So far, I have seen University library staff advertising their Facebook profiles on library websites, I discovered yesterday that my Auntie has Facebook (which I find weird) and now comes the news that the New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism has created a page on Facebook called “VisitNH”. Now maybe I’m just being mean, but I find the idea of librarians, aunties and tourism departments on Facebook slightly horrifying. Ok maybe not horrifying, but definitely unnerving. As Facebook is supposed to be a ’social networking site’, should tourism departments be allowed to advertise on there? The page may look like it was set-up to allow Facebook users to become fans of New Hampshire, but when it pops up in your news feed saying that your friend has become a ‘fan’ of “VisitNH” then it is essentially free advertising. And if I’m blogging about it, then you can be sure that there are other people also talking about it. Now I don’t mind people becoming a fan of Marmite (I certainly am), or Bon Jovi, or some other cultural phenomenon, but New Hampshire? I also wouldn’t mind so much if it was some crazy New Hampshire obsessed person who set the page up. I think it’s basically the fact that some governmental big wig thought ‘I know what we’ll do to increase tourism, we’ll make a facebook page’. It just seems wrong.

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