Week 6 - Play: Information Agencies on Facebook

This week we have been asked to share on Facebook an information agency that uses Facebook or other social media sites.

I chose to share ALIA Social Media Group. This group describes itself as as a group for 'all people interested in using, connecting with and promoting Social Media use in Australian Libraries' (ALIA Social Media Group, Facebook page).

I think with the current climate of libraries using Facebook and social media (whether they are allowed to by their parent organisation or not) is interesting and it is important that libraries make the most of social media and not just "wing it".

ALIA Social Media Group is also available to follow on twitter - @ALIAsocialmed

Here is an attached screenshot of my post.

Week 6 - Reflect: The Tide Turning of Social Media Sites

I remember back in high school being a MySpace addict. I remember rearranging my Top Friends or being horrified when my so-called best friend rearranged her Top Friends and I wasn’t in the Top Ten! It was the days of “Emos” and everyone being so alternative they all shared the same skinny jeans and mascara… I guess not much has changed really. I can’t exactly remember when I changed to Facebook. I could go back on my profile and see but that’s not fun, and the past is the past for a reason (I just wish it wasn’t on my Facebook page).

Last year a good friend of mine, who is actually pretty up with knowing all the latest trends, told me about Google+ and sent me an invite and I distinctly remember her saying that it would be the death of Facebook. I figured when a few more of my friends joined I would think about it some more.

Well. That never happened.

I now have a Google+ account, again because another class gave me that added motivation of doing everything on Google opposed to Facebook. There isn’t much there to make it incredibly special, but one thing I am noticing is the lack of advertisements. I have advertisements in my Outlook and Facebook accounts and it’s getting really annoying. It would be idealistic of me to say I would consider moving to something without ads, but realism strikes and if another social media site become popular… The ads would return.

I’m sure that there will be a Facebook and/or Google+ killer out there. Social media sites are just like social communities – there’s a constant evolution of what’s in vogue and what’s not. It will be interesting to see however, how Facebook deals with that. MySpace is still around, I think it’s pretty big on the independent music scene so up and coming bands can get out there. That would be a pretty big crowd and would definitely keep MySpace going. Facebook though hasn’t changed much essentially (apart from the constant reworkings of the timeline and layout so people actually think they have changed something when they really haven’t). While it has gotten to the core of what people want in a social media site, would they have the innovation to change if they actually got serious competition from somewhere?

And I wonder when that will happen… I bet there will be a movie on it!

Week 5 - Reflect: IM (Instant Messaging) and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)

This week I will be reflecting on how libraries provide instant messaging and VoIP reference services. These days it is quite common to see services like ‘Ask a Librarian’ or similarly named services offered by public and academic libraries. I find the IM service to be useful through QUT and since a friend of mine recently gained employment as a Virtual Reference Librarian there, I find I use it more.

In relation to public libraries, I don’t think it worked out the way they planned. I do recall that a guest lecturer from last semester said for public libraries the IM service turned out to be a failure. She said the majority of queries were asking after opening hours or how to renew items, all which could be done through the web service provided by the library. From the sounds of it, originally they had hoped that it would attract more reference enquiries: eg school kids, assignment or research help etc.

I guess when comparing the two contexts: public vs. academic, academic would most likely get more enquiries relating to assignment help as the majority of their clients would be students. University students seem to me personally, as more willing to get as much help from any avenue, compared to school students who are quite happy to use Wikipedia and wing it. I think the success of these IM services would also depend on the library and how much staff or resources they are willing to provide to allow the service to be a really useful addition.

In relation to using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), I think it would also depend on the particular library as to whether it would be a success. Personally, I wouldn’t use it and I don’t think a lot of people would be interested in skyping with their librarian. If they can’t access the library physically, the IM service would theoretically cover it. I think there would be different level of expectations when using the different tools but I still think that they would be addressing the same enquiries and having both services would be unnecessary.

Week 5 - Play: Skype

This week we were asked to set up a Skype account if we don’t already have one. I personally have been using Skype since two of my friends move to England in 2009. I have created a second account which aligns with my new email address and twitter name for “professional contacts” as personally I prefer to use Skype for family and friends.

Here is a screenshot of a Skype conversation I had with Hannah.

Week 3 - Play: Twitter

You can see my 43 tweets, 23 followers and 43 followed accounts on Twitter by finding me - @susanemilypage

Week 3 - Reflect: Microblogging

I am only recently new to the Twitterverse and the idea of microblogging. As you will have worked out in the previous weeks reflection, I find myself quite conscious of what I put up on the internet and so Twitter never seemed like an appropriate avenue for myself. Due to class requirements, I had to bite the bullet and join earlier this year. Since then, I have tweeted 45 times, follow 43 people and have 23 followers. I won’t lie; I also read my Twitter feed practically every morning in a futile attempt to stay longer in bed.

