Full Potential: There is more to Social Networking
I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s Small is the New Big, which is a collection of articles first published on his blog. Although most of the book is intended for business, its entries can also apply directly to libraries. Being that Social Networking is all the rage at the moment, I was particularly interested in “Then Came the Net” which describes the use of Del.icio.us, blogging, Flickr, Chowhound, and Squidoo for small business. It was first written more than 2 years ago, but I think it is important to recognize that these social networks continue to remain a strong resource–and in the digital world 2 years is a long time! This wins favor for the “social networking: more than just a fad” argument. People do not just use, but immerse themselves in the technologies, and there is so much potential for a network in which the users are active.
Aspect of Godin’s article that caught my attention was his discussion of Del.icio.us (now delicious.com):
I did a search on “Sarbanes” because I wanted to find some detailed information on an accounting issue. The bookmarks that had been tagged led me to a site filled with white papers–all written by software and accounting firms that wanted to start discussions about their services with clients.
No, it’s not an earth-shattering discovery. But the chance of that site’s surfacing in Google is slim–yet because eight people (not a computer) had tagged this page, it rose in popularity and got noticed.
Small is the New Big, p. 90
It got me thinking. How can we better connect with users? With other librarians? Are we using our patrons as resources, and are they using us? Some 2 years after this was first written, we’re taking advantage of the technologies, but are we really using them to their full potential?
