Tuesday, February 9, 2010

WEEK TWO: Facebook - A Victory!

I have put a Facebook page up for our library! I'm still not comfortable with the technology and Facebook doesn't always want to play nice with me but you can find us as "Eureka Public Library." There apparently is another Eureka Public Library (Illinois) in the mix and also some false starts on my part that need to come down (done in a workshop and now I can't find the password to access them!) but if you look, we are there. I chose a page for the library instead of a personal page for myself for several reasons. First, it is a great way to advertise our library. Although I don't have a lot on the page yet, I am envisioning a photo tour of our building, advertising our new acquisitions and special events, getting feedback from the public, etc. In fact, I have put a discussion topic up which should gain us valuable information as we plan for the future. We already have lots of fans. Our board president's husband started a campaign to get us 1000 fans and he's doing a great job. Some of my old classmates and teachers have even dropped by to say "hi." So...maybe Facebook and I can have a fun, committed relationship of sorts after all! While I can see the value for work, a personal Facebook page is not in my future. It is hard enough to find time to get to the library page so that is more than enough to keep me busy. I also am not comfortable with putting too much personal information out there for all to see. Technology should be available to benefit me, not to cause more stress. For people who want to embrace Facebook fully - go for it! My free time is extremely limited and there are just other things I'd rather being doing. Isn't it great that there's no right or wrong about how much a person should use Facebook?

2 comments:

  1. I developed a fan page for our library. We are now up to 40+ fans! Not bad for a small town library! (Hillsboro Public Library Fan Page).
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hillsboro-KS/Hillsboro-Public-Library-Fan-Page/264168276469
    I do agree about posting too much personal info. As for a library, post your upcoming events. I am careful as to putting up kids pictures. Currently, you can't add any privacy restrictions on photos on a fan page. Maybe on your page you can adjust privacy settings so only fans can access the photos. Our patrons use the Facebook page more than our library website! We added a 'Find us on Facebook' on our brochures, and added a link to the site on our library web page. Also, all three of us are administrators to the site, so any one of us can post up info as needed. This has been a great tool for us. Come stop by our site, or even my blog if you have the time!
    ~~~Roberta Arnold ~~~

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  2. http://mattinas.wordpress.com/
    Here is my blog. I couldn't unless I was 'Anonymous'!

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