Thing 13 - How libraries are using Facebook to connect with their users

A larger and larger number of libraries seem to be getting Facebook pages or groups - the library I work in has been using Facebook since before I started here. I think the "page" format, which is handily what we use, is perhaps slightly more suited to the task - it provides an authorative voice, as opposed to a free-for-all! It's always good to see the number of "fans" rising - but quite often (as with other social networking sites) these are other librarians, or not users of the library itself. Facebook is certainly useful for posting up-to-the-minute news, and knowing it will appear in subscriber's feeds without the need to visit a particular site, but interactions on the site not always forthcoming or particularly useful (someone clicking "like" for example, rather than actually engaging in discussion).

To me, Facebook is very much a more "personal" sphere. I've had a Facebook account since back in the days when it was universities only - and I have to admit, as the site grows, it certainly seems to be becoming less functional and more geared towards advertising. I now seem to receive more notifications which verge on spam (offers of "gifts" for particular games, posts from applications or groups which are mostly irrelevant) than real communication from other people. I can't help but wonder if, like Myspace, Bebo, Friendster, etc. before it, something will soon come along to replace Facebook?

The major difference between Facebook and the aforementioned networks however, and the factor which makes me feel it might stick around for a little while longer, is that it seems to have been much more widely adopted (and by a wider range of people). Most of my family and friends (from my parents to younger cousins, for example) have Facebook. It's great to be able to see the day-to-day happenings - and bigger events - of those close to me, even whilst they're geographically far away (and without having to deal with timezones, organizing when to make a phonecall, etc.). I don't feel it's really a substitute for actually talking to people face to face though.