May 3, 2008
LibBook - Facebook for Libraries
I've been enjoying playing around with Facebook the last few weeks and one of the things I really like about it is the control I have over who I connect with, information I share with different groups of people, what applications I can install and how I organize them on my public site and my internal site.
And those applications - there are tons of them because anyone can write one. Facebook provides great tools for potential Facebook developers. And each app is a breeze to install. I can click to install it, then play around with it to see what it does. If I don't like it, I just delete it and poof its gone. It's sooooper easy to experiment...and play!
So, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be cool if the library website worked like this? I could make connections with other library people, share book lists, install and play silly games, send little notes and pokes to people, publish my own personal news feed that others who thought I was interesting could subscribe to. I could share pictures and videos and poetry and excerpts from my favorite books and perhaps even create my own applications to share.
I encourage you to get on Facebook if you aren't already using it and while you're playing around, networking, and doing whatever you end up doing with your Facebook account....imagine it being provided by your local library --- LibBook. LibBook would have a focus on local events and bookish things rather than dating, and gossip. Instead of being fans of musical groups and TV shows, users might be be fans of books and authors. Instead of finding long lost classmates, users would be finding people with shared interests who are just across town or up the road.
Any LibBook developers out there?
Posted by Lori at 4:49 PM | Permalink