(Anti)Social Networking

I already have Facebook and Twitter accounts.  As I have friends/family abroad, I find it an effortless way of keeping in touch.  I'm not a fan of instant messaging and have my account setup so that noone knows when I'm online. Why? Well if I'm only logging on for a minute and somebody starts IMing, how do you get out of it? Will they think you are rude if you just go? I dunno, I just find it a hassle.

Facebook is great for getting alerts to upcoming events.  Dublin writers week, Dublin Book week and the National Library are all great for sending messages.  I find that really useful.  Just 'like' their pages and they send messages and invites to upcoming events.

This is something we could utilise in the library.  I noticed UL use their page quite a bit, for instance when there was snow, they put messsages on their facebook profile.  It is a great way to contact students.  I can't help noticing when walking through the library, how many students are on facebook.

UCD have a cute thing in their photos section, basically when any member of staff goes on holidays, they take a library bag with them, so you can see the UCD library bag on holiday in London, Australia, Paris, New York, it's silly but the photos are cute!

Twitter I just follow people on, I've only tweeted a few times. I don't log into it often.  It is great for big events. The election coverage was second to none, way more accurate and uptodate than TV and radio coverage as you had people at the actual LIVE events giving minute by minute tweetws. You also get some really witty responses.  It is also great for sporting events and if something controversial is happening, it can be interesting to follow the thread.  Vincent Browne for instance and prime time can be good to monitor as it's intriguing to see how others are responding to the show?   In order for it to work in the library we need to get people to follow us first.

Additionally you can link your twitter and facebook accounts which is kind of cool, if you see something amusing and/or interesting on twitter you can re-tweet it to your facebook status update.