Have been on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for some years now but do not link the accounts. All notifications go to email accounts (of which I have several).
- Twitter. Wonderful for following trends such as #ashcloud #savelibraries and colleagues, especially for crowd sourcing quick answers. Columns in Tweetdeck help me keep track of various threads. Orkney Library and Archives can cheer up a dull morning.
- Facebook. Although I follow libraries and professional organisations on Facebook I use it mainly for personal posts and to share photographs with extended family, especially of sailing exploits. There is an argument for maintaining a library page on Facebook but I wonder how many users choose to follow it. Those College Libraries which provide cake and jigsaws during stressful examination terms probably have more student followers than institutional libraries.
- LinkedIn. The notifications from groups go to email and are glanced at but I don't do much posting. I get some messages directly from members but log in one a week at most whereas I am on Facebook and Twitter daily.
I investigated CILIP Communities and expanded my profile using a picture of me on a boat to maintain consistency. I have been consulting the CILIP site a great deal recently as I have become drawn into the struggle to maintain the branch library in my village. Having not worked in public libraries for 30 years I needed to get up to date with issues and policies.
