“In 2006, the World Wide Web became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter.” And the way the Internet did this is through social software. Or you might have heard it called Web 2.0. In any case, you might already being using social software and don’t even know it.

What makes social software such a big deal? Time nails it when they say, “It’s a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. …It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.” Isn’t this what the library is all about? Community, collaboration, equal access.

Right now you might be saying, “Who has time for this?” And Time says, “Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I’m not going to watch Lost tonight. I’m going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? …I’m going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?”

“The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME’s Person of the Year for 2006 is you.”

Time sums it up with, “This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It’s a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who’s out there looking back at them.”

For those of you who would like to know more about social networking I have been working on an extra-curricular program that will be available to all staff. It is a self-paced program with lots of tutorials. It will introduce you to over 25 different social networking services on the Web. I look forward to presenting this program to you in the near future and in the meantime if you are using any social networking that you think is really cool - let me know about it!

Mindy