Month: March 2013

 

Eric Qualman, brilliantly, displays socialnomics in the short video above. These social media statistics demonstrate just how valuable having a social media policy in place is.

Does your library have a social media policy yet?

From what the stats in the video suggests, anyone who doesn’t have a policy is missing a key component! An illustration from 4imprint tells you exactly what “to keep in mind” when constructing a policy:

 

 

The best part about this illustration is the very bottom where it says

• “Using social media in your personal life.”
• “Using social media as part of your job”
• “REMINDER: We want you to use social media.”

Right away you know this organization is all for promotion through social media and allowing the staff the opportunity to contribute!

A few reasons to embrace a social media policy in the library and give employees the opportunity  to participate are:

1. To demonstrate instruction to users in their own setting
2. To announce services and events in the library
3. To communicate with patrons and provide a place for feedback.

Some of my favorite, and in my opinion, most valuable tools for the library (in no particular order) are:

Facebook – This platform is widely used by just about anyone and everyone. It provides the library a place to post events, interesting news, and provide a place for easy feedback.

Twitter- This microblogging platform is the greatest tool to listen to users. It is also the place to share short snippets of what is going on in the library.

Instagram- Another great marketing tool, showcasing the library with pictures. Instagram attracts users with visual appeal and shows them what is at the library.

Pinterest- This tool is also visual and allows users to search by interest. The library can use this tool to create virtual pinboards with certain interests in each board. Whether it be summer reading lists, kids crafts, a collection of sic-fi novels, etc.

Those are my top tools to use for staying connected through social media. What platforms do you think are most valuable  for use in a social media policy?

Aggregation sites are extremely valuable when it comes to managing social media, and this is not shocking news. The development of these sites is actually just common sense. ¹According to The Social Skinny, in 2012, 62% of adults worldwide use social media. (source: http://thesocialskinny.com/99-new-social-media-stats-for-2012/). So, basically, 6 out of 10 adults who have access to the internet use social media site regularly.

Someone, somewhere observed that out of the people who do use social media, typically, manage more than one social media site, and therefore could benefit from managing them all in one place. I am one of those people who has several different platforms that I check into regularly. It was absolutely apparent after clicking back and forth and back and forth that posting the same things in different places was not very efficient. That is when I discovered HootSuite.

HootSuite is a productive way to manage different social media sites in a simple easy to use way. The sites that can be utilized on HootSuite are; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ Pages, FourSquare, Myspace, WordPress, Mixi, plus several apps. My favorite HootSuite feature is the timed posts. This allows me to be away from my computer all day and still keep my pages active!

 

I am an avid HootSuite user, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other options… Curious to see what else was out there I went on a search for what else was out there.

Flavors.Me is a new to me aggregator that allows you to create a social website to build upon your digital identity. It ultimately acts as a place where people can find all of you in one place online. This site offers Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Vimeo, LinkedIn and more. Personally, I like aggregators that are one-sided, keeping me in one place but dispersing my content for others to choose which platform to view it on. However, my views may change once I get more accustomed to the tool.

RebelMouse was highly suggested by classmates, so I didn’t want to leave this one out. I had never heard of RebelMouse before, and quickly signed up after reading all the hype. Rebel mouse includes Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr and Google+ on your “Social Front Page.” RebelMouse is set up in a Pin Board type fashion, yet I feel slightly less organized in this site. I will say that it showcases visual posts in a very modern fashion.

 

 

I am still on the hunt for the best aggregator, but for my purposes, the simple HootSuite interface is all I need.

1. Pring C. 99 New Social Media Stats for 2012 [Internet]. 2012 May. [Cited 2013 March 12] Available from: http://thesocialskinny.com/99-new-social-media-stats-for-2012/

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What is your favorite aggregation site?