Exercise #21: Get social – Bebo, Facebook and MySpace

I have heard alot about Facebook from people I know and family members but never thought of joining maybe it is because of privacy issue or there is no need yet for it since I share my photos through emails and keep in touch also through emails and msn.

Today I decided to read more about Facebook so went on their website www.facebook.com and decided to type my sister's name to see if she is on Facebook through their search engine on their homepage and without signing in and I found no match so tried my niece’s full name and found her on Facebook but it did say that you must sign up for Facebook to view her profile or send a message. I also tried searching for some library groups on Facebook but again I couldn’t read more about it as I needed to sign up first to view more info.

I can see why you should sign up to view more info about a specific person or group but since I don't tend to use it at this stage I have decided not to sign up for it.

I have also spent some time on Bebo homepage (www.bebo.com), it is a lot busier than Facebook and they are big on videos and music too. I searched for Both Rotorua Public Libraries and Auckland City Libraries on Bebo site, a great first step to both libraries targeting the younger generation.

By looking at both Bebo and Facebook I would say Facebook is more focused on social networking and keeping in touch with friends and family rather than ads, videos and music, but as I mentioned before, for me it is privacy issue and therefore decided not to join either or.