Thing #20: Social Networking Sites

I set up a Facebook account a few months ago- in order to access our library system's teen Facebook page. Today, I added a few friends! My two nieces and a co-worker were kind enough to be my friends! (I feel so popular!) I also joined the Library 2.0 Interest Group.

Why is Facebook the fastest growing social network? It seems to know exactly what it's users need in a social network site: very easy to use- easy to request friends, easy to add posts. Very user friendly. All of the teens in our neck of the woods have a Facebook account. You have the security of knowing that you have to approve who gets to be your friend (this puts me at ease as a parent of a Facebooker as well).

As a parent of teens, these social networking sites used to FREAK me out! It took me a long time to get past these feelings of fear when talking about these sites. Now I realize that they aren't bad. In fact, it is the way many people communicate/relate now. And it's OK. In fact, our library system now has a Facebook and Myspace account for teens to use.

I do think that there is a need for educating parents on what these social networking sites do and that, if used safely, is a safe things for kids to use. I guess the telephone was "suspicious" to many folks when it first became available to people a century ago. Anyway, the question is: is it the library's role to educate parents on these new social networking sites: how they work and the advantages as well as the dangers?