Putting the social into social media

I have been a user of facebook, twitter and linked in before 23 things began, and will continue to be afterwards. I find it useful not just for social networking but also for current awareness. I follow actual libraries and fellow professionals, and find it a great way to keep up with what's happening out there, often finding inspiration from their activities for our own library.

I have to admit though that I am very circumspect about what I put up on my account, as I keep it open to the world - being that it reflects my professional identity and not my private one. I try to make sure that I keep it relatively professional, with a little of my personality thrown in to aleviate boredom.

CPD23 has in some way's made contact with people that I wouldn't normally, but it just seems to be from the point of view of following each other's progress rather than anything social...

I thnk that social networking can help foster a sense of community... it was used successfully to organise out twenty year secondary school reunion, reunting people who had lost contact over the years. It also lets me stay in contact with friends overseas who would otherwise be lost, and only be contacted occassionally.