should I be on facebook?

I’m Jenny Spadafora. I work in the iLab, my title is Web Evangelist. I’m a web geek, photographer, and book nerd. I’m committed to using the web to help people. I think social software is powerful.

Should I be on ?

Should I have email? Should I have a cell phone? We need tools to connect with people . Social software is a communication tool

But it’s a range, a continuum: private > personal > work > public

You don’t have to do everything You don’t have to start out in the open You don’t have to be an extrovert You don’t even have to be a geek

I want to share my journey with this stuff.

I didn’t own a computer until I was in grad school and I bought a Mac Color Classic.

I was among the first students to take classes in things like information architecture. A few hard work years later, I left my job to get my MLS (Master’s in Library Science).

In the fall of 2001, I started blogging. I didn’t use my real name. I didn’t want to risk getting fired from my job. (I didn’t use their real name, either.)

I left my job at the small technology company and joined a small nonprofit. (I used book reviews from my blog as writing samples when I applied.) Two of the folks I worked at the tech company were my references. This is really all I understood about networking. (I’m slow)

I switched from my own photoblog to flickr. I discovered delicious. I made contacts and connections on these sites.

A woman I used to work with emailed me: she wanted me to come work for her at Intuit. She shared my blog with the people who will interview me.

I’ve been at Intuit in the iLab since August 2005. I became a “go to” person for social software ideas at Intuit. I think a lot about authenticity, transparency, and comfort.

I finally joined LinkedIn. (I said I was slow) I joined twitter in 2007; in 2008 I started publishing a lifestream site; I got on Yammer.

Some people start with the most professional site and work from there. I started with the most fun and figured out how to make that work :) If you Google me, the first three or four pages of results are about me.

So that’s how I got here, speaking to you. I believe social software is good for introverts. I believe it puts remote workers on a level playing field with in-office folks.

Where should you start?

What do you want to do? Make professional connections Learn from others Share stories/observations/expertise Feel like you are “keeping up” Explore a hobby Connect with old friends

Possibility. Serendipity.

Some tools are better than others at these things Gold standards LinkedIn = professional connections facebook = personal and/or professional twitter = keeping up

How you use a service matters. Think about: Who do I want to connect with? Why? What am I comfortable sharing? What should my image be? How much time do I want to invest?

My profiles are open because I’ve been doing this for years. I’m comfortable. And I can’t say I’m knowledgeable about the social web and then fail to show up if you look for me.

How should you start?

I think everyone needs at least one profile online you can point to. LinkedIn Facebook Google profile ClaimID

Understanding the social web is easier if you are a participant. It doesn’t matter as much which one you choose, but choose one if you want to learn about “social” You are playing. It’s an experiment.

Figuring out what “the rules” are comes back to the questions: Who do I want to connect with? Why? What am I comfortable sharing? What should my image be? How much time do I want to invest?

The lines are fuzzy You get to decide. You might make mistakes. The rules aren’t clear. This is ok. private > personal > work > public

How are you supposed to have time for all this?

lather, rinse, repeat My routine:

Helpful links How to use facebook privacy settings http://www.sophos.com/security/best-practice/facebook.html http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/ LinkedIn profile help http://www.chrisbrogan.com/make-your-linkedin-profile-work-for-you/ http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/linkedin_profil.html Using twitter for work http://shiftingcareers.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/how-twitter-can-help-at-work/ http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/09/29/10-everyday-ways-to-use-twitter-for-work/ How to use feed (RSS) readers http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2009/01/google-reader-for-beginners.html Blogging http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging

Links to things I mentioned Brainstorm - http://brainstorm.intuit.com/ claimID - http://claimid.com/ delicious - http://delicious.com/ Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/ flickr – http://flickr.com/ Google profiles - http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/topic.py?topic=14962 Join-In - http://joinin.intuit.com/ LinkedIn - http://linkedin.com/ twitter - http://twitter.com/ Yammer - http://yammer.com My site - http://12frogs.com/

http://blog.lib.umn.edu	13
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should I be on facebook?

by Jenny Spadafora

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