Social Networking sites

“Twitter isn't a social network, it's an information network.” –Evan Williams http://www.brainyquote.com/search_results.html#YFhSMXSEJ7d7zoky.99

In this unit we learned about a variety of different social networking websites and tools that could have a possible application in the library world. We started off looking at Instagram and Twitter. Then we moved on to Facebook, YouTube, Goodreads, and finally onto social bookmarking tools. Lastly, we looked at the dangers and the benefits of social media.

J***** and I focused on the social book marking tool known as Pocket. The others were Diigo, Pearltree, Livebinders, Delicious, Paper.li, Pinterest, and Scoop.it. The most popular and easy to use site is Pinterest. Pocket, however, was an odd little site that would be more useful as an internal bookmarking tool than an external bookmarking tool. Pocket works by downloading the icon and having it in your tool bar. Anytime you come across a website or article or picture that you want to save for future reference, you use your Pocket icon to pocket it. Later, when you visit your page on the site, you can assign tags, organize and categorize your pocketed items. Libraries could use this site internally as a go to aid for reference. There is a free and a paid version of Pocket. The paid version will save the website even if the original webpage is no longer in use.

One of the dangers of social media, is the amount of work and effort into creating and maintaining their page. With some forms of social media there is a limit on how many characters can be added at a time. This requires focus, attention, and consideration into the best way to say what you want to say and still get your message across. Twitter is an example of this form of social media. Another form of social media is one that does not have a limit in how much can be added at a time. Facebook is good example of this. Both formats can lead to over posting and becoming a nuisance on the platform.