Balancing outreach and privacy in Facebook: five guiding decision points

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight five decision points intended to serve as guideposts for librarians attempting to conceptualize their own efforts within Facebook. Design/methodology/approach Facebook has tendencies and restrictions that can be troubling for librarians committed to a certain conception of privacy. Each decision point highlighted in this paper is an opportunity to consider the implications of a particular decision in light of the privacy concerns created by Facebook. Rather than attempting to be exhaustive, it is an attempt to give a broad overview of the places that librarians should focus their attention. Findings Each of the five decision points is discussed and the implications considered. Originality/value It is hoped that the decision points discussed in this paper serve as a starting point for dealing with social networking privacy issues.