Social Networking – Myspace and beyond

Definition – talking to other people by computer that requires a registration.

Why?

All ages use social networking but teenagers are major users.

Are we all smart when social networking? As librarians we need to help teen to make choices

Why teens have personal myspace accounts

• To feel connected
• The act of setting it up
• To feel cool and like their friends
• Can be altered for their mood – how they want people to see them – identity issues

• Gives teens the chance to let other people know what interests them
• Teenagers are smart when setting up their accounts
• Can share favorite music, movies, books
• Friends can make comments about your favorite things

Myspace and related resources

Del.icio.us is a social networking that allows for book marking. Building a community who are saving links, you can see who have saved each link.

http://del.icio.us/mla_social

Myspace in libraries

• Have teenagers teach a myspace workshop
• When they prepare, librarians work with the teenagers to guide their presentation
• Decide on who a library will select for friends
• Discuss contradictions with advertising and library ideals on myspace
• Some libraries can search catalog from their myspace page
• Use bulletins to seek opinions of patrons about your products

http://www.myspace.com/

http://teens.denverlibrary.org/

Here is a library that connects their patrons through their myspace.

http://www.facebook.com/

Facebook is more professional. Many teens will have both. College students use them to connect with friends at school who share similar interests.

These are not the only 2 sites. Know they exist and know what they do. It is you responsibility to educate yourself on social networking site…it is where your teenage patrons ar



Legally and Copyright

Yes, teens putting this information out there might be scary but making these social networking sites illegal in the library would be even scarier. It would make the teens hide their habits. And we could lose the opportunity to make important connections with this generation.

What legally is a librarian supposed to do if they discover an 11 year old on myspace in the library? It is up to the parents to decide. The librarian should just contact the parent.

There is a bill in congress right now that discusses the limiting of social networking. Keep a watch on this bill at http://www.opencongress.org/ . However, social networking has not been completely defined. Without a true definition these bills may lack backbone.