Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) recently announced its new Facebook Pages feature, which allows libraries and other corporate entities to establish a presence on the popular social-networking site. Previously, Facebook had prohibited the creation of institutional profiles, citing a policy against the use of “fake” names for individual accounts.
Since the launch of Facebook Pages in November 2007, several academic law libraries have used the feature to promote their services and resources to students, the largest demographic of the site's 59 million users. As of this writing, the participating libraries are:
Facebook Pages are free to create, although registration is required. Non-registered users can view the basic template information (hours, contact information, and an image), but must log in to see the full page and to use most add-on applications (such as blog feeds, chat or instant message services, and video players). Registered Facebook users can also become a “fan” of the library page in order to receive automatic updates about changes to the page (such as posted events).
It’s still too early to predict the long-term usefulness of Facebook Pages for academic law libraries. But currently, they are a fun, low-maintenance way to connect with law students who may not be regularly using the library’s own web site. Take a look at the participating pages and join the experiment!