The librarian 2.0: Identifying a typology of librarians’ social media literacy
http://lis.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/01/28/0961000613520027.full.pdf
Social media is the unifying term for these ‘new digital media phenomena […] in which ordinary users (i.e. not only media professionals) can com- municate with each other and create and share content with others online through their personal networked computers and digital mobile devices’ (Bechmann and Lomborg, 2013: 767).
First, social media communication is de-institutionalized, which means that media companies alone do not control the flow and distribution of information. Second, social media users are also information and content producers. We refer here to the collapse of production and consump- tion roles, labelled ‘prosumer’ (Jenkins, 2006) or ‘produs- age’ (Bruns, 2008). Third, social media communication is interactive and networked in nature.
public libraries must reconsider their positions as public knowledge providers (Anttiroiko and Savolainen, 2007). As a modern librarian’s task is to be able to use and distribute information in many formats other than print, he or she must be able to use all media, including digital media and social media.
social media literacy’ (SML), which is understood as ‘not only the practical and cognitive competencies pos- sessed by users of social media but also the motivation to employ these media effectively and appropriately for social interaction and communication on the web’ (Vanwynsberghe and Verdegem, 2013).
Zurkowski (1974: 6) defines ‘information literacy’ as the ability to utilize ‘the wide range of information tools as well as primary sources in modelling information solutions to their prob- lems’. With the rise of the Internet as a seemingly infinite source of information, the concept of information literacy gains more urgency (Sharpio and Hughes, 1996). In this respect, information literacy now includes having skills to identify an information problem (e.g. an unanswered ques- tion), accessing the location where information can be found, evaluating the information and using this informa- tion in problem-solving activities (Livingstone et al., 2005
The concept of information literacy was developed in the context of print media, while the concept of media literacy originated in the context of audio-visual media. media literacy was framed as the ability to critically under- stand media messages. Information literacy instead focuses on the basic competence of locating information since infor- mation is often difficult to find or use.
In con- trast to information literacy research, media literacy research has also paid attention to questions related to the creation of content (Livingstone et al., 2008).
The second cluster consists of respondents who have the lowest score for SML factors and consequently are labelled social media laggards. corresponds to people who have a rather negative attitude towards social media and do not (often) use social media at work or at home. Furthermore, social media laggards also have a very low level of social media knowledge and com- petencies. Of the respondents, 23.91% belong to this clus- ter; they have a high probability of being female and predominantly belong to older age groups.
The third cluster is the most social media literate group; therefore, we label respondents who fit within this cluster, social media literate users. Though its members are usually female, this social media literate cluster contains the most men in comparison to the other clusters. The members of this cluster are situated in the younger age groups. Hence, social media literates and social media workers include librarians who can serve as facili- tators or agents to guide and support other librarians dur- ing social media implementation.
four SML profiles: social media workers, social media laggards, social media literates and social media spare-time users. Social media workers are librarians who use social media mostly in the library and have a relatively high level of SML. Social media laggards do not use social media frequently either at home or at work and have a low level of SML. The social media literates are librarians who frequently use social media at home and at work and have a high level of SML. Finally, social media spare-time users are librarians who frequently use social media at home but not in the library and have an average level of SML.
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/access/white-paper-social-media.pdf
#tfsocialmedia
Social media objectives:
- promotion
- collection management tool
- Outreach
- teaching and learning
Opportunities and challenges
- opportunity to build a sense of community between the library and its users
- the variability of skills across library staff for using social media effectively, striking the right tone between professional and personal, coordinating activities across the institution to avoid duplication
- maintaining visibility for the library brand and copyright issues relating to hosting library resources on social media sites
Policies and management:
- Librarians are divided on the benefits of introducing formalized social media policies and plans. About a third of libraries responding to the Taylor & Francis survey had a policy in place, but over 40% had no plans to introduce one
- Some believe that representing the library as a professional function with a
consistent tone is the priority, while others believe that a more human approach is important, with individual staff free to bring their own ideas and personalities to social media activities.
