I listened to the Keynote Speaker, Danah Boyd, who studies social media, with particular attention to youth engagement, privacy and risky behaviors. Some key points that caused me to think about Facebook in a new way include:
1. Teens today are still making decisions about privacy. However, they come at it from a different direction than in the past. Formerly, all conversations were private and it took a conscious decision plus effort to make something public. Now, teens tend to make many things public, but have to make a conscious decision to keep something private.
2. Part of being on Facebook for teens is the desire to be part of the crowd - to see and be seen, so to speak. The peer pressure to "be there" is huge.
3. Librarians may be in a unique position to help patrons deal with biases of information access that Boyd calls "filter bubbles". Most people may not realize that as they put personal information out there, they will be presented with individualized information offers - so each person ends up having a unique, but somewhat biased information flow. It is important to realize this if one wants access to unbiased/neutral information (or at least would like to try for that - not sure it is completely possible).
4. And finally, while grandparents get a pass if they comment on Facebook, nothing kills a conversation like a "Mom post". :)
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