Intro: Social Networking

Social networking sites are very popular with students, and frequently in the news due to privacy concerns, their impact on hiring, and even crime. But can they be useful for librarians and other professionals?

Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn are three of the most popular social networking sites. Each network allows its users to create profiles containing various degrees and types of personal information. Depending on the site and its focus, this may include data like education and career history, political and religious views, favorite music and movies, and photo albums. Users connect their profiles with other users by “friending” or making connections. These connections make visible real life relationships such as friends and colleagues. They can also go beyond that function to connect people who haven’t met, such as fans of the same band, students who will be heading off to the same law school or librarians who share similar interests.

Law librarians of all ages are present on all of the major social networking sites and form groups to connect and share information. While LinkedIn is focused toward individual use, both MySpace and Facebook boast the presence of several law libraries and law firms, including the University of Baltimore, University of Kentucky, Harvard and Duke as well as many small and solo practitioners. The Facebook pages feature launched in late 2007 allows libraries and law schools to set up a professional presence at the site, using it to reach out to students in an environment they frequent. In addition, attorneys and alumni of major law firms like Sullivan & Cromwell, Skadden Arps, and Baker & McKenzie can use Facebook’s network system to connect with each other.

Another social networking service that is gaining popularity is Ning. Ning allows users to create their own social networks catering to the specific needs of small groups. A few regional law library associations use Ning networks, and lawlibraries.ning.com has proven popular with law librarians.

With the growing popularity of social networks another aspect evolved – its’ use as a research tool when preparing competitive intelligence report. As more companies and its executives show a presence on these sites, so does the need to include this information in research reports if appropriate.

Part of this week's assignment will include looking at the different social networks to discover their strengths and weaknesses for various applications. Which ones are right for you personally? Is it appropriate to use third-party sites to provide library services? What application add-ons and features are most useful for librarians? How do our students feel about us invading “their” space? What about privacy concerns? How is it possible to keep up with all these services? How can librarians incorporate information gathered on social networks and assure that it is authoritative? Social networking sites raise many interesting questions, and we hope to have fun exploring them this week to come up with some possible answers.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will understand how social networking sites function, and the differences between the major social networks.
2. Participants will learn how to set up a social network profile, make contacts, and customize privacy and other settings.
3. Participants will learn how law libraries are using various features of social networks to expand the libraries’ presence and reach out to patrons.