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Social Networking Cliff Notes, 18 June 2013 Edition

   June 19th, 2013

social networking puzzle

   Image courtesy of greyweed on flickr

In case you missed it, Monday's episode of NPR's All Things Considered had a segment interviewing teens on what social network tools they use, and why.

Since I don't use most of these tools myself, it's hard for me to keep them all straight. The kids definitely mixed-and-matched tools based on what they wanted to accomplish, and routinely reposted content from one to others. I found all of this very interesting, and perhaps useful for libraries reaching out to patrons.

Here is my take-away on current tools (which will be out of date by next week), but it's definitely worth the five minutes to listen to the full segment.

  • Facebook - reconnecting with friends you're not in regular contact with, but is too public for regular friend communication
  • Twitter - thinking out loud or sharing observations in a text-only way
  • Tumbler - sort of like Twitter, except expressing your views/thoughts using other peoples' images or video found on the internet
  • Instagram - sharing photos you have taken
  • Snapchat - sort of like Instagram, but the benefit here is that images auto-delete after 10 seconds or so and you have more control over who receives them in the first place [apparently people are getting smarter about the fact that internet is forever]
  • Vine - sharing short (7 second) videos
  • Texting - it sounds like this is still the primary friend-to-friend tool of choice, because it is the most direct and the most private

Maybe all of this was neat to me because I'm like the girl at the end of the interview, the one kind of left out because I don't have a phone. Oh well.


5 Responses to “Social Networking Cliff Notes, 18 June 2013 Edition”

  1. Kim Says:

    Mounting Evidence Shows Snapchat Doesn’t Delete Photos

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/snapchat-photos-delete_n_3307926.html

  2. Brian Herzog Says:

    @Kim: I hate to say this doesn’t surprise me, but it fits so well with a new word I learned this weekend (via BoingBoing): “savvying.” It means, stop dismissing valid questions with the insider’s, “and this surprises you?” But regardless, that is sad news.

  3. Mary Jo Says:

    One of our librarians went to iPadPalooza in Austin last week, and attended a program alerting parents to troubling apps they should be aware of. Apparently Snapchat has become the tool of choice for cyber-bullying. The speaker did confirm that someone savvy with computers could retrieve the photos that were supposedly deleted, and I expect the Snapchat folks will be trying to remedy that.

  4. Mary Jo Says:

    Also – Snapchat is being used for sexting amongst teens because they believe evidence disappears.

  5. Brian Herzog Says:

    @Mary Jo: regardless of what they intend, I still think it’s still a good general life rule that nothing on the internet is private. That works in favor of the victims of bullying, but against the sexty people.