The conventional wisdom in adopting new tech is “Neither an early adopter nor a latecomer be.” But in our ramped up “faster” world, how do you know when you’re one or the other?
I think it was just last fall that I first learned about Facebook, and just this past spring that I started hearing about libraries and librarians opening accounts there. Yet now Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook traffic was down 12% from August to September this year. That follows on the heels of reports that Facebook users were angry over changes to the service and that library profiles were being rapidly shut down (because profiles are to be for individuals only, not organizations). It’s too early to say that Facebook is over, but the news got me thinking about how we decide where to invest our energy.
When new tools rise and fall within the space of a few months or a year, perhaps it’s not early adoption to put up a profile on Facebook as soon as it hits the mainstream news. The Facebook community represents a large segment of an academic library’s user base, and one that is particularly hard to reach. Even if the profile is taken down after, say, 4 months, perhaps the work it took was worth it for that 4 months of marketing and outreach. Or perhaps not.
I think the key to experimenting with new websites, social software, and online tools is to ask “If this site/service/tool flops/gets bought/becomes uncool, will we regret the effort we’ve put in so far or will have gotten back something worthwhile for the effort?”–whether that’s new library patrons, a more informed user base, or new staff skills.