I am by nature a private person so I've been having a hard time this week with MySpace and Facebook. I kind of don't see the point. I mean I understand why it's important for libraries to have a meaningful presence there, I completely respect the medium, and I subscribe to alerts for bands I like, but for me...meh. Honestly, if I want someone to know something about me, I'm going to call them or email them or even--gasp!!--write to them. (Yes, I still use snail mail. I do believe letter writing is an art that will be sorely missed in the future). And if I'm really not interested enough to seek them out, then I probably don't want them to have the information. I know it seems old fashioned, but I like my privacy. Which is why nings appeal to me a little more than MySpace or Facebook---because it is a community of my choosing, centered around an interest or an activity or a group I choose to belong to. In other words, there seems to be a point beyond exposing my absolute worship of Michael Stipe to the world.
Good example: there is an alopecia ning. A lot of sharing and emotion goes on in that forum, some of which might be uncomfortable to share with the world wide public. Using a ning provides a little safety, protection and comfort. Yes, you get all the convenience and ease of having on online place to go and trick out as you like, but you are far less exposed. Using nings to galvanize interaction in groups makes a lot of sense, especially in business. As you know from our reading, knowledge-management is a bitch (I may put that on a t-shirt). To have a space to post and share ideas and thoughts, and then to have a written archive of them would be invaluable.
I guess I'm just not social enough for social networking. Or possibly too boring. And definitely too private.
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