Thing 4: Online Communities - Some Musings

The video Polly gave us to watch asks whether social media is a fad or a revolution.  I would have to say neither, or maybe a little bit of both.  People are excited about it because it is new and exciting, but even at this point, I am starting to see the novelty beginning to wear off.  For instance, most of my Facebook friends are on much less frequently now than they were when I first joined. 

However, people still use social media a lot, and I don't think it's going away.  I think it's akin to cell phones.  Remember when they first became affordable?  How people who had them would use them ALL THE TIME to give a play-by-play?   This one-side of a cell phone conversation I heard about 10 years ago while shopping was typical:

"I am walking down the sidewalk.  I am going past Frank Adams.  OK, now I am going into the Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza.  I am going to buy a book."

People don't (usually) do that anymore, yet they continue to use cell phones in their daily lives to do work, make live easier, and, yes, ocassionally annoy others on the train, at restaurants, and in the doctor's office.  (Do you really have to tell your spouse, mother or whomever about what should be your private, personal, and sometimes graphic medical problems right now?)  I think we are still in the early part of the romance with social media where we just can't get enough of it, but soon the bloom will wear off and we will move into a more solid and stable relationship with it like we have now with cell phones.

Back to the video.  I know this video was made to sell something, so it's probably not fair to pick it apart, but several things about it really bugged me, so here goes.  First of all, they put two facts together at the beginning of the video:  1)  50% of the world's population is under 30 & 2) 96% of Millenials are on Social Media.  They put these two facts one right after the other, so it makes it sounds like these two go hand-in-hand - that 96% of people under 30 (are Millenials under 30?) are on social media.  But I'm guessing the 96% of Millenials that quote refers to are Millenials living in the USA.  A big chunk of that 50% of the world's population that is under 30 are scrounging just to get water and electricity.  The richer countries tend to skew older.

The video also states that students who learn online do better than those who learn face-to-face.  Who are they talking about, and what do they mean by "better?"  Having just done some reading on standardized tests, I know that tests can easily be gamed by those that know the ropes.  The jury is still out on whether those who score higher have learned more.  I teach adults informally in face-to-face workshops, and I am involved in a PTA at a school with a lot of "at-risk" students.  Although I don't have any empirical data, in both cases I think the face-to-face contact helps the students.  In workshop evaluations, normally at least half of the participants state that what they liked best about the workshop was interacting with the instructor and other students in-person.  Perhaps this is because many of them work in isolation and appreciate the fact that, for once, they are among others who understand their work.  Maybe people who have more in-person camraderie at work would not have such a strong preference for in-person workshops.

With at-risk students, I cannot imagine having a whole education online.  Perhaps some portion of it, but not all of it.  The physical school and schedule gives structure to the students, and faculty and staff do so much more than just teach.  They talk with parents, set up meetings with guidance counselors, listen to students' problems, line up social workers or other services as needed, identify learning disabilities, and so much more.  My fear with "facts" like those stated in the video is that people wil be tempted to replace teachers with computers and software, and those children who are already on the edge will fall farther behind.  Human interaction is an especially important part of learning in those vulnerable years of early adolescence.

That said, I was very interested in the many examples of ways that libraries are using social media.  The book discussion over Facebook could be very attractive to people who can't get to the library at a particular time for a book group or who may be intimidated at first by long discussions of books.  I can see this being a great tool for school librarians and a fun way to get students to recommend books to each other.  Sometimes kids will be more forthcoming online than in person.  Reading is often seen as nerdy, so kids don't often talk about it among their friends, but I know lots of kids are "closet readers," and this forum might be a good way to draw them out.

I can also see social media as a great tool for connecting staff members in libraries with long hours.  Some staff members will see each other only rarely in libraries like this, and social media can help them connect.  I do find, however, that people are often misinterpreted online.  This is especially true for people that don't know each other well.  A person's off-beat sense of humor may come off as simply rude online.  It may be a good idea to come up with a continuing education course on writing for online communities. 

Thanks, Polly, for pointing us to the Librarian In Black's blog post on Social Media Capital.  This is a great practical article on things librarians should consider when entering the world of social media.  She talks about policies, registering names, finding followers, finding mentions of your library on other sites, and more.  Even if your library has no interest in officially using social media, this is a great article to read.  Because, like it or not, every library has a  presence on social media, and this article can help you figure out what that presence is.  If you read just one article on Polly's list for "Thing 4," it should be this one!