Thing 12 - Social networks

Thing 12 seems to be covering a lot of the ground that we've already gone over in terms of how we use and feel about social networks. I've already said in previous posts that I'm a very limited user of these networks. My Facebook pages are private and I don't think I'll ever use them for work purposes. I'm still intending having a good look at Linkedin, but time just seems to run away from me. It's on my expanding list of things to do though. I'm afraid I find Twitter a complete waste of time for professional purposes. There's just so much rubbish on it. I know I can choose who to follow, and I have kept it quite a short list, but I just don't have time to filter through even that stuff to find the odd gem.

Social networking does have a place though. I've made contact with other librarians via CPD23 that I would never have met normally and have enjoyed establishing some relationships and sharing ideas. It's really good to be able to get a feel for who and what's out there and what others are doing, both in the same sector and in the wider profession. I don't think social networking will ever replace face-to-face contact as I don't believe it allows you to establish the same depth of relationship. It is much more superficial and it's very easy to ignore an e-mail, blog post or twitter feed. You can't really do the same when the person is standing in front of you. I'm glad I've dipped my toe in the waters of social networking though. I have enjoyed writing these blogs and seeing what everyone else is up to. Surely that's the whole point of CPD23, to get us trying out things we haven't done before and see what works best for us. I don't think anyone doing CPD23 will use all of the tools we are being introduced to, but we cherry pick the ones that suit our own way of working and doing things.