Chief Thingamabrarian

Chief Thingamabrarian is Tim Spalding, creator of LibraryThing. An article in the current issue of Library Journal features an interview with Spalding in which he talks about integrating LibraryThing into library catalogs, providing an inexpensive way for libraries to offer tagging, reviews, ratings, etc. I'll be interested to see how the new features work. With any luck, he'll give the traditional (and expensive) vendors a run for their money.

Social Networking Awards

Mashable.com just posted their 2006 social networking awards. The post serves as a useful directory of social networks by category--general ones like MySpace and Facebook, plus social networks for video, photos, music, etc. I've only heard of about a fifth of the ones they mention; clearly I'm behind the times.

Friends and Identity on Social Networking Sites

I just finished reading a fascinating piece in First Monday called Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing Community Into Being on Social Network Sites, which analyzes the relationship between choosing online friends and constructing identity on social networking sites. If you’re interested in social networking, it’s worth a read. FYI, I wrote a detailed blog post about the article on my personal blog at http://crumj.blogspot.com/2006/12/friends-and-identity-on-social.html — definitely an optional read :-)