Today I was reminded why librarians, educators and parents
need to be social-media savy.  I associate with plenty of adults
who know their way around Facebook and possibly Twitter,
but I also know plenty of others who are grumbling over my
first sentence.

Most days when I come to work, I check our libraries Facebook and Twitter.
Amazingly we are over 2000 + friends strong and 800-some
following us on Twitter, so this has become a priority in my
morning.  Today, I logged on and within 10 minutes I got a chat-ding:
from a local teen, ‘What up dog?” I chuckled at the ‘dog’ spelling vs. ‘dawg’
and responded back accordingly, asking if he need anything. 
I let this teen know that I was researching paper airplanes,
did he need anything? No--he didn’t. 

No big deal, right?

I don’t think so.  If anything it reminded me as a librarian
that even though this teen isn’t visiting the library in-house,
he still wants to know that we are here for him.  Teens, tweens
and kids are online or able to be at most points of their day.

They need to know that we are available, just like they walked
through the doors, even for a brief second.
I would recommend if you do not have a Facebook or Twitter
at your library, or if you are parent with children with social
media accounts, you take the initiative and do it.
Reminding kids and teens, we are able to help, listen and learn with them just like
the good-ole-days.