Definition
'Pure' social networking sites, such as
Facebook and
Myspace, exist primarily to connect people and enable communication. All function on the same basic principle - users have individual pages or profiles, which they link to those of their friends.
Facebook is potentially the most useful site for Oxford. A recent survey showed that 92% of freshers have Facebook accounts, and Facebook was originally designed to connect university students. It is structured as a collection of networks, often based around universities - the Oxford University network has over 33,000 members. It also offers built-in and additional features which can be used by organisations.
Examples
Facebook Myspace Bebo Orkut
How can libraries use Facebook?
Set up a page or a group, which users can join or link to.
Pages and groups do essentially the same things - both allow you to include information and contact details, add photos and other content, create events that you can invite your members to, and have a 'wall' (for comments) and discussion boards. The main difference is that pages allow a 'corporate identity', whereas groups need to be set up by an existing Facebook user. Groups also seem to be focused on promoting discussion between members, whereas pages seem more information oriented. Pages are a new facility for organisations, launched in November 2007. The main advantage of pages is that you can see usage statistics and also add applications.
Facebook pages can be customised using the Static FBML application. Jen Wray at the EFL has adapted the OULS 'Search SOLO' web widget for use on Facebook - instructions as follows:
Steps for adding this SOLO widget to Facebook
In Facebook, search for 'Static FBML'
Select 'Add to my page' and select your page.
Go to your page and click on 'Edit Page'. There should be a new box under 'Applications' called 'FBML-FBML'
Click on the pencil in the top right corner of the FBML box, click Edit.
Change the Box Title to SOLO.
Copy and paste the code (below) into the text box.
Click 'Save Changes'.
Go to 'Edit Page'.
Click on the pencil in the top right corner of the FBML box and click 'Application Settings'. (At this stage SOLO will appear in your Boxes tab.) If you want SOLO to appear as a separate tab, click 'add' after Tab:Available.
There should now be an individual tab for SOLO, and it will also appear in the Boxes tab. For the EFL page we have moved the copy from the Boxes tab to the main Facebook wall. To do this, click on the Boxes tab, click on pencil to edit SOLO, click 'Move to Wall tab'. Alternatively, click 'Remove Box' to avoid duplication.
The code
(this is a pared down version of the code behind http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/solo/widget, and what I could get to work with FBML. I am not a code guru, so apologies if any of it is redundant!)
<div id="header"><div id="search_box">
<div id="new_div_43680">
<table border="0" align="left"><tr><td>
<div class="tabber" id="tab2">
<div class="tabbertab tabbertabdefault">
<h2>SOLO</h2>
<div style="display:none;">
main_search_layout***form.rta=none***delCtegory=***sourceSystem=***activeSourceSystem=[Aleph]***ct=***isActivatedSystem=******
</div>
<form name="searchForm" method="post" action="http://solo.ouls.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?fn=go&ct=search" class="simple" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=utf-8" target="_blank">
<div style="display:none">
institution = University of Oxford
institution code = OX
</div>
<input type="hidden" name="mode" value="Basic"/>
<input type="hidden" name="tab" value="local"/>
<input type="hidden" name="indx" value="1"/>
<input type="hidden" name="dum" value="true"/>
<input type="hidden" name="srt" value="rank" id="str"/>
<input type="hidden" name="vid" value="OXVU1"/>
<input type="hidden" name="frbg" value=""/>
<div class="searchLimit">
<label for="search_field" style="text-decoration:none; font-family:tahoma; font-size:9px; margin-top:2px; margin-bottom:1px; margin-left:6px; font-weight:normal; color:#3458a7;">Search OULS Library Collections</label><br />
<input type="text" class="" id="search_field" style="margin-left:6px;" name="vl(freeText0)" value='' onkeydown="" accesskey="s" size="18" />
<input type="image" name="go" src="http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/solo/images/searchgo.gif" border="0" accesskey="g"><br />
</div>
<div class="searchLimit2">
<input type="hidden" name="vl(726876UI1)" value="all_items"/>
<input type="hidden" name="vl(1UI0)" value="contains"/>
<input type="hidden" name="vl(726878UI0)" value="any"/>
<input type="hidden" name="scp.scps" value="scope:("OX")"/>
</div>
</form>
</div>
<div class="tabbertab">
<h2>OxLIP+</h2>
<form method="get" action="http://oxford1.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com:8331/V/" target="_blank">
<input type="hidden" name="func" value="find-db-1-title">
<input type="hidden" name="mode" value="titles">
<input type="hidden" name="azlist" value="N">
<input type="hidden" name="scan_utf" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="restricted" value="all">
<input type="hidden" name="search_type" value="contains">
<div id="find_db_form">
<label for="scan_start" style="text-decoration:none; font-family:tahoma; font-size:9px; margin-top:2px; margin-bottom:1px; margin-left:6px; font-weight:normal; color:#3458a7;">Search Titles</label><br />
<input class="bordered_input" type="text" style="margin-left:6px;" name="scan_start" id="scan_start" value="" size="18" />
<input type="image" name="go" src="http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/solo/images/searchgo.gif" border="0" accesskey="G"><br />
</div>
</form>
</div>
<div class="tabbertab">
<h2>e-Journals</h2>
<form method="get" target="AZ_Window" accept-charset="UTF-8" action="http://sfx7.exlibrisgroup.com/oxford/az/default" target="_blank">
<input type="hidden" name="param_perform_value" value="searchTitle">
<input type="hidden" name="param_jumpToPage_value" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="param_type_value" value="textSearch">
<input type="hidden" name="param_chinese_checkbox_active" value="1">
<label for="param_pattern_value"><font style="text-decoration:none; font-family:tahoma; font-size:9px; margin-top:2px; margin-bottom:1px; margin-left:6px; font-weight:normal; color:#3458a7;">Oxford University e-Journals</font></label><br />
<input type=text style="margin-left:6px;" name="param_pattern_value" id="param_pattern_value" size="18" />
<input type="image" name="go" src="http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/solo/images/searchgo.gif" border="0"><br />
<input type=hidden name=param_chinese_checkbox_value id=param_chinese_checkbox_value value="0">
<input type="hidden" name="param_textSearchType_value" value="contains">
</form>
</div>
Develop library-related applications which users can add to their profiles
For example:
Developing applications on Facebook requires some technical expertise, so perhaps is less appropriate for individual libraries. Information on Facebook for developers can be found here.
Library-related applications also don't seem to be very well used, but whether this is a lack of promotion or a lack of desire on the part of users is unclear.
Advertise on the Oxford network page
All networks have their own page, where events can be advertised and which also have a wall and discussion boards. The Oxford network page can be found here.
Advantages and disadvantages of Facebook
Facebook is very well used and fast becoming the social communication method of choice for a large proportion of our readers. Its localised structure makes it particularly good for individual libraries to use, where their readers feel a sense of ownership. It is probably less suitable for OULS/Oxford-wide things - anything wider-scale would need to be promoted from the local level up, ie, not just creating an event, but linking it with a local group. Facebook is still geared very much towards fun and social interaction, but increasingly this is blurring as more serious applications and groups are being added. Possibly the biggest disadvantage of Facebook is its closed nature - in order to see anything you have to be registered, so passive use by non-members is difficult, unlike many other social sites. Further information
Training exercises
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