Social Networking ( Facebook, Myspace)

This include sites like MySpace and Facebook. Here, people, organisations, schools put up a public profile about themselves.

Facebook
Facebook applications are developed using the Facebook Platform (http://apps.facebook.com/login.php), which was launched on 25 May 2007. Utilizing the Facebook Developer Application, third-party programmers can create applications to suit their purposes. Applications can be created to provide a variety of services, such as displaying an RSS feed, searching an outside resource, or cataloging a person's recently seen movies, to name a few. A Facebook application is composed of several parts. In order to use a Facebook application, an individual must first add that application to his or her profile. Facebook maintains a searchable catalog of all Facebook applications.  Libraries use it as a primary function to provide a means of searching the library's catalog from a Facebook profile. Most library applications are simple catalog search applications. These applications create a box in the user's profile with a search form. When a user enters a search term, the search is executed in a new browser window that loads the library's usual online catalog.


MySpace
MySpace allows organizations to have their own profile page, which can be used by a library as a different sort of home page. MySpace has a blog as a standard feature on profile pages, which many libraries use to keep their patrons up-to-date on library events. Most libraries also provide links to key resources such as article databases and reference guides on the profile page.MySpace has not encouraged third-party development in the way that Facebook and Google have, and for that reason there is significantly less innovation on MySpace. Nevertheless, a large number of libraries have built profile pages in MySpace to integrate themselves into their patrons’ social networking. A list of most or all the libraries on MySpace can be found at URL http://groups.myspace.com/myspacelibraries.Some examples of typical library profile pages are:University of Central Florida – www.myspace.com/ucfaskalibrarian University of Kentucky – www.myspace.com/uklibraries (Andrew Harris and Susan Lessick. 2007. Libraries Get Personal: Facebook Applications, Google Gadgets, and MySpace Profiles. Vol 24 pp 30-32. http://www.emeraldinsight.com )