#11 - Friends

Anyone rememember the 1989 Jody Watley collaboration with Eric B and Rakim? The song, which peaked on the billboard chart at #9, was called 'Friends.'

Frienship is the subject of today's exercise. But not in the way you know it or even in the way they sang about 18 years ago.

How so?

Danah Boyd, a social networking pundit, puts it this way (you should only read her linked article if you've got some time on your hands - it is long...):

“Are you my friend? Yes or no?” This question, while fundamentally odd, is a key component of social network sites. Participants must select who on the system they deem to be ‘Friends.’ Their choice is publicly displayed for all to see and becomes the backbone for networked participation.

So, participants publicly identify their 'friends.' That's something new, fair enough. But the backbone for networked participation?

Imagine this scenario:

Herman gets home from school on friday night and has no idea what he's going to do for the weekend. He logs into his MySpace profile and sees that more than 20 of his MySpace friends are also logged in. Instead of reaching for his phone, he writes up a short posting on his bulletin board ("hey - is anything going on tonight?") and clicks send - this goes to everyone on his friends list. Within a minute, 4 of his MySpace friends have added 'comments' to his profile with invitations to join them.

And let's take a few steps back - imagine how much easier it becomes to stay in touch with friends you'd typically lose site of. From high school? College? Three jobs ago? Do you see the value here?

Why should any of this matter to libraries?

Our patrons, the younger ones in particular, are using MySpace like we use the telephone for communication. If we're on MySpace and other social networking sites we'll be there when they need us.

This point takes us to today's pleasantly brief Discovery Exercise - invite KCLS Learning 2.0 to become your MySpace friend.

1. Log in to your newly created MySpace page (page will open in a new window).
   
2. You should be returned to your MySpace profile.
   
3. From here, go to your web browser address bar and enter the following URL: www.myspace.com/kcls27things
   
4. This will take you to the Learning 2.0 MySpace profile.
   
5. Look below the Learning 2.0 image and you'll see the 'Contacting KCLS Learning 2.0' box - click on 'Add to Friends'
   
   
   
6. Follow the instructions and that's all - you'll get an email as soon as we approve your friendship request (hopefully within a day or two).
   

That, everyone, is all for today's Discovery Exercise and for the week.

First postscript - remember, you are welcome to cancel your MySpace account when we've finished up the Learning 2.0 program. Here's what you'll do:

1. Log in to MySpace, click on 'edit profile' (it's just under your name)
   
2. Click on 'account settings' (its in the top right corner of the screen)
   
3. Click on 'cancel account' (its in red near the top of the page).
   
4. You'll get a cancellation confirmation email - click on the link included and you're done.

Second postscript - that Jody Watley/Eric B and Rakim song? The video is up on Youtube - Eric B comes in at the 1:40 mark...

Third postscript (added at 2pm) - who is Tom? He's the guy who is automatically your friend when you sign up, a MySpace employee. Want to make him disappear from your profile? Scroll down to the friends on your profile, click on 'Edit Friends,' check the box next to his picture, click on the 'Delete Selected' icon. Once he's gone, you too can wear a 'Tom is NOT my friend' t-shirt...

Next up: Tagging, Technocrati and Folksonomies...

#10 - Set up your MySpace page

Today is all about doing - you'll set up your own profile on MySpace.

So we'll get straight to it - today's Discovery Exercise.

1. Go to myspace.com (link will open in a separate window).
   
2. Click the "Sign Up" button.
   
   
3. Fill in the account information. Like with your Blogger account, you do not need to use your real name - feel free to use a pseudonym.
   
   
4. Verify your account - type in the numbers you see on the screen.
   
   
5. The 'upload a photo' page. We encourage you to skip this step by clicking on the 'skip for now' link at the bottom of the page.
   
   
6. The 'Invite friends' page. We encourage you to skip this step by clicking on the 'skip' link at the bottom of the page. We'll talk more about friends tomorrow.
   
   
7. Explore your page customization options - click on Edit Profile to begin. This is where you can add more information about yourself. Or not - you do not, remember, need to add a thing. This is also where you can experiment with the look of your page - have fun...
   
