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January 14, 2008
Social networking for libraries a bust?
A University of Michigan survey asked its students a number of tech-related questions, but one in particular is riling librarians far and wide. One question found that by and large the respondents use social networking sites, but the majority (76%) would not respond to a library presence on Facebook or MySpace, either because existing methods of contact were sufficient or because these tools are social networks and not places for library invaders. Read more interpretation on the UsersLib blog. I would be very interested to see more surveys of this type, across organizations and locations, to see if this trend holds up. Maybe we have been chasing a white whale with social networking and libraries...it's possible that we were wrong to believe that a social networking tool would attract all of its users to our services. I'll admit to it for myself, at least. :)
Postscript: Read the comment below too, but to clarify my brief post above: I am not in any way saying that this means we shouldn't be in social networks, have a presence there. The investment is low, and any payoff, therefore, is worthwhile. But I do feel that social networks have been blown out of proportion in their ability to garner users.
January 14, 2008 | Permalink
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I was kind of happy to see this study because I thought it might spark some conversations about why librarians might want to use these sites even if people don't want to talk to us this way. So some initial hypotheses were challenged - new hypotheses = new thinking.
Increasingly I've been thinking that we are missing some part of the point when we focus too much on the "how can we use X tool to deliver services" question. I've had a Facebook account forever, and really didn't use it at all for a long time. It wasn't until a bunch of people joined with whom I wanted to socially network - then I started using it a lot. And that's when I felt like I started to "get" Facebook - understood how it affects people's expectations for communication, web services, and information dissemination -- and this understanding definitely makes me a better librarian.
Thanks for this great discussion.
Posted by: Anne-Marie | January27, 2008
Sarah:
I recall when folks, especially students and those in academe, said they would abandon the Internet when regular folks (non-military, non-government, non-university) were let in.
I remember when we were told it was impossible to build huge databases, connect all computers, send data blisteringly fast and no one would want that anyway because there was nothing that importsnt to send.
I remember when folks, especially students, said ads and commercial sites on the WWW would kill it!
Hmmmm. I wonder if students are great predictors of their own behaviours? I doubt it. Most people can't predict how they will change their behaviours when they don't see how it will play out. If they relate to teachers, librarians and other adults in person, why woulod they display a different behaviour online? Especially if they learn to use the filters that the social sites are developing.
I've said it many times. Anyone who doesn't think long and hard about the role social software WILL play in the future, especially those who work in social institutions like universities, libraries, etc. is making a mistake.
This study, as reported, is more interesting as a study into student behaviour than as a predictor of the success of social networks in the enterprise.
Stephen
Posted by: Stephen K Abram | January18, 2008
There was an interesting article I read recently that quoted a teen as saying "Facebook is MySpace for old people."
I think we still need to look at the underlying issue--the overall impression that teens have of libraries in general. Do they see their library as a cool place to hang out or as a place where they get told to turn off their cell phones? We have these great social networking tools to reach out to teens but if they are still getting the cold shoulder when they walk through our doors then they won't look for us online.
Posted by: Lori Reed | January15, 2008
GW library has had some success with Facebook.
http://libraryplayground.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/facebook-and-gw-librarians/
Posted by: Gord | January15, 2008
Thanks for linking to our survey!
This survey was just the first of many surveys we'll be conducting to find out more about our UM library patrons... it will be very interesting to see how their responses change over time.
I think that social networking sites can be useful for all kinds of things besides conducting reference services... I use it to find usability test participants, conduct short surveys, connect with my coworkers in other departments, and generally gain an understanding of why so many students use it!
And understanding our users (and the technology they use) is so important for making better homepages, catalogs, research guides, etc.
Posted by: Suzanne Chapman | January15, 2008
I contest that 17% of any given population saying they would use a service is a good number, Caleb. Imagine if 17% of parents actually used our parenting classes or story times. If 17% of high school students actually used our online homework help chat. We would be over-run and our usage numbers would increase exponentially from what they are now. And especially with social networking, where the investment of time and set-up is so little, 17% is definitely worth our time. However, 17% of the college population, the exact population we believe Facebook to target best, is a lot lower than others have predicted our made it sound like in conference talks, papers, and such. Social networking software has been made out to be the one true place to get people through libraries, especially young people, and while 17% is nothing to sneeze at, it is certainly below expectations...which to me tells me that the expectations were impossible and ridiculous to begin with.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton-Jan (LiB) | January15, 2008
Is the glass half full or half empty? Or 3/4 in this case. As I look at the survey results, I see that 24% WOULD be interested in contacting a librarian on a social networking site. Shouldn't we be serving them too?
Posted by: Diane Eidelman | January15, 2008
17% would! How is that bad? Maybe we don't do things perfectly, but it doesn't mean we should stop doing them. I dare anyone to find a library service that everyone uses that does not need to be disinfected regularly.
Posted by: caleb, who isn't on facebook or myspace anyway | January15, 2008
I like functional social software. By functional I mean sites like Flickr (functional photo sharing) and YouTube (functional video sharing). MySpace and Facebook are all social - no function, or at least when they do attempt to provide functional services they do a poor job because that is not their primary focus.
I have a Facebook account, and even an ugly MySpace account. I've never found them useful for anything but wasting time and they aren't even particularly good for that. I have tried to come up with ideas for using these sites as tools to reach patrons, but when they're primarily on the site for recreation, communication from us is "just another ad". I don't want to get a call from my telephone company on call waiting every time a try to call a friend - that's just not the time or the place. Our angle on these site is going to be instructional rather than participatory.
Posted by: Proletarian Librarian | January15, 2008
I think social networking has a great future in libraries and in a larger sense in the general world of research. However, my experience with Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, et al is that the users' intent is not geared to studying, researching, etc. So while these sites offer tools that could easily be applied to the library or to research in general, the scale that is needed to make the experience truly useful is not there and may never be.
Posted by: Alex | January15, 2008
Interesting survey - we have not had much success here with library social networking or other web 2.0 apps
Posted by: John | January15, 2008
Sometimes, science can be a bitch! ;-)
Posted by: Woeful | January15, 2008
It makes sense that survey responders would reply that way. However, companies in the private sector who are, in essence, advertising their products have made real inroads with social networking.
Social application development has to provide incentive to users, and OPACs aren't really set up for collaboration (or even fun, for that matter)
Most libraries could probably do best by tweaking the UI of their homepages and catalogs to better suit their users, rather than 'gee-whiz' outreach techniques IMHO.
Love your blog!
Posted by: Brad Czerniak | January14, 2008
