We’ve had some good discussions this week about participation in social media. One thing I’ve been thinking about is how we present ourselves in social media. Are we always professional? Can we let our hair down, so to speak, and be ourselves? Or do we always have to be careful about who is lurking or, more importantly, are we under surveillance? A recent NPR story, “Elusive Debtors Foiled by Their Social Media Sites” is a good example of how sharing too much information can be detrimental. There are lots of other examples of how we need to be protect our own privacy on the web. Have you tried the “Scan for Privacy” tool for Facebook? If you’ve carefully gone through all your privacy settings hopefully you won’t find any major, glaring gaps in your privacy settings. So, what is our role as librarians in web 2.0? Is this, yet, another opportunity for us to educate the public about privacy? And when we do that are we, as librarians setting good examples ourselves by not over-sharing information?
How we, as information professionals/librarians choose to participate in social media, I think, depends on what we want to get out of it. If you’re setting up a Twitter account or Facebook page you need for your institution then when you’re posting under that account then you’re, obviously, representing that institution and your posts need to reflect that. If you have a personal Twitter account and you want to keep it personal then you need to set it up that way. If you have a Facebook account and you’re concerned about what a potential employer may learn about you on Facebook, then, by all means remove any potentially harmful information or posts. Have you blocked any people from your past from finding you on Facebook? I know I have and offer no apologies about it. How much information do you share with high school friends you haven’t seen in over 25 years?
How do we participate? Carefully, thoughtfully and when appropriate, professionally.