University of Kentucky UKnowledge Library Faculty and Staff ubP lications University of Kentucky Libraries Fall 2006 Internet Reviews: Social Networking Software: Facebook and MySpace Stacey Greenwell University of Kentucky, [email protected] Beth Kraemer University of Kentucky, [email protected] Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits oy u. Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/libraries_facpub Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Repository Citation Greenwell, Stacey and Kraemer, Beth, "Internet Reviews: Social Networking Software: Facebook and MySpace" (2006). Library Faculty and Staff Publications. 22. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/libraries_facpub/22 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Kentucky Libraries at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Library Faculty and Staff ubP lications by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Internet Reviews: Social Networking Software: Facebook and MySpace Notes/Citation Information Published in Kentucky Libraries, v. 70, issue 4, p. 12-16. The opc yright holder has granted the permission for posting the article here. This article is available at UKnowledge: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/libraries_facpub/22 DEPARTMENT K ENTUCKY L IBRARY A SSOCIATION INTERNET REVIEWS: SOCIAL NETWORKING SOFTWARE: FACEBOOK AND MYSPACE BY STACEY GREENWELL AND BETH KRAEMER UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY LIBRARIES INTERNET uthor’s note: Shortly after this article was MySpace and Facebook are particularly popu- submitted for publication, Facebook disabled the lar with “Net Generation” users. An estimated UK Libraries profile, citing a violation of their 85% of students in high school and college Terms of Agreement which they say specifies that have at least one profile in at least one of organizational profiles are not allowed. Profiles these sites. The central feature of this particu- must be created for individuals only. We are dis- lar kind of social networking site is the ability puting this interpretation of the Facebook Terms. to identify a group of friends whose profiles Facebook recommends that Libraries create indi- become linked to yours. Your group of friends REVIEWS vidual profiles for librarians and establish a becomes a network with unique communica- “Facebook Group” to represent the library itself. tion privileges. Your friends can post com- Contact the authors for more information about ments that will appear on your site. You are this incident and the current status of our profile. able to broadcast announcements that go to At the moment, several libraries do have active your entire group of friends or your network in Facebook profiles, but the implication is that more one stroke. The personal connection encour- may be shut down in the coming months. aged by these sites is both the strength and potential vulnerability of this type of social Static HTML pages? That’s so yesterday. The networking. new trend for libraries looking for a web pres- ence that appeals to the younger generation is CONCERNS AND BENEFITS Social Networking. Public and academic MySpace and Facebook have both been in the libraries around the country are experiment- news recently with stories about users who ing with this new trend and the University of have suffered some consequence as a result of Kentucky has established profiles in both content they posted to their own profiles. Facebook and MySpace, two of the most pop- Colleges and universities have charged stu- ular services. This column offers a general dents with violation of campus alcohol poli- overview of these two services, as well as cies based on photos found on the sites. insights based on the University of Kentucky Graduating students have cited Facebook pro- experience. files as a factor in cases where the student was turned down for a professional position. It’s WHAT IS SOCIAL NETWORKING not just your friends who are exploring these SOFTWARE? services: parents, potential employers, and Social networking sites are hot. These web- university administrators are aware of the pop- based tools allow individuals to meet, interact, ularity of MySpace and Facebook and the collaborate, and share. There are a variety of kind of information that can be mined from sites for a variety of purposes, including: profiles. • Meeting friends (e.g., MySpace and Facebook) Concerns about MySpace and Facebook cen- • Sharing media (e.g., Flickr and YouTube) ter on the nature of the content users are • Sharing ideas (e.g., blogs and wikis) posting and the relatively open access of the • Collaborating at work (e.g., SharePoint) sites. Parents are particularly concerned about • Dating (e.g., eHarmony) who has access to their children’s profiles. An individual can create his or her own per- Both services now allow users the option to sonal space within the service, but interaction restrict access to their profiles to their 12 with other users is the key feature. approved group of friends only. User educa- tion is key to preventing problems. Users need INTERNET to be aware of the option to restrict access, patrons. Finally, MySpace and Facebook are need to be judicious about accepting friend wildly popular with this particular audience. REVIEWS requests (other users may misrepresent them- Profiles are free and easy to create. The only CONTINUED selves and are potentially not who they say investment is the time required to create and they are), and need to be aware that open maintain content. This is a high-visibility profiles are open to anyone. arena and participation is cheap and easy; having a library presence there makes sense. With user education to reduce problems, we see exciting benefits in social networking MySpace sites, particularly MySpace and Facebook. The (http://www.myspace.com/) sites integrate web, email, chat, blog and MySpace is the most trafficked internet site in media-sharing in one neat package. the U.S. A MySpace profile can be created by Institutional users — such as libraries — can anyone with an email address. The ability to use the sites to facilitate two-way communica- customize the “look” of your profile makes it tion with users rather than the traditional popular with high school students and anyone one-sided web presence. User comments can looking to advertise to this younger audience. enhance the site, making it more personally Independent musicians create profiles to appealing to this audience and more timely. advertise their music directly to listeners. Patrons can post questions to the site and Movies geared toward teen audiences are also answers will be visible to all visitors. The being promoted directly on MySpace. Libraries “friends” feature also provides a focused group — particularly public libraries — have also for advertising, such as promoting library begun to create MySpace profiles as another classes and services of interest to younger way to reach this set of their user population. 13 Figure 1 INTERNET REVIEWS CONTINUED Figure 2 with the basic elements common to any MySpace profile identified. A basic MySpace profile is created by complet- ing a form. Some questions on the form are Facebook required (e.g., birth date) and others are (http://www.facebook.com) optional. The optional sections will display on For the most part, Facebook is open only to your profile if you have provided content, and registered users with a valid education-orient- won’t display if you have not. You can provide ed email address. As a result, access is consid- information ranging from your favorite movies, erably more restricted than MySpace. A where and when you went to high school or Facebook user has limited access to view pro- college, your sexual orientation, and where files outside of one’s network (the network you work. Any responses become search terms typically being the educational institution of that will allow other users to find your profile which one is affiliated.) Like MySpace, indi- (e.g., find everyone who graduated from the vidual users may choose to limit who can view University of Kentucky in 2002, or find every- their profile by adjusting privacy settings. one who likes to watch “Deadwood”). Despite these restrictions, more than 7.5 mil- lion people are registered users of Facebook. After your basic profile is complete, you may According to the Facebook website, two- add optional elements like blog entries, pic- thirds of those registered return to the site tures, videos, etc. The basic look of the site each day, and as of this writing, Facebook was (colors, font, some layout elements) can also the seventh-most trafficked site in the United be customized, and a variety of sites exist States. where you can download free MySpace lay- outs for your profile. Figure 1 shows the Facebook is particularly popular with college 14 University of Kentucky Libraries MySpace students. On a sprawling and unfamiliar cam- profile (http://www.myspace.com/ uklibraries), pus, Facebook can serve as a lifeline to staying INTERNET connected with old friends and can aid in and then within other networks, typically by meeting new people. Facebook users can easily college or geographic area. Facebook profiles REVIEWS connect with individuals from one’s high include a wall which allows other Facebook CONTINUED school, hometown, etc. Links within users to post comments and links. Facebook Facebook profiles make it simple to find oth- users can write “wall-to-wall” and carry on a ers who share the same interests (favorite conversation with another user. Figure 2 bands, movies, hobbies, etc.), live in the same shows the University of Kentucky Libraries dorm, participate in the same school activi- Facebook profile, with the basic elements ties, etc. Students can create groups based common to any Facebook profile identified. upon interests which can further help in con- necting with others. Facebook users can create groups which can be open to anyone or restricted.