Let the Adventure Begin!

Social networking to me is about communicating with the people and organisations I want, when I want, where I want, in whatever format I want. It's about sharing information, collaborating with others and forming of a personal and/or professional community. I have always belonged to social networks, primarily involving face-to-face, phone or snail mail contact, but today my social networking experience embraces a wider online community via online social networking sites.

Before the subject INF506 Social Networking for Information Professionals commenced this week, I had only used Facebook (excessively, since mid-2007) and LinkedIn (sporadically, since 2006). This week I signed up with Twitter (potentially addictive), Delicious and Flickr. I am looking forward to exploring these social networking sites plus, later on this session, Second Life, and learning about how they can be used in a library setting.

I expect to gain hands-on knowledge about social networking sites and to learn how libraries can, via social networking sites, promote their services and maintain their position as a place people still want to visit, whether virtually or in person, in order to connect with people and ideas. I also hope to explore some of the complex social and ethical issues arising out of this brave new world of social networking.