We are halfway through the first week of Social Media for Information Professionals, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the definitions of affordance and constraint. On a tangential note, I’ve been thinking about the use of social medias in libraries, and have some thoughts that don’t quite fit on the discussion board. I’ll post them here.
I’ve been looking for, and haven’t had any luck finding, articles discussing library patrons and their use of social media (specifically blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds). More specifically, I’m looking for concrete data proving or disproving that social media actually brings new users to a library. I am a frequent VPL user, and just recently began following them on Twitter. I was surprised to see that VPL only has about 3000 followers on Twitter – it seems like a very small number for a library system with such a large central branch and 21 other branches. That lead me to wonder whether or not all of VPL’s followers are regular library users. Here’s where things get interesting (in my opinion): if most of these followers are regular library users, does the Twitter feed serve a purpose? If VPL is merely promoting resources, materials, and activities that are already advertised in other places (in the library building, on it’s website, through other social media platforms), what is the purpose of Twitter? How can VPL tell where users get their library-related information from? And should this information be streamlined? (I know, I know – a lot of librarians are for promoting their library on many social media platforms. I don’t think I can get behind that.) Is it worth assigning a staff member to keep up on various social media platforms if the information can be found elsewhere? Should social media platforms be given up, or should the library instead stop printing paper calendars and lists of events? Should VPL dedicate more space to discuss non-library related news, or to talk about books and reading materials more generally? I notice that they do a bit of this but – in my opinion – could do more.
If anyone has thoughts about this, I would love to hear them. Additionally, if anyone can point me to articles (popular or scholarly) that talk about user responses to social media platforms, especially when used for community outreach or to recruit new patrons, I would be very interested in taking a look at them. Send ’em my way!
8 replies on “Social media and community outreach”
Good probing questions, and I appreciate your questioning about whether Twitter is useful.
My feeling is that we shouldn’t look too hard to numbers as indication of whether a tool is working out, or not. Our presence should be felt in digital spaces and we should work towards getting our message out in as many channels as possible.
I also think that ‘retweets’ are important in looking at the utility and value of Twitter. And, who knows? Maybe VPL enjoys a substantial viral life based on its tweets.
Dean
I have had the same worries. When does the various forms of social media become bureaucratic instead of relevant and useful? Are we going to be in the position when we’re working in a library of having to post and keep up with a whole bunch of social media that people may or may not be using?
And, although I don’t know the economic breakdown of who public library users are, I’d guess that they’re not rich folks with the financial means to have all the hardware and gadgets needed to keep up with new posts. Paper still seems the most practical to me. Although I have noticed in the last little while that new technology gadgets are becoming status quo, regardless of income.
I used to work with adults who were receiving disability benefits (they were only given around $950 a month for all of their living expenses) and I was constantly confused about how these folks I was working with could afford cell phones and ipods and laptops and internet connections at home when I couldn’t. I think that these common technologies are becoming a priority in people’s lives and this is in part because of social media – this is now how people get in contact with one another and plan their lives. So maybe having a laptop will eventually replace the old fashioned home phone – maybe it’s happening already.
I think you bring up some interesting points Maggie. It seems there is a lack of real information about how effective these various media platforms are. In fact, it would be interesting to know what the criteria for effectiveness would be. Does a following of 3000 for a largish urban library consitute a large imaact? On the other hand, how much effort does it take to maintain a presence on Twitter for example? All of this reminds me of discussions about the effects of advertising, and how difficult it is to measure them, no matter what the medium. Can we ever really know how we are reaching users and potential users?
That point made, I certainly understand VPL’s desire to put themselves out there, even if it is always more difficult to cancel these services than start them. I would second your call for more research.
Jeff
Hi Maggie,
You raise some really great points. There does certainly seem to be lack of research about the impact of social media and its impact specifically from a library perspective – there is much more research available in the marketing world. Although some good literature does exist, I think a lot of library literature out there talks about specific social media tools or questions whether social media should be implemented, rather than measuring the impact, which is admittedly tough to do on any large scale.
I was also interested in your thoughts about the impact of VPL’s Twitter account. I guess part of the result of the increasingly digital world we live in and the proliferation of different tools is that there really is no one way or best way to reach people anymore – different groups will be reached by different means. For this reason, it seems like libraries need to promote themselves and their services in a variety of ways in order to reach the widest possible audience. This is actually what I was planning on blogging about this week.
As a side note, I find the most useful part of VPL’s Twitter feed to be when they note interruptions in service – if I want to go to the library and use the wireless internet, I can see a note saying it’s down and choose to go elsewhere.
-Amy
Hi, Dean,
Thanks for your response. I agree that any study that looks at Twitter should look at the number of re-tweets and use this in determining the impact of Twitter use in libraries. I’m still unsure about establishing a digital presence, though – to me, numbers are quite indicative of the value of something, and if I didn’t have numbers, I don’t know that I would want to continue to use social media. Seems futile to me.
Hopefully I’ll have a more fully formed opinion in 5 more weeks!
Maggie
I also thought about money when writing my post, but not the user’s money or ability to access technology (although that is a great point, and I thank you for bringing it up). I was thinking about a library’s money: most libraries are underfunded and staff are stretched to their limits in term of responsibilities. In my mind, it’s a waste of resources (both time and money) to have staff continually update various social media platforms if the library’s not getting results. I realize that Twitter can be updated quickly, but what about uploading photos to Facebook, or writing new blog posts? These could be rather time-consuming activities, and may not be worth it unless a library’s patrons are heavily utilizing a service.
Thanks for commenting, Amy!
Like you, I can’t figure out how one would measure the impact of social media on library patrons. So far, the best thing I can think of is to advertise some library programs/events/services exclusively on one social media platform, and to then assess the popularity of the event. I know it’s really flawed, but I can’t think of a better way to do it. If anyone else in the class is reading this and has some ideas, please jump in!
Just read your post regarding VPL and Twitter – they are actually doing a survey right now to see how they can improve their twitter account and how they should move forward. VPL also once a months offer small social media workshops – e.g twitter, facebook, google , RSS…. They are well attended!
VPL is actually quite active on social media and very reflective of its practices.