Another important part of the Facebook profile
is one’s photo. Photos vary widely from
profile to profile. Some users will post a current
photo, others may post a childhood
photo, dog, cat, friend, movie star; short of
pornography (users must agree to this when
uploading any photo), anything goes.
Facebook users who do not upload a photo
will appear as a question mark. Facebook users
can also create photo albums. Photo albums
can be shared with anyone, including individuals
who do not have Facebook profiles.
In addition to all of the user-supplied information
(contact information, personal information,
photos), profiles include several essential
social parts: friends, the wall, and groups. Like
MySpace, users can request a “friend” linking
with another profile. Recipients of friend
requests are notified and can accept or deny
friend requests. Friends are grouped by networks-first
within one’s own local network
and then within other networks, typically by
college or geographic area. Facebook profiles
include a wall which allows other Facebook
users to post comments and links. Facebook
users can write “wall-to-wall” and carry on a
conversation with another user. Figure 2
shows the University of Kentucky Libraries
Facebook profile, with the basic elements
common to any Facebook profile identified.
Facebook users can create groups which can be
open to anyone or restricted. Groups are considerably
wide-ranging, from groups affiliated
with a campus club or activity, to more general
groups such as “Why do I pay for a dorm room
when I spend all my time at the library” or
“UK Basketball rocks my world!!!” Groups can
provide an easy way to share information with
others and message all members; they can be
particularly useful in planning an event or a
regular meeting. Groups can be fun and sometimes
irreverent, and they further shape one’s
profile and add to one’s network.
SHOULD LIBRARIES GET INVOLVED?
Since an email address is all that is essentially
required to create a profile, virtually anyone
or anything can have a profile. Mascots,
departments, and inanimate objects have
Facebook profiles. At the University of
Kentucky, for example, even the Patterson
Statue has a Facebook profile. So technically
speaking, it is no problem for a library to
obtain an account. As far as setting up the
profile, it takes a matter of minutes. As with
any online presence, what is most essential is,
of course, the content.
Students are increasingly using these social
networks, to the degree that some are choosing
the messaging feature in these social networks
over traditional email and other communication
methods. Some students log into
these services and remain there all day — for
them, it is as essential as phone and email
were to other generations.
We try to reach students in a variety of ways
— by hosting open houses, distributing flyers,
setting up a table at campus or community
events. Since social networks are where an
overwhelming number of our students spend
their time, it makes sense that we would want
to be there as well. Setting up library profiles
on social networking sites can serve as just one
more way to put the library’s contact information
out there. In addition to providing information
about the library, the profile can serve
as just one more way for students to provide
feedback to the library. A number of students
16
INTERNET
REVIEWS
CONTINUED
FOR FURTHER READING
Abram, Stephen. “What Can MySpace Teach Us in Special Libraries.” Information Outlook. 10. 5
(May 2006): 34-5.
Farkas, Meredith. “Libraries in Social Networking Software.” Information Wants To Be Free May 10, 2006,
accessed August 28, 2006 .
Libraries on MySpace. Accessed August 28, 2006 .
Mathews, Brian S. “Do you Facebook? Networking with students online.” College & Research Libraries News
67.5 (May 2006): 306-7.
Mitrano, Tracy. “Thoughts on Facebook.” Cornell University Office of Information Technologies Policy
Office. April 2006, accessed August 28, 2006 .
Murray, Robb. “Students using Facebook to find virtual relationships.” Minnesota State University, Mankato.
February 14, 2006, accessed August 28, 2006 .
“MySpace.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed August 28, 2006
.
won’t bother with paper feedback forms, but
they just might be inclined to submit comments
electronically. If even a handful of students
find the library in a social network and
use its services as a result, isn’t it worth it?
WHAT’S NEXT?
Initially most of our “friends” in both MySpace
and Facebook were other libraries around the
country. We’re all experimenting, and exploring
the profiles of other libraries is one of the
best ways to get ideas and learn what is possible.
(If your library has a profile in either service,
send us a friend request!) Students at the
University of Kentucky are primarily Facebook
users. We expect to see more MySpace usage as
high school students with elaborate profiles
established in that service go off to college, but
for now we are seeing more activity in our
Facebook account. After our profile was established
and had a certain amount of content,
the next step was to attract friends. We decided
not to solicit directly to students. There is some
question about whether students would see that
as an invasion of “their space.” Our strategy
was to send friend requests to students we knew
(primarily library student workers) and faculty
at UK who had Facebook profiles. We also sent
a friend request to the Wildcat mascot, who
has a Facebook account. Once our profile
became linked to those profiles, the friends of
our friends were able to discover the library
profile and several new students sent us friend
requests as a result. We combined this less
aggressive form of direct advertising with other
methods, such as promoting our Facebook profile
during student orientation sessions. Our
profile is still fairly new, but we are seeing slow
and steady growth in the number of UK students
who have become our friends.
We plan to continue updating our profiles regularly
with new content. Two of us are primarily
responsible to maintaining the profiles in
both services, but we have recruited help from
several other librarians in the system to contribute
content. In addition to basic contact
information and tips on using the library, we
regularly add items that we hope will be of
interest to students. At the beginning of the
fall semester, we included tips for new students
as well as information about obtaining
and activating the campus ID card. We linked
to some tips for using Facebook wisely and
featured information about a campus safety
seminar which discussed responsible use of
Facebook. We have created a series of photo
albums to give the site some color, including
an album of sketches of the future
Information Commons, a collection of campus
banners on display in Young Library, and a
fun series of librarians on vacation and just
generally having fun.
In general, we strive to keep up with what’s
new. Today’s number one site may be
MySpace, but it will inevitably be replaced by
something else. Just a few years ago, Friendster
was the hottest social networking site around.
Mention it to a student today and you may
get a blank look or “ugh, that’s where my big
sister’s friends used to hang out.”
Social networking sites give libraries just
another option to reach our clientele in new
ways. As we utilize these new tools, it makes
us realize that it is truly an exciting time to be
in this profession.