Is Social Media a Fad?

A newly published book that lawyers, law students and other legal professionals might add to their reading lists is Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business by Erik Qualman, The author, a columnist for Search Engine Watch, the leading guide to search engine marketing and search engine optimization, discusses how, from a business perspective, social media has demonstrated an ability to influence how products are marketed and sold, suggesting that it also can eliminate inefficient marketing middlemen and make better products that are cheaper for the consumers.

The legal community may well consider the effects that social media has on a whole range of issues from law firm marketing to law students' job seeking and the kinds of information that law practitioners post on web 2.0 sites. Take note of an article titled Facebooking Judge Catches Lawyer in Lie, Sees Ethical Breaches from this summer's ABA Journal. It seems clear that the legal profession is embracing social media. See Lawyers and Law Firms on Facebook posted earlier this year at JD Supra.

Please read this book. While not in the BLS collection, it is available at the Brooklyn Public Library Business Library at 280 Cadman Plaza West. Let the BLS reference librarians know if we should add the book to our collection.

The book has an accociated YouTube clip that has a great deal of statistical information, much of which is difficult to verify. Nevertheless, it raises some interesting questions about the impact of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media for the future.

The library has a limited number of resources on information literacy in the internet age. See Information Literacy Meets Library 2.0 edited by Peter Godwin and Jo Parker (Call #Z674.75.I58 I54 2008). This book is divided into four parts: Pt. 1. The basics; Pt. 2. Library 2.0 and the implication for IL learning; Pt. 3. Library 2.0 and IL in practice; and Pt. 4. The future.