Who is going to pronounce this network dead?

[David Rothman]

Seriously. Has anyone else noticed that libraryfolk are pretty awesome at participating in online endeavors unless the endeavor is actually intended to be for libraryfolk? Activity on this network died off quickly as interest waned and Ning stagnated while Facebook kept developing features. LISzen Trends (http://liszen.com/trends/) didn't work either.

[Bill Drew]

That is why it now has grown to over 3900 members? You are far from correct. It continues to grow at a steady pace. New features have been added on a regular basis. You are also comparing apples and oranges. Try comparing apples to apples. ;-)

[David Rothman]

Yes, it grows...with members who do little: http://library20.ning.com/activity/log/list?fmt=rss

Also, the vast majority of the initial surge of those who registered have disappeared from activity. A steady increase of registered users who do nothing with the tool is meaningless.

[Bill Drew]

But people are using it. I see the feeds and activity every day. that is what is important.

[David Rothman]

Bill, a prediction: This network is so dead that this thread will garner very few comments from anyone other than you or I.

[Deborah Fitchett]

This network is quiet; it's different from dead.

OTOH I mainly popped in to disagree with "libraryfolk are pretty awesome at participating in online endeavors unless the endeavor is actually intended to be for libraryfolk" - there's a very active network of librarians on Twitter and Friendfeed, which latter is where I hang out most these days.

[David Rothman]

Deborah, you're agreeing with me. Neither Twitter nor Friendfeed are built for libraryfolk. Neither is Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Slideshare- but the LIS communities there are more active than this Ning network.

[Bill Drew]

Why are you being so negative? Have you created a network for librarians that we should all be using? It does not really matter to me that those are more active. So what if this network is not as active as you think it should be. Are you proposing I just close it down? I don't get your point. You are nitpicking. I am not going to shut down this network yet. It was all an experiment any way.

[David Rothman]

Bill, I'm not suggesting you shut the network down- just noting that it, like all library-centric library-specific social experiment, doesn't seem to work. I find it curious and interesting.

As you say, it was an experiment- I'm noting the outcome of the experiment.

Now the question is: Why do these library-specific efforts (like this network and LISzen Trends) lose steam and die while loose networks of libraryfolk in larger social sites thrive?

I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, Bill. This perspective is dispassionate and that was not my intent.

[Bill Drew]

You didn't hurt my feelings. I just disagree with you as this being a failure. I think it has been highly successful. I look at the numbers and at the discussion in a different way from you.

[David Rothman]

To help me understand your perspective, Bill: Do you think LISzen Trends is successful? http://liszen.com/trends/

How are you measuring success?

This matters because libraryfolk need to be able to set goals and evaluate the success of social media endeavors.

[Bill Drew]

It was the wrong approach from the beginning. I see your point. We still need to keep on experimenting.

[Bill Drew]

I measure success by the number of new people still joining, the networks that have spun off from this, at least 3 in other languages, questions from LIS students about the network, and other similar things.