   
8. Write down your myspace address so that you can submit it to us via the Learning 2.0 progress log

That, everyone, is the full exercise for today. We'll ask you to log back in tomorrow to take care of one more thing.

But before you're done for the day, a word about MySpace ads. KCLS does not, in any way, endorse or have any control over the ads at the top of MySpace pages. We state this very clearly on the KCLS MySpace page.

And, last thing, what if you want to cancel your account when we've finished up the Learning 2.0 program? Here's what you'll do:

1. Log in to MySpace, click on 'edit profile' (it's just under your name)
2. Click on 'account settings' (its in the top right corner of the screen)
3. Click on 'cancel account' (its in red near the top of the page).
4. You'll get a cancellation confirmation email - click on the link included and you're done.

Next up: Friends...

#9 - MySpace and social networks

Way back when we were looking at Flickr (okay, that was only two weeks ago), we talked some about social networking sites. This week we'll expand the conversation and you'll get to see them in action.

Today we focus on the basics.

Social networking sites are websites that offer connections between users based on shared interests, backgrounds, and other associations. In most cases you have to create a profile to fully participate - these note basic details about yourself (screen name, etc.) and offer an opportunity to get more detailed (more about you - your favorite music, your background, photos of yourself, etc). It's truly a mix - some users keep it simple whilst others go all out, detailing their interests, their hopes and their dreams. And are some users less than honest than others in their self-assessments? Absolutely...

Friends, Connections

What really makes these sites tick is the connection between users. This is very similar to the connecting concept behind Flickr tags - you can find people based on shared interests and traits. But there's more - you also get to approach other users and invite them to declare an association with you. Some sites call your associations 'friends,' others call them 'contacts.' We'll talk more about this on Wednesday...

Popular Social Networking Sites

The first was Friendster, way back in 2003. Friendster developed a small following (and its still in use) but never caught on widely. The big problem was their restrictive participation policy - it was limited to individuals.

Next came MySpace which, for all intents and purposes, copied the best parts of Friendster and then upped the ante - they opened participation to non-individuals. Bands, clubs, community groups and, yes, even libraries were encouraged to create profiles that would improve the richness of the MySpace online community. And that was key - with the inclusion of these group entities, MySpace became a real life community where users logged in to do more than just connect with their friends. To this day MySpace remains the most popular social networking site out there.

But, of course, there's an increasingly popular competitor out there - Facebook. Facebook started as a college-oriented network but has since opened its doors to everyone else. And it's catching on - I've heard many stories from teens who have left MySpace because it's gotten "too popular" and have moved to FaceBook.

And then there's Second Life. Second Life is a very different type of online community - users download software to their computers, create avatars (online versions of themselves), and interact with whomever they meet.

But why should libraries care?

It's all about relevance. Libraries need to be where our patrons are. If a library has a presence on MySpace or Facebook they have a better chance of finding patrons who don't often come into their buildings or go to their websites (especially teens) and promoting their fabulous services. And KCLS is getting there - our first MySpace page launched in late 2006 and we expect to see branch/cluster level MySpace pages as well as a Facebook profile up in the coming year.

And it's not just KCLS - look at this list of libraries on MySpace from YALSA.

But even with these examples, are you really buying this? Let's try convincing you with some real life happenings - in this week's podcast David talks to Dawn Rutherford and Rick Orsillo about their experiences using MySpace to connect with their teen patrons.

Click the Play button above
to hear this week's Podcast (3:06)
And now to today's low-stress Discovery Exercise.

1. Read some of the articles linked below (we're being vague here on purpose - try to read at least one from each category - most of these are fairly short blog postings).
   
2. What do you think about libraries taking part in social networking sites? Create a blog posting with your thoughts.

MySpace
-   Libraryman w/ a great answer to 'why?'
-   David Lee King writes about libraries on Myspace
-   Librarian In Black polls librarians - read the comments...
-   Stephen Abram writes about the library context (this one is longer)

Facebook
-   It's really popular: Facebook's Astounding Stats

Second Life
-   An interesting take from the Infoblog
-   Stephen Abram on businesses in second life

That's lots to think about, so we'll stop there for today.

Next up: Create your own MySpace page...