Using Social Media in the Library Setting
These days social media has increasingly become the norm by which people communicate. It started with just friends and family contacting each other, but social media has quickly turned into a place where businesses can promote themselves with free advertising. Libraries are among these businesses that use websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote the programs and services offered at their facility.
To begin, Facebook is an "older" form of social media that some might view as outdated. As such, depending on your targeted age group, librarians might want to consider advertising and posting information on "newer" forms of social media; such as Twitter or Instagram. Facebook is the reliable form of information sharing platforms, that will target demographics from younger adults (age 30) to older adults (age 70). When I search on Facebook for school library programs, I come up with a variety of information. Links to school library Facebook pages and links to librarian resources seem to be most relevant. For example, the first school library to pop up on my search is the Pasadena High School library page. When you click on that page, the information about events that are taking place in the library are available. One issue I can already predict to arise with the use of Facebook, is that most school computers will block out this site. With filters being added to school internet accessibility, students, teachers, and even the librarian will not be able to access Facebook at school. This can lead to an issue of information not being shared to its full capability.
Twitter is technically a social media cite, however educators have found a way to share ideas and information without being to reliant on the "socialization" aspect. Yes there are still conversations taking place, but they are academic conversations about important topics, not sharing what you had for dinner or pictures of your recent family vacation (although that does still happen from time to time). When browsing through, I can find links to article that pertain to librarian's interests. For example, Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) tweeted an article on June 9th titled, The Best Online Tools For Remote Teaching. This is definitely a helpful article for anyone in the educational field at the moment. The timing of this tweet is perfect, not only because of the COVID pandemic sweeping across the world, but also because it is currently summertime and teachers and librarians are currently in the midst of planning lessons for the fall. Personally, I don't enjoy the format of Twitter. I much rather enjoy the aesthetically pleasing format of Instagram with pictures to catch one's eye.
Now we come to my personal social media choice; Instagram. Mainly I enjoy scrolling through my news feed and seeing all the pretty pictures of places and experiences others are enjoying. Especially after being cooped up for months on end, it's nice to have an escape, even when just staying at home. I especially enjoy drooling over beautiful classrooms and bookshelves of others, and pretending that I can get my classroom to look that good. With Instagram, I can envision circulating a flyer of some sort to spread word about an event happening in the library. Got a book fair coming up? The librarian can create an attention-grabbing flyer to get the news across.
In total, I'd say the goal of a librarian posting information about the available programs at his/her library is to get the information out there and reach as many customers as possible. As such, I say post if not the same information, very similar information, to all platforms available. This will better guarantee that the information will reach as many customers as possible, with a wide variety of age groups.
To begin, Facebook is an "older" form of social media that some might view as outdated. As such, depending on your targeted age group, librarians might want to consider advertising and posting information on "newer" forms of social media; such as Twitter or Instagram. Facebook is the reliable form of information sharing platforms, that will target demographics from younger adults (age 30) to older adults (age 70). When I search on Facebook for school library programs, I come up with a variety of information. Links to school library Facebook pages and links to librarian resources seem to be most relevant. For example, the first school library to pop up on my search is the Pasadena High School library page. When you click on that page, the information about events that are taking place in the library are available. One issue I can already predict to arise with the use of Facebook, is that most school computers will block out this site. With filters being added to school internet accessibility, students, teachers, and even the librarian will not be able to access Facebook at school. This can lead to an issue of information not being shared to its full capability.
Twitter is technically a social media cite, however educators have found a way to share ideas and information without being to reliant on the "socialization" aspect. Yes there are still conversations taking place, but they are academic conversations about important topics, not sharing what you had for dinner or pictures of your recent family vacation (although that does still happen from time to time). When browsing through, I can find links to article that pertain to librarian's interests. For example, Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) tweeted an article on June 9th titled, The Best Online Tools For Remote Teaching. This is definitely a helpful article for anyone in the educational field at the moment. The timing of this tweet is perfect, not only because of the COVID pandemic sweeping across the world, but also because it is currently summertime and teachers and librarians are currently in the midst of planning lessons for the fall. Personally, I don't enjoy the format of Twitter. I much rather enjoy the aesthetically pleasing format of Instagram with pictures to catch one's eye.
Now we come to my personal social media choice; Instagram. Mainly I enjoy scrolling through my news feed and seeing all the pretty pictures of places and experiences others are enjoying. Especially after being cooped up for months on end, it's nice to have an escape, even when just staying at home. I especially enjoy drooling over beautiful classrooms and bookshelves of others, and pretending that I can get my classroom to look that good. With Instagram, I can envision circulating a flyer of some sort to spread word about an event happening in the library. Got a book fair coming up? The librarian can create an attention-grabbing flyer to get the news across.
In total, I'd say the goal of a librarian posting information about the available programs at his/her library is to get the information out there and reach as many customers as possible. As such, I say post if not the same information, very similar information, to all platforms available. This will better guarantee that the information will reach as many customers as possible, with a wide variety of age groups.
Hi! I like that when using Twitter you will always find current and relevant resources, like the tweet you mentioned by @jimlerman. I also like that you can search for hashtags and find what is currently trending, which can help when planning for specific lessons or activities. Twitter does take some getting used to, but I am sure you will appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteI liked that you mentioned about posting in multiple programs to reach as many, this is a great way to advocate for your library. My school librarian is big on keeping current through our social media accounts. Social media is a great platform to do that. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteUsing your different social media accounts, to reach as many people as possible is key. I like how you stated about keeping the information the relatively the same, on the different accounts. People want to know that they don't have to look through all of your different social media accounts, just to get all of the information they need.
ReplyDelete