Libraries are missing out on social media marketing affordance
If social media’s affordance is an opportunity or an ability to interact in a new way, then the information profession is missing out on countless opportunities. Many libraries have finally embraced the applications that have survived for a length of time, e.g. Facebook, but perhaps information professionals should attempt to mobilize at the rate of individual trendsetters, and before a catastrophe happens such as the one that sparked the #savethelibraries campaign on Twitter http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/campaign-grows-against-cuts-that-would-shut-375-libraries-2187030.html. By waiting, libraries will always be perceived as being behind the times.
More importantly, however, libraries will miss out on “trendsetter” social networks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influencer_marketing. Basically, before a social media application gains popularity (or Network Effect) the first group of people to use it are trendsetters. They in turn can pass information on to “connected influencers” who have large social networks.
In other words, the affordance of early adoption is interaction with not only possible library patrons, but specifically trendsetters.