Social Networks

Social Networks help me stay connected personally and professionally.  I've relied on social networks like twitter and facebook for personal relations after moving to New York.  I always keep in contact with my friends and family, but it was the little stories or events that made me homesick.  I found that these social networks kept me updated with our inside jokes and stories that I initially missed. 

On a professional level, it's a great way to collaborate with people and organizations from all over the world.  I've gotten ideas, read interesting articles/videos that were shared, kept up-to-date with the newest and latest, met various people, or became more friendly with acquaintances all from social networks.  They can be extremely valuable in growing and learning in your profession.  Most of all, it's an entertaining way of doing so.

From some of what I have encountered, I saw many examples of how students can take part in social networking.  Being the library media center, many times authors that we contact will have Facebook contests.  Students are able to go onto their author's page and leave comments or try to see if they can get their school to "like" that author's page for a prize.  In addition, many libraries (public and schools) have their own Twitter and Facebook pages.  They post pictures and statuses about school or library events.  Students love being part of it and get very involved.  Moreover, social networking is a great way for students to collaborate with each other as well.  I've seen comments on pages in which students were book reviewers and commented back and forth with each other about a book.  Other tools we've used like, Glogsters, allow students to make a creation and then comment and interact with each other about their projects.  I think it gives students a great way to express themselves in a world that they can relate to because they have these tools all around them in their everyday lives.