Facebook

Facebook. The social networking phenomenon. It has recently reached 500 million members worldwide (8% of the population) including more than 25 million Brits - that's one in three!


I signed up for Facebook in my first year at university, to keep in touch with friends from school when we all went our separate ways. It's good for that purpose but, like Twitter, it does stray into the realms of "I'm eating breakfast" and "Can't wait for the weekend" at times. I will always be grateful to Facebook for reintroducing me to a friend who has now been my boyfriend for two years. We first met in a few lectures at university but lost touch and then I saw he was a friend of a friend so I added him and we got together =) I don't use it as often as I used to now because I never seem to have time but I still upload my photos for my family and friends to see.

I think it's a great way for libraries to inform their readers of news, i.e. opening hours, events, new acquisitions, etc, especially as such a large amount of people are now using Facebook. It's easy to use, has a good layout, and is a fast, simple way of getting information across. A downside that has been in the news a lot recently is the privacy. Personally I don't find it a problem, it's all down to common sense. I only add people I actually know as my friends and I don't include any information I don't want people finding out. So there it is, another positive Thing!