Is Arena a social web? Part 1

Wikipedia: The Social Web is currently used to describe how people socialize or interact with each other throughout the World Wide Web.

I have discussed with and listen to many librarians and web professionals and I still do not have the whole picture, but here some of my thoughts on the subject.
The social interactions on the web have many shapes and in the discussions about them, about the social web we are not always clear and foresighted. From my point of view the dialogue about social media is still immature. Even if the “media is the message” you have to know what you are doing and why. There is a tendency to mix means (solutions) with goals (purposes). We are mesmerized by the techniques and we are combining that with an addiction to an overall idea that nothing counts if it is not instant and interactive. Instant interactivity seems to be the implied norm. When mixing these two views of “instant” and “interactivity” it is possible that we miss the next possible solution (or the one before) in our sometimes opportunistic hailing of the existent. The basic view of being instant is attractive but is not always satisfactory. Techniques like blogs, twitter and Facebook comments are “instant” in a way that if you do not add or comment in a couple of hours (minutes?) your input is irrelevant and as dead as anything virtual can be. Interactivity comes in many forms one-one (mail, chat), one-many (review, blog, twitter), many-many (forums, Second Life) and of course some mixing in between. There is nothing here that is better than anything else per se. It all depends.
The debate of social media to me also seems smitten by the notion that social media is the new Klondyke, a vast gold mine. This can be contra productive if we thread that path in the wrong way. We should, of course, always be open for a better solution to our needs. What are our needs then? Why is this many headed creature, the social web, on the rise? I think it may be a combination of

• maturing internet techniques
• innovative entrepreneurs
• basic social needs

The basic social needs could be divided in

• we are all enriched by any social context
• we can see the altruistic point of sharing our competences
• we are lovers of self exposure and self confirmation

I think that it is all a mix of good things, otherwise it would not have been that successful in establishing itself as a concept, both technically and up till now strongly addressed as lucrative.

We should use social media when 

• it addresses the library´s core values. One example is Oak Park Library (Chicago) local bar literature circles which are blogged and therefore has  a broad virtual community as well.
• it has personal value (it is a good thing to tap in to special interests among the library staff)
• it shows off the local talent  of your communities  (do this in large scale if possible)
• it gives you the opportunity to listen and communicate

If you need some technical or graphical and whatever assistance you can use professional help in the community but there are maybe also volunteers for some. I heard of one library using volunteers to check scanned materials. Another one gets volunteer help with their posters (virtual and on paper).
Engagement, some passion, is probably a needed spice. Some (or all) of this goes for almost all businesses (like ours).

More in part 2.

			Written by : Boris Ukotic Zetterlund Categories : arena social web Comments : Read comments (0)  Write a comment

Is Arena a social web? Part 2

Some social web representations, social interactivity on the net, from my point of view:

• Subject based: Forums like “Film lovers forum”. Library sites can be generators of some of these based on the library media.
• “Sharing” (community) based: Groups like “Library 2.0 Interest Group” or “I flip my pillow to the cold side” (examples from Facebook). People who have something in common connect. Again library sites can host some activity here especially in connection with library resources and activities.
• “Item” based: Reviews/Comments/Tags. Library media again, especially if possible to interconnect with other library users input.
• Personal platform: MySpace, Facebook. A librarian can possibly be active here within the local community. Library pages seem to most people odd (there are many though). Using the status channel events and news seems to suit some library fans.
• “Functional” Personal Platform; LibraryThing, Arena MyCollection, Myspace (for musicians). My “view” on a certain aspect of life, maybe promoting myself.
• Personal message channel: Blog, Twitter. A library, librarian can be active here. The library can be “hosting” representations of these. Book recommendations can be in a blog form. The library can show a Twitter/Blog “feed” which show the tweets/blogs commenting on the city/university/library.

Most of the above functions can be hosted by library web pages and even included in products like Axiell Arena. The advantage of that are the connections between the user account, the library media and the social web techniques. Solutions like Arena can make it easy for the user to reach their library material, their own virtual media shelf, tag a book and add a comment in a book circle in the same account name (login) and at the same time have access to all media comments from the whole country.

There is, for now, no competition between Arena (and similar products) and for example Facebook. The vendors can make apps for showing Arena functions in a Facebook context but Facebook apps in that way are, to my understanding, not very popular in Facebook of today.

Using Facebook the other way around, though, is possible and potentially interesting. Try http://www.jansport.com/js_product_detail.php?pid=TQJ2
You see that with a Facebook account you can start commenting, rating and inviting Facebook friends to do the same on the product on display. This is a possible Arena feature. The technology is available from both Facebook and Google and is called Connect. And it is up to the customer to use it. The question is: Do you see the user as a Facebook user or as a library user first. You can do both with some effort. Is that the right way to go?
The idea here is that the library community (incl vendors) will not develop the main techniques/solutions for connecting people but can in their web presence channel the connections, add the interactivity to their services and include the user competence where appropriate. The libraries will most certainly (hopefully) exploit the social web opportunities to address the libraries goals in different ways.

The profitability of social media is under discussion. There is some research pointing to that Twitters and Facebookers are mostly middle aged people (35-54) see http://fastwonderblog.com/2009/04/27/social-media-users-are-older-and-more-business-like-than-you-think/. Here is what Knowledge Networks says about the commercial impact of social media http://www.knowledgenetworks.com/news/releases/2009/052009_social-media.html
From the article
Menlo Park, CA; May 20, 2009: A new report by Knowledge Networks gives advertisers, marketers and researchers a clearer picture of the motivations and attitudes of social media users – with sometimes-surprising results. While 83% of the Internet population (ages 13 to 54) participates in social media – 47% on a weekly basis – less than 5% of social media users regularly turn to these sites for guidance on purchase decisions in any of nine product/service categories. In addition, only 16% of social media users say they are more likely to buy from companies that advertise on social sites.

There is a possibility that venture capitalists now will be more restrictive with investments until more thorough research/best practice has proven otherwise. We will probably soon see some movement regarding the business ideas of Facebook and Twitter.

Well, to some statements then, conclusions if you like:

• The libraries will not be the main stage for social interaction techniques, the social web.
• The libraries should, as part of the society, use social interaction techniques where applicable (not trying is the beginning of the end).
• Libraries should where appropriate cooperate to gather input and thereby create value. Including the outside world in this cooperation should always be an option if it creates value for the users.
• Value in social media are for sure the content and the connections but it is not necessarily a pecuniary value.
• Watch out for new techniques which can enhance your services.
• Use your communication with the users to find out where they are going.

And your opinions?

			Written by : Boris Ukotic Zetterlund Categories : social web Comments : Read comments (0)  Write a comment