Enhancing Library Services with Social Media

SEFLIN Community of Learning

Broward County Library – North Regional

November 8, 2010

What is Social Media?

Social = Interaction between people

Media = A tool that facilitates communication of information

Social media = A tool that facilitates communication of information through human interaction

Credit to: http://www.slideshare.net/megcanada/are-you-a-part-of-the-conversation-1223013

Why Libraries?

The Thing on the Doorstep: Libraries & Social Networking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcRbOxNX2UE

Types of Social Media

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

• Social BookmarkingSocial Bookmarking

• Social NewsSocial News

• Social NetworkingSocial Networking

• Social SharingSocial Sharing

• WikisWikis

• BlogsBlogs

• MicroblogsMicroblogs

Social Bookmarking

• A way to share favorite websites and view the favorite websites of others– Delicious (www.delicious.com)

• http://www.delicious.com/UMHealthSciencesLibraries

– Blinklist (www.blinklist.com)– Diigo (www.diigo.com)

Social News

• A platform for sharing and discussing news stories– Digg (www.digg.com)– Newsvine (www.newsvine.com)

• http://librarian.newsvine.com/

– Reddit (www.reddit.com)

Social Networking

• Social networks enable people to communicate about a wide variety of topics in open or closed communities– Facebook (www.facebook.com)

• http://www.facebook.com/westpalmbeachpubliclibrary

– MySpace (www.myspace.com)– Bebo (www.bebo.com)

Social Sharing

• Social sharing sites allow people to share a specific type of media or information with others– Goodreads (www.goodreads.com)

• http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1975296-evanston-public-library

– LibraryThing (www.librarything.com)– Flickr (www.flickr.com)

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/mycitylibrary/

– YouTube (www.youtube.com)– Foursquare (www.foursquare.com)– Gowalla (www.gowalla.com)

Wikis

• A wiki is a website with a specific focus which can be easily edited by a group of people– Wikia (www.wikia.com)

• http://delphi-public-library.wikia.com/wiki/Delphi_Public_Library_Wiki

– Wikispaces (www.wikispaces.com – free for K-12 educators)

– MediaWiki (http://www.mediawiki.org - software application)

Blogs

• Websites, usually maintained by individuals or small groups, that have a specific focus and are updated regularly, in reverse chronological order– Blogger (www.blogspot.com)– LiveJournal (www.livejournal.com)– Wordpress (www.wordpress.com,

www.wordpress.org)• http://mycitylibrary.wordpress.com

Microblogs (aka Tumblelogs)

• Blogs with short updates, usually no more than 140 characters, a picture, a video, or a link– Twitter (www.twitter.com)

• http://twitter.com/MyCityLibrary

– Tumblr (www.tumblr.com)• http://notwhatyouthink.tumblr.com/

What’s Right for Your Library?

• Realistically, how much can you give?• Know your library’s culture• How is technology handled at your library?• Try to find something that fits into your library’s

existing framework• Where are your patrons?• Is social media something that will be useful for

your particular library?• Know when no means “No”, and when no means

“Not right now.”– Using social media as a professional development

tool

Online Social Media Marketing @ APL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L56vMNyw1zk

Tagging

• Retrieval, retrieval, retrieval!

• Not all social media sites support tagging, but when they do….DO!

• You can (almost) never have too many tags.

Tagging

Image Title: Wine Glass Painting - 6/25/2009

Tagging

Tagging

Accessibility• Web

– Most popular way of accessing social media– Full functionality

• Desktop (ex. Hootsuite, Seesmic)– Not available for all, but for many– Can bring together several social media tools in one

place– Functionality may be full or limited

• Mobile– Not available for all, but for many– Usually bare bones functionality– Can be great for librarians who move around a lot, or

for updating from library programs– Must have an Internet-enabled handheld device

Social Media Content

Think outside the box!

ContestsLibrary Events

Book Reviews

Book Lists

YouTube Videos

Library NewsQuotes

Foursquare “mayorships”Scavenger Hunts

Social Media Success

• Reaching

• Promoting

• Interacting

• Maintenance

Reaching• Target Audience = The Public

– Tech-savvy? Luddites?– Follow to Be Followed! (Depending on

platform)– Advertise offline

• Know Your Resources (and Communicate with Them!)– Governmental– Tourism

Promoting

• Know Your Community: Library as Virtual Community Center– What events are going on?

• Library Programs• Institutional Programs

– What interests your patrons?– Think beyond the library building

• Promote Your Community!– Public Resources vs. Private Businesses

Interacting

• Timeliness

• Appropriateness

• Legality– Sunshine Law

Maintenance

• Depends on the type of website– Twitter: @’s, DMs, Friends– Facebook: Replies– Delicious: Link Validity

• Ranges from daily to monthly

The Rules of Social Media

Murphy’s Law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

Always have a backup method of communication!

• http://mashable.com/2010/06/15/twitter-errors-and-downtime-likely-to-continue/

• http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/23/facebook-downtime/

• http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/25/yes-youtube-is-down-but-you-can-still-watch-videos/

The only thing constant is change.

