I'm Face-bookin'

Aah so I've finally reached Facebook - which I'm a keen user of. I know all the arguments against Facebook: the privacy concerns, the copyright issues, the general confusion of my parents about why anyone would want to put so much information on any type of website.

I am still, however, a fan, I probably log into Facebook more than any other website. This is partly because, aside from my mobile, Facebook is the main way I keep in contact with people - sharing photos, organising events and sending messages.
That I conduct and organise my social life through Facebook is a bit lazy - although at least I can be comforted with the fact that, as Facebook's popularity grows and grows, I'm definitely not the only lazy person in the world! Facebook's popularity is of course what makes it a useful tool for libraries - it is the easiest way to connect to students via the web simply because so many students use Facebook.

The library I work at recently set up a Facebook page which has been quite successful fairly quickly - after one email saying we had a library Facebook page, about 60 people 'liked' us.

This page is now used to let people know about small pieces of library news. It's an advantage that the followers of the page have opted themselves in, so although we don't want to pester them, they are obviously happy to receive a bit more information about the library than they get from emails. It's also probably easier for them to get news about the library this way, especially, if like me, they log into Facebook frequently. Facebook would never become the main way a library contacts users: a lot of people wouldn't 'like' the library and therefore wouldn't see the updates. And despite its popularity there are still a lot of people who don't use Facebook. For those who do though, it is a handy way to provide more information about the library, if they would like it, in an informal way, and on a site they are familiar with.