In relation to the library and information science field, Twitter is a great way to find new ideas and connections. Twitter allows ‘individuals to network with professional peers, regardless of time and geographic constraints’ (Brown in Hall & Loudon, 2010, p.237) which in turn leads to librarians who have ‘more ideas to contribute for enhanced services provision’ (Hall & Loudon, 2010, p.237). Anne Weaver describes Twitter as ‘one of the most valuable avenues for professional learning’ (2010, p.16).

I agree with what those two articles point out – Twitter is a great way to network and connect with the professional world and will allow me to further my professional development options. In this matter, I do follow the relevant accounts which interest me in my future profession but I know that this is not enough. In order to take this seriously as “professional development, it is not enough to just follow the right accounts. I need to interact and actually read the articles they are pushing – not just the tweets. I’m a lazy person when it comes to Twitter, it’s not often that I follow the links!

I find that there is a lot out there, and it does make me feel quite exhausted ad lazy thinking I have to follow each and every link that ALIA or a university lecturer tweets. I try to remain organised by using Hootsuite – ‘a web-based application for managing your social media presence (Ekart, 2011, p.35). While I do not pay to access options like seeing how my Twitter presence is in the world, I find the ability to monitor hashtags on my dashboard a great way to keep up with my current classes.

I will continue to use Twitter after this course comes to a close. Hopefully I will learn over time to become more organised with using Twitter to my advantage.

Reference List

Ekart, D. F. (2011). Making twitter work for you. Computers in Libraries, 31(4), 34.

Hall, H., & Loudon, L. (2010). From triviality to business tool: The case of twitter in library and information services delivery. Business Information Review, 27(4), 236-241.

Weaver, A. (2010). Twitter for teachers, librarians and teacher librarians. Access, 24(2), 16-20.

Week 2 - Play: Setup of INN333 Blog

This week my play activity was to set up my INN333 blog.

I have already created one other blog for my portfolio for my Masters course so although I was a bit rusty at some things, it was only a small challenge. I was able to set up my Pages as web links so that my posts could be sorted into the relevant headings (Play, Reflect, Week activities) as this would allow for easier navigation.

I also tried two new things with this blog: a disclaimer and labels. I have used labels in order to sort my posts onto the relevant pages, but this time I used a gadget to have my all my labels listed on my side links section. This way my lecturer can see that I have been using keywords attached to my posts as this is one of her requirements. I added a disclaimer as was recommended so that I don't accidentally offend anyone.

I think my blog has been set up to meet all the requirements and doesn't look too bad.

Week 2 - Reflect: Blogging and Channel You

This week I have been asked to reflect on my “online identity”.

I do not really like having an online identity at all. When it comes to Facebook I have less than 100 friends and I’m brutal with my defriending sessions and privacy settings. For university I have had to create Twitter and LinkedIn profiles. While I enjoy using Facebook and now Twitter, I sometimes think that the whole saga of an online persona is overdramatic and excessive. I do not think it is necessary to post on Facebook every single second about every single thought that has ever occurred in your life.

I guess I’m a bit judgemental against people who feel the need to overshare. I overshare with my friends and family in person but they are people I trust and who won’t share my overshare (but recent events have made me very cautious against one person in particular). I don’t feel comfortable when people overshare, generally on Facebook that equals an immediate “unfriend” option.

I was always raised that certain things in life were personal and private and not for general sharing. But my Facebook feed reminds me daily that that’s not the case today. I know who people want to vote for, their various sicknesses or illnesses, their opinions on just about everything… and it annoys me. I felt nervous when I posted about having completed my first semester of my Masters because I didn’t want people to think I was bragging (even though it was definitely brag worthy). I’m scared I’ll become an “oversharer”, it terrifies me.

Kate Davis mentions in her blog that she recently (in 2010) cut back her Facebook profile to no longer include her professional circle. This makes sense to me. I personally don’t think many of my friends really understand what having a professional online identity means and there are high chances that those photos from the weekend will be tagged to my profile (which they were… the annual Food & Wine Festival repercussion).

So unlike what Jason Fitzpatrick (2010) advises; there will be no way that I will be linking all my accounts together. I don’t think it’s professional for my future employers to know what I did over the weekend or my thoughts on politics, my dinner or how much I love my boyfriend. Those things are personal to me and would never go up on Facebook anyway (unless it’s the pig on the spit at Christmas, I will be sharing that to brag to my family!).

Reference List

Fitzpatrick, J. (2010, May 5). Establish and Maintain Your Online Identity [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://lifehacker.com/5531465/establish-and-maintain-your-online-identity

Davis, K. (2010, June 7). The personal-professional divide: moving the line [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://virtuallyalibrarian.com/2010/06/07/the-personal-professional-divide-moving-the-line/