The cpd23 things blog post gave some great advantages of using social networking in the context of professional development, which I won’t repeat here. I started using social media for professional development during the Cam23 things programme in summer 2010, and will definitely carry on using it after the end of this programme.
After initial scepticism, I've grown to like using Twitter for seeing what other information professionals are sharing, and spotting useful links. However I only follow 40-something people and each time I log in there are so many updates to scan through, that I’m sure I have missed some interesting things. It would be easy to spend a lot of time on Twitter, so this could be considered a disadvantage! Although I don't tweet very often from my personal account, I use one of my library's Twitter accounts and Facebook pages to share relevant information, so hopefully this is helping and adding to the online community in some way.
For me, the tricky thing is the blurring of professional and personal boundaries. I initially used Facebook for personal social networking, Twitter for professional social networking and kept the two as separate online identities, but I'm finding that distinction harder to keep up, as more and more of my personal friends are on Twitter and colleagues are on Facebook. While there’s nothing on my Facebook profile that I would want to hide, I choose different profile pictures to reflect my professional side and my personal side, as my Facebook profile picture often includes a family member or friend. I wonder what other people’s experiences are here?
I do feel that social networking helps foster a sense of community, however it’s worth remembering that not all information professionals are involved in social networking and there are other communities out there too. If we are part of an online community as well as a face-to-face one, we can benefit from both and the balance this gives.
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