What’s all the buzz about social networking applications?

Karen Huffman ~ khuffman@ngs.org National Geographic Society

2008 SLA Annual ConferenceSeattle, Washington

June 16, 2008

http://del.icio.us/tag/2008SLAKMBuzz

Agenda

• Perspectives

• Trends

• The Buzz…(or groundswell)

• Walking the talk

• Implications & potentials

2007 OCLC Report on Social Networking

“To continue to be vital to society, libraries must adopt new objectives. In particular, they must strive to

participate with individuals in their cultural activities; passive, depersonalized service is no longer enough.”

Frederick Kilgour, “Evolving, Computerizing, Personalizing,” in American Libraries, February 1972

“As librarians, our task has always been and remains to use the tools of information technology to serve the needs of information workers or seekers, bearing in mind that all recorded information and its support infrastructure — books and shelves no less than online search engines — is information technology.” (May 2003)

Trends: Today’s Realities

• Globalization– Global workforce– Shifting workplace patterns

• Products and services– Shorter development cycles– Increased effort for cross-collaboration

• Decreased budgets– More with less– Traditional “meeting” models $$

Source: Forrester Research (2008): Global Enterprise spending on Web 2.0.

Source: Forrester Research (2008): Features and benefits of online communities.

Source: Forrester Research (2008): Features and benefits of online communities.

http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/

The Buzz… (or Groundswell)

Features of the Groundswell

• Micro interactions: Fluidity of communication

• User driven: Living it! Defining it!

• Making connections, building relationships

• Portability across applications

• Profile 2.0: Just-for-me resources

Shifting Paradigms: Micro Interactions“We live in a world where the little things really do matter. Each encounter no matter how brief is a micro interaction which makes a deposit or withdrawal from our rational and emotional subconscious. The sum of these interactions and encounters adds up to how we feel about a particular product, brand or service. Little things. Feelings. They influence our everyday behaviors more than we realize.” ~ David Armano

Portability across Applications

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Connections & Relationships

Profile 2.0: Just-for-Me

Walking the Talk

Social Web & Sense-making Wisdom of the crowds vs. Anarchy of the masses

• Active participation

• Define the toolsets

• Model best practices

• Establish policies and security models

• Monitor trends

• Learn from our mistakes

NG’s Collectors Corner

Blogs

Portable Apps & RSS Feeds

Digital Dashboards

Second Life

Our Challenge

• Millions of sandboxes– Time constraints: 24 hours in a day– Just “Plurk”

• Expand your knowledge and definitions – Stretch beyond your comfort zone– Expect to not have all the answers

• Participatory networks– Involve others, collaborate– Accuracy of information

Networks in Social Sites

Localizing Learnings

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Implications & Potentials

– Interactive/dynamic knowledge exchange, sharing stories @ a global level

– Unanticipated relationships, learnings– Increased productivity, shorter development

cycles, cohesive products– Marketing opportunities– Delivery channels for products and services:

Just-for-me

Thank you!