OK, I have yet to delve into MySpace. I already have an account languishing "out there" somewhere, and I can't remember which email account I used to set it up, much less what my password is, so I'm letting that perk in the back of my brain for awhile to see if it'll come to the surface before I simply scrap it and start over.I DO, however, have something to share regarding Facebook! I was at an evening library function-- the meeting where interested parties rank Newbery titles according to our own tastes and criteria-- when the topic of Facebook came up in terms of "must try".
Of course I went home and set up an account post-haste. I really enjoyed it in a way that I hadn't yet gotten into MySpace yet. Thus far I have found it to be more streamlined, less cluttered (though there ARE plenty of extras for it) and more user-friendly. And I used it pretty regularly until I got my wisdom teeth pulled; at which point my whole life sort of crumbled into a messy puddle which I'm still trying to mop up.
Anyway, part of my Facebook profile indicates my enjoyment of children's music, librarianship, and zerberts. Those things are all true, and they're not things I worry too much about virtually anybody knowing about me, so they're posted there. I was, however, stunned to get a friend request from a Robert Burke Warren.
"OK, who the *&!@* is Robert Burke Warren?" I asked myself as I checked him out. Turns out he's Uncle Rock, children's singer and songwriter from New York. He found, via Facebook, that I enjoy children's music, and wrote me personally to introduce me to his work. He also noted that I'm a children's librarian, and let me know that he does concerts. He offered to send me a CD for myself as well as one for my library. (So heads up, CHI, that's on the way to you).
Now THIS is networking! I already knew about Uncle Rock from reviews I'd read elsewhere. I first head about him when I discovered the song "Picnic in the Graveyard" on YouTube while preparing for our library Day of the Dead program years ago. But this... this was the other way around. Uncle Rock discovered ME! Facebook, and other social networking sites like it, truly do have the potential to bring people together in new and useful ways. (And also gives people across the globe a chance to play Scrabulous together as well, I'll admit it).
2 comments:
Thanks! I'm glad you like it. :-)
That's awesome that Facebook worked out so well for you, I've never heard of it being such a useful tool!
Yup, YA author Aimee Friedman joined the group I had set up for Arcadia Library Teens. Embarassingly, I had never heard of her, and had to "interrogate" this New Yorker who joined our little local library group. She was quite friendly and even sent us an advance copy of her latest book! I ordered all her other titles and was happy to report to her that they are constantly checked out.
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