Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Libraries go social

The Charleston Report, a newsletter about the US Library Market, has been landing on my desk - and over the last ten years - my desktop, for more years than I care to remember. Its focus is of course now primarily on changes brought about within the market by the impact of digital, and it always highlights some interesting tidbits. If the latest edition is anything to go by, it seems social networking trends have hit libraries jus as much as other markets, with reports that:

1.  50% of faculty members across the US believe social networking sites will change the way students learn according to a recent Thomson survey
2. video advertising through sites such as YouTube is now a significant trend as shown by a  survey by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) which reveals substantial statistical data on the attitudes and behaviours of Internet users towards online video
3. OCLC has added a social networking feature to WorldCat.org, to allow users to create their own profile and create personalised lists of items catalogued in WorldCat, then share them with colleagues
4. the 'Infotubey' award winners have recently been announced - 'Infotubeys' being awards given to libraries for exemplary content posted on YouTube. Information on winners can be viewed here.

And the social networking theme continues as I have just learned that Pan Macmillan has developed a facebook page for its forthcoming title HEARTSICK, with the aim of generating publicity for the book in advance of publication on 3 August. The group has 150 members and counting, perhaps lured by the promise of a free advance book proof (while stocks last) to everyone who joins the group. Facebook fans might also like to look up the facebook group dedicated to our new book lovers' community site, lovelybooks,  here. 

On an entirely separate theme our Australian publishing deserves another mention today as Les Carlyon's brilliant book The Great War, published by Pan Macmillan Australia, won Australian Book of the Year last night at the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA), as reported by the Australian News here. 
 

#    |  Comments [5]  | 
7/25/2007 1:37:20 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Hey, I'm on Facebook, but can't find any colleagues. Nobody at Macmillan, Palgrave or Pan.As far as I can see the HEARTSICK link doesn't show aaany affiliations, except someone says she's a PanMac author
Are there any colleagues I can link to?
CORY
7/26/2007 1:12:37 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Facebook has been a wonderful way to meet new friends but what's the point if it just becomes another technology that big corporations use to do cheap advertising and make a quick few quid?

There are easier ways to make money than using Facebook.
Richard Madeley
7/26/2007 7:54:58 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Am I missing something? My point/quip has nothing to do w 'a quick few quid.'
I simply want to' meet new friends' who work for Macmillan. I'm always on the lookout for people I can ahve a drink with on my travels

Your point?
CORY
7/26/2007 12:27:09 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Dear Richard (Madeley),
Thanks for your point - as a fellow Facebook user I share your concerns about the site becoming commercialised. However, in defence of Pan Macmillan (and I'm not suggesting you were attacking us, necessarily!) I would argue that the Heartsick group on Facebook is marketing at its least obtrusive. We see the group as an interesting experiment in using the web to spread the word about one of our books in an organic way, rather than as an opportunity for 'hard sell'. Members of the group are invited to post their comments about the book, positive OR negative. Furthermore, all the people initially invited to the group were friends of the group's creator (me), and thus by association anyone who has subsequently joined the group is a friend of a friend. All Facebook groups, including the Heartsich one, are 'opt-in' - thus, we are only reaching interested parties.

I wouldn't see such activity as advertising, at least not in the conventional sense - and I can assure you that the actual ads you see on Facebook are certainly not 'cheap' in financial terms - but rather as a harmless and (dare I say it) innovative way of communicating with fellow book lovers. Sadly, I think it's an inevitability that Facebook and similar social networking sites will be increasingly exploited by big corporations to 'make a few quid' as you suggest. However, given that we are giving away books for free via the site, there's certainly no direct financial gain involved for us. It's just a way of encouraging people to express interest in, and share opinions on, one of our books (and in fact communicate directly with the author herself, who is a member of the group) - after all, isn't such interactivity what web 2.0 is all about?

Charlie King
7/26/2007 12:43:19 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Just to add to Charlie's comments, I'd also say that it's far preferable for publishers to use social networking sites like this: i.e. to say in an upfront way 'We are the publishers and here's what we're offering you' - especially where it's a total freebie as above - than to do the kind of faked seeding/commenting that companies often use on discussion forums and sites that supposedly frown upon this sort of thing, and which is often obvious in its fakeness.
Jenny Geras