libraries and social networks
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???Side ??? (???)15.04.2008, 17:01:08Side / NetworkAPI StatusCompatibility
BeboLiveFacebook, OpenSocial
FacebookLiveFacebook
FluxBetaOpenSocial
FriendsterBetaOpenSocial
Hi5BetaOpenSocial
LinkedInClosed BetaOpenSocial
MySpaceClosed BetaOpenSocial
NingBetaOpenSocial
OrkutClosed BetaOpenSocial
PlaxoBetaOpenSocial
Salesforce.comLiveOpenSocial
???Side ??? (???)15.04.2008, 17:01:08Side /
???Side ??? (???)15.04.2008, 17:01:08Side / Social networks
- (where) do libraries fit in?
Magnus Enger
collib.info
Helsinki 2008-04-17
Some questions to you
How many of you have created a profile on Facebook?
How many of you have been logged in to Facebook in the last week?
How many of you have created a profile on a social network other than Facebook?
Social - software or networks?
Social software
Social features, like the ability to define friends or contacts, but the focus is on something else
Example: Flickr
Social networks
Networking is the main focus
Example: Facebook
My focus
Social networks in libraries
Or
Libraries in social networks
Social networks for librarians
Or
Social networks for patrons
Not: How do we turn our catalogues or websites into social networks
Not: How can librarians use social networks for learning/connecting etc
Something to remember
Libraries should be present where the users are, right?
But...
A big difference exists between being where our patrons are and being useful to our patrons where they are. (Meredith Farkas, my emphasis.)
Diversity of social networks
Ning.com
Create your own social network
http://yournetwork.ning.com
1.091 networks as of 2008-04-16, and growing...
One Ning ID across networks
Why Facebook?
It's the one I know best
Pioneered the concept of a platform for applications
Which is interesting in connection with being useful to our patrons...
Short history
Launched in 2004, for students at Harvard
Open to everyone from September 2006
Facebook Platform launched on May 24, 2007
Some numbers
Norway - network
549.115 members
4.737.200 population
11,6 %
Norway - ads
1.127.740
23,8 %
Finland - network
395.703 members
5.255.580 population
7,5 %
Finland - ads
458.200
8,7 %
Some more numbers for Finland
Total: 458.200
Men: 138.600, women: 204.420
0-15: 2.200
16-20: 74.220
21-25: 157.060
26-30: 121.300
31-35: 58.820
36-45: 32.480
46- : 11.820
Picture
Status
Friends
News feed
Information
...and lots of other stuff
Not possible to alter the look and feel of profiles beyond andding and removing stuff (unlike MySpace)
Libraries in Facebook - options
ProfilesGroupsPagesApplicationsProfiles are meant for people, not organizations.
Profiles for organizations have been deleted.
Pages were created to tak care of this.
Types of presence
Information
Interaction
Services
Facebook: groups
Facebook: pages
Feature probably added because lots of organizations were creating profiles for themselves
Works much the same way as a profile
Users become fans, not friends
Pages can send notifications to fans
Fans can choose to receive notifications from pages
Advantages to pages
Applications can be added to pages, but not to groups
Facebook: applications (apps)
In the beginning
Pictures, The Wall
Then came the Facebook Platform
Made it possible for third party developers to create applications
Can be added to pages, as well as profiles
Examples
JSTOR
WorldCat
Anatomy of an application
Facebook delivers most of the page
The application delivers content in a window on the page
To the user it looks like one, integrated page
The application talks to Facebook in the background, to get information about the user looking at the page
Friends, interests, favourite books and information about the user's friends...
Successfull applications
Spread virally
Word of mouth
Newsfeeds show new apps and interactions with apps
Built-in methods for recommending apps to friends
Emphasize social aspects
Interactions among your circle of friends
Challenge your friends to take this quiz
Tell your friends about this book
Library as conversation
(A lot of) people love to talk about books
Reviews
Discussions
Tagging
But they don't necessarily do it in the library
The Web is rife with book-conversations:
Blogs
LibraryThing
Facebook...
Some ideas for applications
New books from your library
Add books to a bookshelf
Tag books
Comment, discuss, write reviews, rate
Others who liked this book also liked...
Tell others about a book
Book-games
And let's not forget journals, articles, DVDs, music...
Not just one platform anymore...
Alternative platform: OpenSocial
Who's in?
Yahoo!
MySpace
The war of the platforms?
Source: http://www.programmableweb.com/social-platforms-scorecard
Focus on infrastructure
We need to get our metadata out of our systems in a structured way.
Feeds (e.g. RSS/Atom)
APIs (e.g. SRU)
And not just from our catalogues, but from all the services that make up our collection
We need an abstract social thing, that can interact with, and collect data from, all sorts of social networks (and other interesting places).
Conclusion
Social networks are interesting places for libraries to provide services.
We need to experiment in order to determine what kinds of services can be built, and what our users will actually find useful.
We need an infrastructure that will allow us to present our own data in new places with a minimum of effort.
THE END
Kiitos!
collib.info
www.enger.priv.no