Much of the discussion around information organizations’ use of social media revolves around the time and challenges involved with managing social media. I know that I have talked about the importance of recognizing the need for adequate time and knowledge previously, but I also would like to discuss the great potential for libraries using social media in small ways. A case in point is the Powell River Public Library’s “Tiny Story Contest”, which I learned about through a presentation at BCLA 2015.
The “Tiny Story Contest” was originally inspired by a short story collection by Lou Beach called 420 Characters. (You can, and should, read all of his stories on his website.) These stories were all originally published by Beach on Facebook as status updates – hence the length of the stories, 420 characters, which was the original maximum for status updates on Facebook. A librarian at Powell River came across the collection, read it, and from this inspiration a story-writing contest was born.
Powell River now runs the story-writing contest every year, and in 2015 they added a teen category for those in Grade 10+, expanding the reach of the program. Entrants to the contest can enter up to three stories into the contest, each with a maximum of 420 characters, including spaces and punctuation.
In 2015 they received over 100 entries, proving that the contest is a popular one. It’s also become a community event, culminating in a “Tiny Story Reading” where the winners are awarded but all contestants are able to read their stories. The truly excellent, and particularly relevant, part of this story though, is that Powell River Public Library takes the previous submissions to their “Tiny Story Contest”, which were inspired by a book of stories published as Facebook statuses, and posts them on their Facebook page in a series of statues updates tagged “Tiny Story Tuesdays”. These posts not only add a fun novelty to the Powell River Public Library Facebook Page, but they also help to publicize the contest, and let people know about the broad range of library services. This is a great example of a small way to create a huge impact using social media.
Drastic Measures by Ionatan Waisgluss.
I find this post very interesting and a good example of how Social Media can be used in different ways than we are used to. I think it would be a great idea for libraries to engage their users in little ways. I’m wondering if rather than stories, libraries could challenge their users to make short videos on platforms like Vine or Vimeo. Something to think about for sure!