be useful tools for staying in touch with special groups or even with friends that are also using Facebook or MySpace. However, I do not think it will be a tool that I will or even can use in my library since both sights are blocked. I have read several opinions online with pros and cons for using these tools and several feel these sights should not be blocked. I can say from my point of view that at the junior/senior high level, students can easily misuse them and also use these two tools when they should be doing class work.

We all hear the bad things that have happened to some users of MySpace and Facebook. I believe these tools are like all other things that could really be great if used properly by everyone. Unfortunately that isn't usually the case.

I looked at the Denver Public Library and was not impressed with this one. It was way too "busy" for me and distracting with too much going on at once and the music was not impressive either. Simple design is sometimes better than to stimulating. Hennepin County Library MySpace had a better design and seem like a better environment for teens and college students. I did explore several of the library links also.

I did not spend a lot of time on these sites. I am not sure Facebook or MySpace are tools that are the future communication tools for libraries. I do believe that libraries will have to incorporate some form of "social networking" or be left behind.