• http://www.businessinsider.com/new-facebook-groupsthumbs-down-2010-10

• http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/08/facebook-image-viewer/

• http://erictric.com/2010/10/13/facebook-redesign-possibly-rolling-out-slowly/

• http://mashable.com/2010/10/13/new-twitter-finished/

• http://mashable.com/2010/10/06/twitter-lucene/

Designing a Social Media Policy

Two types

• Professional Policy Document (Behavior)– Institution-wide

• Focus Document (End Product)– Department-wide

• Don’t reinvent the wheel

• Check to see if one is already in place

Who – audience

Depending on your library, your audience may be large or small, homogenous or varied.  Your audience may consist of undergraduates, postgraduates, academic staff, alumni, library staff, external visitors, the media, tourists and a range of random other people.  These segments of your audience may be seeking different information from you.

Designing a Social Media Policy

Credit to: http://darkarchive.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/social-media-strategy/

Designing a Social Media PolicyWhat – contentIn terms of content, here are some ideas for what you would like to publish:• Library location, opening times, lending rules, library guides • New titles acquired by the library • Events in the library • Changes to opening hours • Reminders e.g. return books before end of term • Changes to staffing or procedures • Advertising other events in your organization e.g. lectures, training, other

news stories • Building/maintenance work, or other disruption to normal services • User education – include snippets of advice on info issues • Emergencies e.g. many libraries could not open as usual earlier this year

because of snow- or ash cloud-related disruption.  These updates made it onto Twitter and Facebook much faster than onto official library webpages

You could run a series of posts e.g. tip of the week, staff book recommendations.  It helps to plan your content ahead of time so that even if it’s a slow week on the news front, you still have something to post about.

Credit to: http://darkarchive.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/social-media-strategy/

Designing a Social Media PolicyWhere – toolsThere are many social media tools available.  Some of the most well-

known are Facebook, Twitter, blogging (e.g. Blogger, WordPress), Flickr, LibraryThing, social bookmarking (e.g. Delicious).

Next, you need to decide which social media sites work well for the content and audiences you have identified for your library.  For example, interactions on Facebook tend to be mutual, and are more intimate than those on Twitter.  For a college library like mine, where there is a strong sense of community, Facebook is likely to work well.  However, because Twitter is a more open community, it works well for reaching external users.  Regarding content, if you want to involve pictures in your strategy, Flickr will be much more useful to you than LibraryThing. But if you have a lot of links to share, a social bookmarking tool such as Delicious might be perfect for you.

Credit to: http://darkarchive.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/social-media-strategy/

Resources - General• http://webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/social-media.htm?p=1• http://webtrends.about.com/od/gettingstarted/ss/socialwebguide.htm• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites• http://www.slideshare.net/megcanada/who-is-doing-this-stuff-well • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L56vMNyw1zk – Abilene Public

Library• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcRbOxNX2UE – Chartered

Institute of Library and Information Professionals (UK) - Multimedia Information and Technology Group

Resources - General• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy2q-hq8wF0 - Library 2.0 Panel

1, Part 1: The Future of the Library (Yale University)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JloZK8wTqQ - Library 2.0 Panel

1, Part 2: The Future of the Library (Yale University)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjHrXVptRJA - Library 2.0 Panel

2, Part 1: Ethics and Politics of Library 2.0 (Yale University)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xhfhazHTjM - Library 2.0 Panel

2, Part 2: Ethics and Politics of Library 2.0 (Yale University)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBLZpXOMVhI - Library 2.0 Panel

2, Part 3: Ethics and Politics of Library 2.0 (Yale University)

Resources - General• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BgnSfIzLmk - Social

Networking: Is It for You? Pt 1• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWhVogaL1d4 – Social

Networking: Is It for You? Pt 2• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5W0AyGptHE – Social

Networking: Is It for You? Pt 3• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUb4DL7avoM – Social

Networking: Is It for You? Pt 4• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAXSTpH8b4Y – Social

Networking: Is It for You? Pt 5• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsmmHwfQZ7g – Social

Networking: Is It for You? Pt 6• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2l59xyny0o – Social

Networking: Is It for You? Pt 7• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5sH09VT6pU - Social

Networking: Is It for You? Pt 8

Resources – Social Media Policy

• http://librariansmatter.com/blog/2010/09/10/a-social-media-policy-for-a-one-branch-public-library/

• http://mashable.com/2009/04/27/social-media-policy/

• http://mashable.com/2009/06/02/social-media-policy-musts/

• http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699104.html

• http://darkarchive.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/social-media-strategy/

Resources - Downtime

• http://mashable.com/2010/06/15/twitter-errors-and-downtime-likely-to-continue/

• http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/23/facebook-downtime/

• http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/25/yes-youtube-is-down-but-you-can-still-watch-videos/

Resources - Redesign

• http://www.businessinsider.com/new-facebook-groupsthumbs-down-2010-10

• http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/08/facebook-image-viewer/

• http://erictric.com/2010/10/13/facebook-redesign-possibly-rolling-out-slowly/

• http://mashable.com/2010/10/13/new-twitter-finished/

• http://mashable.com/2010/10/06/twitter-lucene/