Libraries, Librarians, and Social Media

Balancing the personal and professional in social networking

Me

Leah L. WhiteReader Services LibrarianNorthbrook Public LibraryTwitter: @leahlibrarianTumblr: yolaleah.tumblr.comFB: facebook.com/yolaleahSite: leahwhite.weebly.com

Why am I here?http://www.slideshare.net/btench/becoming-an-agent-of-change-in-your-organization

The Plan

• Why be social?

• What social networks to join?

• Leah’s rules of the internet

• Tips and advice

• The best of the best (according to me)

Why be social?

• Personal

• Keep in touch

• Fun!

• Crowd-source ideas and collaborate

• Good for your career

Why be social?

• Institutional

• Varies

• Create meaningful relationships with your patrons

• Remind people about services

• Increase use of services

What to join? OMG SO MANY!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrismenning/the-x-all-the-y-meme

The Major Players Explained with donuts

There are networks for everything.

But not for everyone.

What is your goal? Articulate it. Practice it.

Possible goals

• Do you want to share ideas and get feedback?

• Facebook, Twitter

• Do you want to be entertained while also creating content?

• Tumblr, YouTube

• Do you want to find a job or expand your career goals?

• LinkedIn, Facebook

My favorites for libraries and librarians

Leah’s Rules of the Internethttp://memegenerator.net/Philosoraptor

The Golden Rule Harsh but true.

Listen to Spiderman.Ask yourself, “Could this posting get me fired?” If the answer is yes, then don’t post it.

http://d37nnnqwv9amwr.cloudfront.net/photos/images/original/000/206/250/think%20before%20you%20post.png

The Internet never forgets.

Remember the “drunken pirate” scandal?

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-3.html

And don’t BE the troll.It just makes them stronger.

Definition of a Troll

You are responsible. Keep your page clean.

Tips and Advice

Dealing with Inappropriate Content

• Personal

• Check in with your account

• Delete the comment

• Send a message

• Institutional

• Have a policy

• Enforce and follow it

Different sites have different cultures.

Be a lurker. Learn about the site before you jump in.

• Do

• be yourself

• respond to questions

• participate in memes

• #FollowFriday, Friday Reads

• Share ideas and resources

• Don’t

• be pushy

• ignore your account

• only post links to your blog or website

• be mean

Dos and Don'ts

It's about conversation. and promoting your brand

More on conversation

• “The biggest mistake we see companies make when they first hit Twitter is to think about it as a channel to push out information. In fact, it turns out to be a great medium for holding conversations rather than making announcements.” (from The Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly)

• “My tweeting philosophy is to have fun. I think that’s why people enjoy my Twitter feed. People are more interested in conversations that have nothing to do with books or writing.” - author Victoria Dahl in Publisher’s Weekly

to hide or not to hide that is the question

The Best of the Best my favs

Facebook: Lawrence Public Library, Threadless, Northwestern University Archives

Twitter: Wil Wheaton: @wilw, Toby Greenwalt: @theanalogdivide, Zappos.com: @Zappos_Service

Tumblr: I Love Charts: ilovecharts.tumblr.com, Morton Grove Public Library: mgpl.tumblr.com, YouMedia: youmedia.tumblr.com

• Don’t be an idiot.

• Articulate your social networking goals.

• Join the networks that help you achieve your goals.

• Have fun!

All things considered

Thank you! psst follow me! @leahlibrarian

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theilluminated/5386099858/