Jill Hurst-Wahl, a lifelong information technologist and library scientist, visited the Memorial Library at the SUNY campus in upstate New York recently to offer some keen observations about social networks.

Hurst-Wahl said that online communities are the “virtual coffee pot,” a place for users to gather around a water cooler and discuss… well, anything. She also noted that the trend towards social networking will not abate any time soon. Here are a few of her observations, pulled from the SUNY Memorial Library blog:

- Social Networking Tools (SNTs) will be everywhere. In the course management software, in the library catalog, in our office productivity software.”

- Everyone will be hyperconnected–connected in multiple ways. As people find their preferred method of connectivity, they will meet online, learn about each other and then build trust. After that, they will work together.

- Intellectual property concerns will continue to be prevalent. Trademarks, copyright, creative commons will all be part of the future. In the action of sharing, we run the risk of losing something we really want to own.

- Views on privacy will continue to change. Online, we are willing to disclose more and to live more transparently. People don’t always consider the unintended consequences and negative impact to such online disclosures.

- Virtual worlds will become more common, specialized to companies/interests; they will be more interoperable–available on more devices. Online virtual worlds will be less resource intensive, won’t take up a lot of computer memory etc.

Which just goes to show, I suppose, that even librarians can sound like venture capitalists.