Okay, I've got a handle on what to say on this week's topic. Well, this week's first topic, anyway. And Tyche has smiled upon me and graced me with an hour away from the customer service desk to wring out my thoughts. Or maybe that was my supervisor. Whatever.
Instant messaging is a communication tool, just like the telephone, carrier pigeon, and semaphore. That's it. There's no Magic there. So the order to go over the top is Typed and Displayed in a desktop window rather than Scrawled on a note and Tied to a bird's leg. The sergeant in the forward trench still gets the same message.
It's no surprise, of course, that few of the Old Guard are willing to Climb Aboard and start using instant messages for business communication. It took the telephone 30 years or more to supplant the telegraph. Email is pretty well established, existing in a recognizable form since the 1970s. And Uncle Sam made it, so it has to be Good.
What was the question?
Right, libraries using The Messages Of Instant. Is it too early? Is it too late? Why bother? Which library got the phone first, and when? Did libraries use the telegraph at all? Or did they just pop off to the Western Union station like everyone else? People with internets at home searching for info online, are they pining to speak to a librarian? Or are they just using Google?
Google "im librarian". I dare you. Top link? Davis Library. They will get the most traffic as a result. Googling "library im" produces similar results. A wiki, one of the articles we were supposed to read, and, you guessed it, Davis Library. Looks like UNC Got Their Act Together and have risen to the top of the Google Sea. There are a few other uni libraries on the list, as well, so they'll get the runoff. This is how Things are Found.
The only way to combat this and really compete for the instant message traffic is to get the message out to the local populace in First Life. Radio ads. TV ads. Newspaper ads. Street urchins handing out flyers at the beach. Yes, I know the city's communication standards say it's supposed to be "fliers". Sue me.
Send the subpoena via carrier pigeon.
3 comments:
Bryan, do you mean to say that a soft opening will not bring them in droves to our Meebo widget?
I love your well worded posts. It really placed with a well tone, as well as a honest nature. I totally agree with you on your thoughts about Libraries and Instant Messaging.
'Sup Bryan. I'm intrigued by the idea of a multifocal campaign to tout IM as a channel to the library, but I question who'll be swimming in that lane. More precisely, I'm concerned about who won't be swimming. I'm concerned about those who lack the flippers, the instruction, the conduit. Libraries have so much work to do, and so much responsibility to shoulder, in reaching and empowering those who lack basic information equipment, it seems misguided to go for the flash of IM courtship. Something akin to investing in delta casinos when the levees are sub-par.
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