Assignment #5 - Library Thing and Facebook

I enjoyed investigating the Library Thing, creating an account and adding five recent reads to my account. There is a lot of flexibility with the account and a person's privacy can be maintained with this site. It is great to have a site that brings together people of common interest, yet from varied bacgrounds and from around the world. The option of having notices about local happenings is also a nice feature. It would be interesting to view profiles and even communicate with people who enjoy the same authors. Book reviews, ratings and even previews of upcoming books are all available. Special groups of Librarian types and authors allow common interests to be shared. I love the fact that reviews are not there to sell books but are from real people who read. Yes I enjoyed the visit to the Library Thing and I will be checking back to this site regularily. I even posted 5 of my recent reads( with pictures of covers) from the Library Thing to this blog. There was a simple link feature on the Library Thing that made this possible.

Awww Facebook..... I was amazed last year when I found out that my adult daughter was keeping in touch on a daily basis with cousins in Seattle and Vancouver, friends in Sweden, India and the Northwest Territories, and old camping friends and high school friends through Facebook while she was living in Halifax. I met an high school friend of hers last fall who said that she had been "talking" to Meaghan that morning??!! Meaghan and her fiance had a Facebook link that was sent by email to give an early notice of their upcoming wedding. Later, this site became a link for all to learn about their unique wedding location and itinerary and was a bulletin board for folks to chat about the upcoming adventures of that special weekend.
Our son also advertised his stag and doe on a similar Facebook page. He knew which invited guest were definites, maybes and unable to attend.
Of course, many shower and wedding pictures quickly show up on Facebook from all friends and family, who attended each of the weddings, to share and view.
A chat feature is also available within Facebook that is similar to msn messenger and yahoo messenger.
Privacy is definitely an issue. However, newcomers to Facebook and those that are presently using it, and are uncertain about its safety, are wise to spend time reviewing all of the privacy features that are available with the Facebook site.
Organizations that utilize Facebook must also be ready to have uninvited people join in and disrupt discussions and postings. When I visited "Green Because You Can" yesterday I was dismayed at the useless discussion that had been initiated by one foolish person whose objective was to disrupt the purpose of the site. He could have been blocked from the site but then censorship would become an issue. I am not sure what the answer is.
Educational institutions are also grappling with the use of Facebook and such sites to encourage student success. While one student was subject to possible expulsion from Ryerson a few months ago, professors at other universities were promoting Facebook as a valuable tool for students to share ideas and create study groups for courses.

I am still having fun learning !