A "Wall" By Any Other Name Remains Equally Inspired?

Is social networking for libraries? can social media lose its hebetude?

We ' re All Me-ists Now

While greed isn't good, read is. But reading is taking a beating in this digital age. Can reading survive? If it can't, is there any hope for libraries?

Of Facebook, Twitter and Social Networking Sites

For those who have read even one of my musings, it will come as no surprise that I find Facebook, Twitter, social networking sites (SNS), and the rest of Webology less than inspiring. If you had read nothing other than the screed I blathered about Google a few columns back, you’d know that I find all this talk about the Web replacing libraries more than a little silly; I find it downright idiotic. Still, one must keep an open mind.

Here's looking at You, Selfie

By the time you read this column this story may have lost all it relevance but it has made a bit of a dust up lately and so I think it deserves some further treatment. About two weeks ago, the cyberverse was all a twitter about naked selfies, mainly of celebrities, that had been hacked right out of the cloud. Imagine that. What goes online isn’t exactly private. Doh!

Student Reactions to Professor Use of Facebook

Mazer, Murphy and Simonds (2007) recently demonstrated that high self-disclosure, compared to low self-disclosure, on a fictitious professor's Facebook profile was related to students' expectations of a positive classroom environment and high levels of motivation. These findings raise the question of whether all types of self-disclosure would have the same effect. This study examined college students' perceptions of specific ways that professors might use Facebook. We created six Facebook profiles for a fictitious male professor, each with a specific emphasis: Republican, Democrat, religious, family- oriented, socially oriented, or professional only. While viewing a printed version of one of the randomly distributed profiles, participants responded to questions that assessed their perceptions of the professors' teaching ability, classroom demeanor and appropriateness of self-disclosure, as well as their own Facebook use. Students responded most negatively, but sometimes with greatest interest, to professors' posting of social and political information. Appropriate use of Facebook, including professional and family information, increased students' respect for the professor and his classroom. These findings could be very helpful in guiding professor Facebook use.