From a hesitant participant to having several social networking accounts

From being a hesitant participant of social networking sites, this subject has turned me into an owner (by the end of the third week) of five social networking accounts (six including the Weblog I created from previous subject and reused for this subject)  -  Facebook, Flicker, Twitter, Delicious, and LinkedIn. At first, I felt slightly uncomfortable giving out information to so many sites. However, the idea that the experience and knowledge that I will gain from these activities will make me a better information services professional in a socially networked world has given me some sort of encouragement to go on. Besides, now is the time to reconnect with my friends and relatives abroad. For easy access, I put the short cuts of these sites in the bookmark bar of my browser. Also, I used a common e-mail account and password for these accounts to make administration easier.

Creating accounts for these social networking sites is quite straightforward except Delicious. It’s just so unfortunate that when the majority of the class were trying to use the “follow” feature of Delicious, the Delicious team was also in the process of upgrading the system to limit spam, making the user of a new account unable to follow other users. This issue was eventually resolved. With all these social networking accounts that I have created, Facebook gets more of my attention because most of my friends and relatives are familiar with it – the number of friends I have gets larger every day. To avoid some guessing games and to take advantage of the features they have, I decided to borrow the latest literature available on Facebook and Twitter. I am also determined to dig deeper in the coming weeks into what the other social networking sites have to offer.

Assignment One

Definition of Social networking
Social networking is the practice of expanding one’s social contacts by making online connections through individuals. The Web, through social networking sites such as a Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Myspace allows users to share their interests and/or social activities and become a part of an online community.

Social networking technologies and sites that I have used

I consider myself as a social networking newbie. The previous subjects that I have taken in my course have provided me concepts and outlook of some social networking as they are applied in information/library services. Specifically, I was introduced on how to make a blog in my INF405 (The Digital Environment) subject - my first hands on with social networking. The rest such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Wikipedia, and Flickr were all in theories.

Because trends come and go at a very fast pace (thanks to the rapid advancement in technology), I tend to be cautious in adapting whatever the current trend is, including social networking services. However, I am aware that most libraries have particularly adapted them to advertise their own services. Because of this, I have decided to enrol this subject (INF506-Social Networking for Information Professionals) to expand my knowledge and to be immersed within a range of social networking environments such as blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Delicious, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Second Life.

What do I expect to learn from completing INF506

I expect that the modules, readings, assignments, and hands on requirements in this subject will help me learn beyond the basics of the above mentioned social networking services and sites. Aside from using these social networking sites for “friendly” purposes, I expect to learn their applications in supporting the information, learning, social and/or organisational needs of a group of people.