Recommended tools for social media engagement

There are many ways libraries can use social media in order to increase engagement between the library and the community. One such way is blogging.

The New York Public Library employs a group of librarian bloggers, giving them the freedom to write about anything they want, with the hopes that this will translate into more visits to other areas of their website, such as digital libraries or online catalogue, as stated in this article. Between 2011 and 2012, their website visits increased by 56%. And the NYPL is not the only one that uses blogs. The National Library of Australia does as well, which not only includes blogs but also videos and podcasts, and much more.

Another tool libraries can use is video. On youtube, twitter and instragram, libraries can upload news and promotions, as well as interviews with authors, and storytime videos that anyone can access anywhere without having to physically visit the library (which is quite important in the current climate of the world). This is something that both the Inner West and City of Sydney libraries are doing.

Commenting on another blog

I commented on my teacher's blog, where she asked us what was the last movie we watched. For me, it was My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, an anime film based on the very popular manga series My Hero Academia. I watched it with two friends, right before quarantine restrictions went into effect and cinemas closed their doors.

Changing the arrangement of the blog.

So for this, I moved the elements of the sidebar around a little bit. Specifically the 'labels' section, moving it down a little and changing the settings so that it wouldn't show every single label (as the list was getting a tad too long). This post has a screenshot of how the side bar used to look.

Changing the look of my Blog

So I changed the theme (i.e. design/look) of the blog. Originally I went with the default look, with was a simple, white-background Contempo. While simple enough, I was never too fond of the drop down Main Menus and the body of the blog being dead centre of the design. This is how it used to look with that theme:

I decided to change it to the green-ish looking Simple theme. I do prefer this theme as, instead of having a drop down for the main menu, all of that is now located on the side bar. My preference for that is that I can quickly glance to the side to see what else a blog has to offer, instead of making a conscious effort of clicking on the drop down menu. This is how it looks like in the new theme.

Next will be to re-arrange a few things on the side menu. I'm not too fond of having labels too close to the top, personally.

Inserting Images

For this task, I decided to upload two photos, one by myself, and another by the Inner West Council, of the old and new Marrickville Library, respectively.

Here we have a photo of the former Marrickville Library. Photograph taken by yours truly.

And this is a look at the interior of the new Marrickville Library Pavilion. Image from the Inner West Council (this post in particular)

How is my local public library using social media?

My local library is Marrickville Library and Pavilion, part of the Inner West Library Services, which hosts a number of social media accounts (and shares one with its parent organisation, the Inner West Council).

Facebook – News about events happening in the community and related to books to particular events or promotions.
Twitter – Similar to Facebook and Instagram
Instagram – Similar to Facebook and Twitter.
YouTube – Apart from library-related content, the Inner West Council YouTube account also has videos on council meetings and projects are currently in development in the Inner West area.

How Libraries are using Social Media

Nowadays, many libraries have begun using social media accounts to interact and share experiences with their users. Some examples of such accounts are as follow:

• National Library of Australia - Blog –  a blog sharing a multitude of stories from Australia, ranging from folklore, history, arts, and many more.

• Inner West Library Services - Twitter – used to share information and news about events that are happening in the libraries and communities of the Inner West area.

• New York Public Library - Instagram –  as it states in their profile, "On a mission to inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen communities."

• City of Sydney Library - YouTube – Also used to share news in regards to the community. Something to note is that this isn't a library-only account, but rather, the City of Sydney council's account as well.

• UTS Library - Facebook – To share news to the students from UTS.

What is Library 2.0

Library 2.0 is a notion that follows on the steps of Web 2.0 and Business 2.0, with a change of how libraries deliver services to their users. With Library 2.0, a focus is on user-centered service design with encouraged feedback to further improve services. This is particularly noted with public libraries, as they interact with a more varied groups of users than more specialised libraries like university libraries. One thing to note is that Library 2.0 is not about technology itself, but rather, the use of technology to better interact and assist library users with their goals. The OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) is one example of technology being used to enhance a library user's experience.

Some further reading can be found at Ariadne and Webology.

Social Media Considerations/Issues

Privacy

Privacy has become a big issue with social media, especially with Facebook and many allegations that it collects and sells user data without consent.

Addiction 

This is another issue that has come up over the years, with people many people becoming obsessed and dependent on social media, whether it is by constantly checking their profiles and their friends', or on the number of views and likes their content gets.

FOMO ( Fear of Missing Out)

This can be related to the above, where in a person constantly checks their social media in missing out on anything and everything. There may be no particular reason, and they may not even be afraid of missing something in particular, but the urge to just see every update can manifest itself and lead to spending too much time on social media platforms.

What are Social Media Tools

Social medial tools refers to social platforms themselves used by people and/or businesses to promote their brand. Some examples are:

1. Facebook - perhaps the biggest social media platform at the moment, with an emphasis on people's, groups' and businesses' profiles.
2. Twitter - like Facebook, but with a bigger focus on short messages being sent to one's follower list or specific people
3. YouTube - allows for the creation and uploads of videos
4. Instagram - Primarily used for the sharing of photographs, it can also be used to share other types of images, as well as short video clips
5. Reddit - known as the "homepage of the Internet", Reddit is a website similar to an Internet forum used to share just about anything one can find on the Internet. Reddit is divided into 'subreddits', which each a focus on a specific topic. For example, food, or games, and even libraries.

However social media can also refer to tools that said people and/or businesses use to manage and promote their brand through social media, for example, by increasing and analysing their reach to target audiences – some tools are especially made to track progress on specific social platforms.

What is Social Media?

The phrase 'Social Media' is used to describe the sharing of ideas and information between people around the world through the Internet. While anything that falls under this definition can be considered as 'social media', when people think of social media they usually refer to, more often than not, to places like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to name a few. I would like to share two articles, one by Lifewire and the other by The Balance Small Business, that expand on the idea of social and further explore its implications, uses and issues.