Facebook has been a familiar friend (no pun intended) for the past three years. Although initially cautious, I have found it a fantastic medium to keep in touch with friends and family that I’ve been unable to see on a regular basis for a multitude of reasons: ex colleague now in Canada, best friend living in France, and my daughter currently in Sri Lanka.
Unlike many on facebook my “friends” would comfortably fit on to a single-decker bus with room to put their feet up. That’s partly a reflection of me, my age – “you don’t have many friends Nick” – but it’s also to do with how I want to use facebook: I want to be able to communicate quite candidly to close friends and family without feeling in any way inhibited. I guess this is a key distinction for me from how I would use Twitter: a very public space.
As with Twitter, libraries need to engage with facebook as it’s a medium heavily used by students. However, it does need to be very different voice: less formal and more conversational. I think our own Library FB page generally succeeds in this, but would endorse many of the comments made in 23 Zombie Things excellent post on ‘facebook and libraries’.
The information on privacy and security settings was very useful, if only to confirm that my settings are as I want them : access only to close friends and family. Unfortunately, based on the stream of ads directed to my FB page, it’s clear that my personal profile is not quite as secure; today’s primary advert symbolic of so many: “Getting old fast – workout, click here for the 24 second bicep fix”…I’m not taking it personally, and if I did – I’ve always a bus-load of friends and my music to console me.
Old (Saint) Nick 