Cynthia Peterson's List: Social Networking for Education

• Be Yourself
  What makes online communication work is the realization  that, at the other end of that lifeless terminal, is a living and breathing  human being.

  • quote - personalization

• Integrity

   

  Don’t be phony! Be yourself — it’s what your  social network friends added you for. There are, of course, many ways  to “game” just about every social media system, to get more diggs, to appear to  have more followers, to get your posts Stumbled, and so on. But in the end, it’s  an empty gain — people who follow you because you appear to be something you’re  not will quickly un-follow you, people who end up at your site because you  managed to get more votes on a post than you deserve will leave without reading,  and all you’ll have is an empty number to show off.

• Focus

   

  Signing up for social networking sites and social news sites is easy, but  unless you’re willing to put in some work, you won’t get much out of it. You  need to keep your profile reasonably up-to-date, maintain at least a marginally  active presence, and talk to other people now and again to make it work.
• Pick a handful of services and sites to put a lot of energy  into — or however many you have time to really commit to — and stay off  the rest.

• Add Value

   

  This is the single most important thing to remember on any social networking  site. Do whatever it takes to make your posts, your profile, your story  submissions, or whatever the “currency” of the site it, as valuable as  possible. You add value when you submit a link; you add more value when  you include a really good description of the article; you add more value still  when you explain why I would want to read it; and you add yet more value when  you tell me what the author left out or how the information might be used.

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• You Must Make Time for Promoting and  Training

   

  Sure, it’s easy to build sites like these, but also  remember to do some promotion and education. Announce your new Facebook Group or  Ning site on library lists, in blogs, at meetings, etc. Spread the word and give  your staff some time to build Profiles, join the network, and discuss library  initiatives and plans. Offer some brief training sessions and let staffers get  their feet wet. You may find it’s a perfect way to enable a social online  component at your library without breaking the bank!