Quest 8 - Social Networking

First of all, I have to admit that I do not have a social networking page. However, I have been thinking more and more about starting one. I guess my excuse was that I thought 30 was too old for social networking, but after reading some of the articles and knowing that most people at work have one, I've found that they are used by all ages. I am most familiar with Myspace - I admit I've gone on it to look up old friends and classmates. It is interesting to see where people are today!
I checked out all of the sites listed on the Tech Trek blog. Bebo ran really slow - it took forever to get from page to page. Maybe it was just when I happened to be looking at it. Besides that, it was pretty interesting. It was definitely British though - I kept seeing the word "realise!" I checked out a video and could see where someone could waste hours just going from video to video! I could definitely tell that Friendster isn't being used as much as before. I looked up a friend who I know has a page there and she hasn't posted or had any messages since 2003. She has since gone to Myspace. I looked at Linkedin but like the blog said, there is not much exploring that can be done. Anytime I tried to get further into someone's profile, I get to a screen asking me to login. It is an interesting idea though but it seems geared more toward those in corporate positions. Like Linkedin, Facebook also won't let you do much exploring without registration. The one thing Facebook mentions in its "About" section is that Facebook is all private. Only confirmed friends can see profiles. This would be good for people who are concerned about internet privacy. Of course, I have played around on Myspace. One thing I have noticed is that more and more bands are using it as their website. Lately, for a lot of bands, if you go to their website, it will just direct you to Myspace to get more information on tours, etc. I guess since Myspace is getting so ubiquitous, it is just easier to have the information in the place where most people would look for it.
I think social networking is a great idea for libraries. As more people use these Web 2.0 technologies, the more they will be expecting for libraries to use them as well. One question I have is who would be the one keeping up with it? I think it would have to become a joint effort in order for it to work.