Thing 20 - MySpace is still around… who knew?
Being a former user of MySpace and current user of Facebook (see link at the bottom of this blog), I didn’t walk through any of the actions prompted by Thing 20. Instead, I will dive right into my thoughts.
Similar to remarks I made with Thing 19, this Thing has one greatly-dated quality about it… No, not the inclusion of MySpace (which you may have guessed from the title of my post). Rather, it is the omission of Fans pages on Facebook. These are a newer type of profile that have been designed for companies, non-profits, music groups, celebrities, etc. These profiles differ because the owner of the Fan page does not have to accept your friend request. Instead, you become a fan of that Fan page. It is a nice arrangement in that 1) users can find and associate with the companies/organizations/etc they are interested in and 2) those running the Fan pages can spend their time on content and development rather than accepting friend requests all day long.
The Fan page is really where I see the greatest advantage for a library. Users can find you on Facebook and link right in. Additionally, each user displays what Fan pages they are fans of on their profile. This means that the library still receives the benefit of social networking, in that a user may find your library through a mutual friend who was already a fan of your library.
This features, as well as the huge shift in usage from MySpace to Facebook, is why I would recommend Facebook as the social network of choice for any library.
