As a regsitered Starbucks card holder (Venti Awake 4 Splendas and Room, please), I get mass emails from the company promoting their services. This one promotes their book discussion and urges folks to “join the comnversation” at an online social forum called Gather.com.
Libraries, do you promote your discussions this way? Do you invite your users to join the conversation? I know some do and they do it well… but if you haven’t offered your users a way to join the conversation, now might be time to ponder it, as Starbucks nips at our heels and politicians promote the doom and gloom of social connections online.