Putting Yourself Out There Online Social Networking for Librarians

Meredith FarkasNorwich University

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hndrk/2781790829/

The job market is REALLY competitive!

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An Accidental “Mover and Shaker”

The Book

Writing, teaching, speaking

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You are a Brand

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Networking online: lots of options

• Blogging• Twitter• FriendFeed• Facebook• Professional writing• Speaking• Virtual committee membership• Developing resources that benefit other librarians

Blogging: Why blog?

• Familiar medium– 133 million blogs indexed by Technorati– Used by all populations

• Informal medium• Flexible - posts can be any length/type• Easy to get started, free software• Users can get the content in the format of

their choosing

Am I a blogger?

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What to blog about?

A real Head Scratcher http://www.flickr.com/photos/benrad/813820723/

Becoming part of a blogging community

• Put yourself into your posts• Put up your pic and an “about me” page• Comment on people’s blogs• Comments on people’s posts on your blog

(trackbacks)• Always engage with commenters on your blog

Twitter

• Microblogging – sharing information in 140 characters or less

• People “follow” your Twitter feed and get updates of your news and that of their other friends chronologically

• Hugely popular• Can use via web, cell phone, desktop apps, IM,

etc.

How to get a following on TwitterBe a filter for interesting info (link and retweet)

Engage in conversation (@ people)

Promote your content

FriendFeed

Facebook

• Better for keeping in touch with friends you already have.

• Building visibility– “Friend” librarians you admire– Post interesting updates– Comment on people’s updates– Post content from your blog, twitter feed

(selectively), etc. to your Wall.

Library E-Mail Lists

• There are lists for pretty much every interest• Great space for– Asking questions and getting answers from the

hive– Discussing topics you’re interested in/sharing

ideas– Getting and giving support

• Longer form than Twitter and FriendFeed

Writing

• Articles in journals freely available online will get more exposure.

• Some examples:– Library Student Journal– Library Journal– Code4Lib Journal– Journal of Collaborative Librarianship– Reference & User Services Quarterly– D-Lib, Ariadne, First Monday, and more…

Speaking

• Online conferences– Apply to speak– Create your own!

• Create your own screencast/slidecast– Slideshare– blip.tv or YouTube

Join a Virtual Committee

• More and more library organizations are allowing virtual committee membership

• More and more F2F committees are meeting online

Develop Resources that Benefit Other Librarians

• Learning 2.0 (http://plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com/)

• Five Weeks to a Social Library (http://www.sociallibraries.com/course/)

• Library Success Wiki (http://www.libsuccess.org) • Library Society of the World (http://thelsw.org/) • T is for Training call-in show (

http://tisfortraining.wordpress.com/)

What not to do

• Write under a pseudonym• Make it difficult to figure out who you are• Do things just to make a name for yourself• Have a negative attitude• Insult people or get into flame wars• Name names when writing about job interviews• Be overly formal in your writing• Not let your personality shine through

What to do

• Do things for the love of it• Believe in your own awesomeness• Be authentic• Don’t be afraid to make friends online

Questions?

mfarkas(at)gmail(dot)comTwitter/FriendFeed: librarianmer