Social Media - useful in libraries?

A few as-yet unposted reflections on reading from Module 4:

Casey, M. & Stephens, M. (2009). You can’t afford not to do these things, Library Journal, 15 March. Retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6639942.html?industryid=47356

OK so this one shows how social media and online tools can actually reduce budgets and help cope w cutbacks. "While costly new initiatives are unlikely, ideas that make use of existing tools should be encouraged and studied….Actually, tight budgets should foster creativity and the exploration of free online tools for outreach and low cost programming that taps into user needs."

and

Andy Burkhardt’s post Four Reasons Libraries Should be on Social Media (August 25, 2009).

1.    Communication

2.    Respond to +ve and –ve feedback.  You can’t control what they say but at least your voice is in there.

3.    Marketing/Advertising – it’s just another way of getting your library noticed.

4.    Understand you users better – you can’t possibly know everything, something may surprise you.