INF506-Social Networking for Information Professionals

Hi all! My other class this semester has just begun! I am enrolled in INF506, Social Networking for Information Professionals at Charles Sturt University in Australia! Simmons College has a consortium of schools where students can take online classes towards their Master's in Library and Information Science.  The first week of this class has been intense but also fun and educational! We have begun by immersing ourselves in a number of social networking sites and will be learning how they can benefit libraries and library professionals! This class requires us to keep an Online Learning Journal where we document our learning experiences, which works out nicely for me since this whole blog has been created for that very purpose!

• What Is Social Networking?

When I think of social networking, I think of an online platform where people can share thoughts, ideas, opinions, pictures, write messages and basically stay in touch with one another.  I love that sites like Facebook allow me to see what family and friends that I don't  talk to very often are up to every day.  Social Networking is also a way to meet new people and find out about new places or products.  When you like something on Facebook, you learn more about companies and products by getting updates on your News Feed.  There are also sites like LinkedIn that are geared toward professional networking, and micro-blogging on Twitter allows users to interact closely with famous people like movie stars and musicians.  While there are many social networking sites out there, I think they all have a common goal: for people to connect by sharing content.

• Social Networking Sites I Use

I use quite a few Social Networking sites! For personal use, I am currently using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogspot, Google+ and Flickr.  I actually started using Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ for educational purposes for my Young Adult Literature class, which served the purpose of staying current and up to date in order to serve teens better.  I loved Twitter and Pinterest and still use them both very often! Google+ allows users to organize friends, acquaintances, co-workers, etc.  into different circles, so you can decide what they see about you.  It is a bit like Facebook but with more options for users.  Google+ also allows users to have "hangouts" where up to ten people can have a face to face chat, and that is how we had class discussions for my online class.  I've also used a few different educational platforms for school, such as Wikis, Blackboard and Moodle.

Ames Free Library (where I work) is very current as far as being involved in Social Networking.  We maintain Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, three Blogspot blogs and now even Pinterest! I manage the Twitter page for the library and one of the blogs-this one! The library advertises its services, fundraisers, new materials, programs and more on these Social Networking Platforms and is able to reach more users that way.  This week's readings discussed how library website use has declined over the past few years.  Could it be because libraries are not remaining current by adopting Social Networking? I think it's extremely important for libraries to do so in order to remain relevant.

• Learning Expectations for INF506

INF506 requires students to create Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Delicious, LinkedIn and Second Life accounts and we will be immersing ourselves in these technologies! I am excited to learn more about how these Social Networking tools can be used in libraries specifically to help promote learning, literacy, community and more! I hope to pass this knowledge on to co-workers and library patrons in order for them to become comfortable navigating the world of Web 2.0 and to keep them connected.