Videos Posted by Facebook: Sharing Around the World. Archivists and Facebook. I joined Facebook about a month ago specifically to gather information about its potential value for archives. I’m ready to report. I don’t think it has much value for archives. I think it has a lot of potential value for archivists. Let me explain. I agree with what I think is the common opinion: that Facebook will not prove to be a useful tool for spreading information about individual archival collections or for reaching out to potential users about what we do and what we have.
I am not convinced, however, that librarians or archivists should be ‘going where their market is’—into facebook and other social networking applications. I’m not saying that an archives can’t have a successful Facebook page (although I only found two pages for archives) or that we can’t find a way to build a Facebook application that wouldn’t be really cool. For you as an individual archivist, on the other hand, I think it might be worth it for social networking. Be Sociable, Share! O'Reilly Media group on Facebook. Blog Archive » “Getting the real work done” Let me lead off with a quote from a fellow archival blogger over at The DIGITAL Archive: While I agree these social networking websites are wonderful tools when used efficiently in various information-centric environments, they are clearly aimed at those who have the time or have been given the time at work to use them.Even on the Social Web, there are haves and have-nots.
So while there are those whose time is spent in Second Life, there are many more in real life getting the real work done. I guess it kind of depends on what “the real work” is for each person. If your work involves interacting primarily with the demographic that uses tools like Facebook as their primary communications tool, then it should be part of your job to have a presence in that environment. If your primary function is to do outreach and get the word out about your collections and services, then exploring these tools and evaluating their utility should be a part of your job (with time allotted accordingly).