I have not used the word ‘friending’ as a verb before, at least I don’t remember if I have. Friending someone on a network has become an everyday activity. We hear of people finding and making friends on social networks easily and quickly however, many users sense a tension between privacy and wanting to be found by the people you want to be found by. For that reason, looking into privacy settings on Facebook and MySpace and other social neworks is a good idea before you start a profile. Some other grey areas are: it could be problematic if you decide to rank your friends; what do you do when you receive requests from people who you don’t know but who have requested friendship?
I’ve had an account on Facebook since Michael Stephens’ presentation in early February. I enjoy maintaining this profile and knowing what is going on with my Facebook friends who are mostly from the McMaster network. I was also able to hook up with a friend with whom I had lost touch for sometime. I am a member of 8 groups and like to peruse through the profiles and participate in discussion groups. Writing on someone’s wall is a quick way of communicating or commenting and fun.
I checked out MySpace but did not open an account. I found the interface cluttered and not so navigable as Facebook. I noticed that there was a built in blogging feature which is a bonus and that the blogs are ranked daily by popularity.
LinkedIn seems a useful network for those who are in the business world. Many professionals are finding it a useful tool when searching for jobs or just sharing a common interest with someone in another organization. Anyone can join this network but the majority of members are professionals in the business world and the network has major corporations such as Sony amongst its members.
I liked the Brooklyn College Library profile on MySpace. It is informative yet useful and is definitely user friendly and is a good idea for a library to have a presence on a social network. I think it is great for publicity and for feedback from students and is current. It incorporates notices, posters, complaints, comments, blog, music and more on one space and can quickly reach people who are united by the goal of education.
