One large aspect of social networking is that all the tools reside on the Internet. You might download "client software" that connects with the Internet, but most of these tools are available wherever you travel and can access a computer and the 'net. You probably already have a home Internet account as well as your workplace account. And you already get too much e-mail there! My first strong recommendation is to open yet another e-mail account. I've tried a lot of services and Google strikes me as having some strong advantages over the others: Google Calendars, Google Reader, Google Talk, and it's unlikely to go out of business or be bought by Microsoft anytime soon.
I've already written a blog about it, so go read it and then come back for more. Perhaps the blog I wrote about Google Calendars is another significant aspect of getting Googled. We can all start sharing calendars. I can put the Annual Conference program calendar up on Google and all the various members involved with programs can place their information there. We're doing this with RUSA Update and Online Education, as well. Another nifty aspect of using these calendars: they can be broadcast to kiosks in our Second Life office and other institutions using the CogKiosks. who knows how else clever programmers are going to work "GooCals" into wikis and other other 2.0 environments? (Take the full “tour” of Google Calendar capabilities and how to use them .)
Open a Gmail account and from here on, when you register
for a blog, wiki, Second Life, or whatever, use your Gmail address. I've had a
Gmail account for two months now and no spam! It's strictly there to take mails
from the social network into which I'm plugging. And finally, there's Google
Reader, which is your aggregator for handling RSS feeds, whether from blogs,
podcasts, YouTube, or various photo accounts like Flickr, you can set this
straightforward application up to tap into the blogosphere rather painlessly.
You can also set up your personal Google page as a kind of dashboard for tracking your most important feeds. I use mine to track changes to wikis, posts to the RUSA Blog and RUSQ Online Companion (particularly the Comments feed!), as well as weather and Google Calendar modules.
To enable members to connect with each other in 2.0 ways, a Facebook group has been created for ALA Members. You will need to log in to see that page, of course, but membership in Facebook is free. (Don't forget to use the new Gmail account to set up your Facebook account!) My personal impression of Facebook is that it's more focused on connecting you up with people you might know but don't know are on Facebook. The Ning Social Network has a lot of appeal to me since it seem less like a dating service and actually provides some communication tools for starting and participating in "the conversation" such as individual blogs, photo and video hosting, forums (discussion boards), tagging, and chatterwalls. An ALA Mmembers group has been established. The Library 2.0 group boasts more than 1400 members.