Finding Friends Online--Thing 21

I had a Myspace page once upon a time. I even had the username and password written down. But now I can't log in; I get nothing but error messages. I used the Myspace page exactly . . . once or twice. Now and then I still get a message from some stranger wanting to be my friend even though there was never enough info on my page for a person to know if they'd want to be my friend or not. I thought of creating a new account, but why have two that sit idle. Maybe when my kids are older I'll jump back in; I've heard of parents joining the social networks and requesting to be their kids' "friends" so they can keep an eye on things in cyberspace with their kids.

My first thought about the library websites was, "They're really grasping at straws to get the teens involved in the library." But then I looked at some of the comments that had been left, the "thanks for giving me the add" remarks, and I wondered if a teen might make a friend of the library via its social network just as easily as walking into the library and finding a place of comfort.

Both the Denver and Hennepin County pages are set up similarly; I suppose the templates don't allow a lot of differentiation. They both have a lot of information available about events that teens might be interested in.

I wonder how their users find the site. Do they promote it in-library? Do kids just happen upon it? Might there be teens who specifically look for their library to have a Myspace or Facebook page?

Regardless of the benefits of having such a page, it will probably often come down to the fact that it takes resources (mainly time) to maintain them, and many libraries don't have the resources to be adding additional tasks to their job list. If a social networking site becomes a priority, something else may have to give. Do we reach out to teens and tweens at the expense of senior citizens or young children? This is a difficult question, as always.