Thing 8

I signed up for Twitter just to see my reaction to it. (My son wrote that the "mom barrier" had been broken :). Not impressed so far. I am following 4 people and can't say there is much of interest. However my facebook account is getting more stuff in it now that friends are reporting their activities- I can see that being something I am will watch more often.
I do Ask a Librarian chat and have IMed with my sons. I have watched over their shoulders as they IM with 4 people at a time. At least you never feel that you are missing a call...
Library purposes? AAL serves a function -- especially the afterhours contact when most libraries are not answering their phones. I guess we can twitter our news just like we can blog it. "Guitar hero starting up"? We could give instructions on downloading audiobooks on IM. But I still like hearing people ask their questions on the phone. Voice inflections are better than emoticons.
I think AAL attracts customers who really don't have a clue and would feel foolish calling so they like the anonymity of asking questions online. So again AAL serves a purpose.
My family has gone in strongly for a genealogy social networking website called Geni -- we're having fun adding stuff and figuring out the birth order of the generation who landed in this country 100 years ago-- good we're starting now before their children are completely gone. I applaud Geni for getting us started on something we've talked about for years. Maybe I'll do a library program on it if I feel comfortable enough....