Effectiveness and assessment:
- difficult to prove return on effort and that the time required to do this was a major barrier to more comprehensive analysis of impact
- framework for evaluation, so it is likely that assessment against commonly agreed metrics will become an increasingly important part of social media activity within the library in the near future
Current Social Media Practices:
- In a study from the mid 2000s (Cantrell and Havens1 ), most library directors in the US when questioned about social media said they did not think that libraries had a role in social networking
- A more recent study from 2012 (Kai-Wah Chu and Du4) shows how use of social media by the library has now become mainstream. In this survey of libraries in Asia, North America and Europe, 71% were found to be using social media tools with a further 13% saying they planned to use them
Advantages of using social media
n Financially the costs of using social media are perceived to be low;
n It requires little training;
n It promotes library services and disseminates news quickly, delivering this information more directly to library users;
n It increases engagement and interactions with library users;
n It helps gather feedback to enhance user services;
n The promotion of library holdings via social media can help increase usage of content;
n It enhances communication both within the library and with other departments;
n It can be used for outreach activities through onward sharing, well beyond the institution itself, helping build connections and reputation more broadly
Social Media Objectives: graph on page 8 of the PDF document:
A To promote events
B To promote library services
C To promote resources/collections at the library
D To update on library refurbishments
E To promote new acquisitions
F To promote library guides, exhibition guides
G To connect with new students joining the university
H To engage with the academic community
I To connect with the wider community beyond the university e.g. the town in which the institution is based
J To connect with distance learners
K As a customer services tool- complaints, suggestions, enquiries, feedback
L To highlight subject specific information
M To connect with potential students
N As a teaching tool to promote information literacy, technology and writing tips (not library based)
O To promote courses
P As a research tool to locate official documents and studies
From UK-based focus group: “The library is a programme, not just a building.”
Channel preferences: Graph on page 10 of the PDF document
SOCIAL MEDIA USES Table on p 13 of the PDF document
Twitter n Distribute library news and information
n Provide customer service
n Build connections with researchers
n Build connections with other librarians and institutions
Facebook n Distribute library news and information
n More social and less formal than Twitter – share photographs and run competitions
n Arrange events including tracking RSVPs and sending event updates
n Engagement with students
Pinterest n Promote general library collections, digital and archive special collections and information literacy
n Set up of online repositories for students to pin researched references as part of
collaborative group work
n Display book titles to save time browsing and promote new titles
n Provide an arena for students and course leaders to pin reviewed and recommended reading
for a particular topic
n Develop communities with other online libraries
YouTube n Streaming film collections
n Instructional ‘how to’ videos teaching information literacy skills and how to use library
services and resources
There are also a number of other social media products that are being used by librarians that reflect regional
preferences and the need for the specific functions offered by niche applications.
Collection usage and discovery: Graph on p. 15
Teaching and learning
From US-based librarian interview: “The trend in education now is to create environments that foster collaborative learning. Faculty have ditched textbooks and course management systems in exchange for a Facebook page for their class, or a wiki, or a blog. These online environments are fun; students already know how to use them and are more motivated to comment, discuss and share in these environments than a dry CMS.”
Social media policies and management, p. 18
73% of respondents stating that they believed more roles dedicated to social media would appear in the library in the future.
Effectiveness of social media
From UK focus group: “We keep track of something particularly successful, then we redo the campaign 6 months later.”
From US focus group: “We have very few interactions with anyone on our Twitter feed.”
“Twitter is definitely the best platform, because we hashtag all of our posts with the keyword
of the publication, and so for the academic audience, once they click it’s going to pull up all
of the similar publications under that topic.
Promoting library social media channels
From UK focus group:
“We retweet each other to encourage new followers.” My note: Suggested by me regarding SCSU_Library for Twitter and Pinterest and SCSUTechinstruct but “considered” (in local lingo, slow death of the idea)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141104142730-79555391-seven-tips-to-creating-a-social-media-listening-strategy
- Conduct a content audit.
- Analyze how and where you are sharing your content. Decide where you need to adjust.
- Determine your target audience and make sure you listen to them and pay attention to what they’re doing, too.
- Monitor for conversations around your brand and industry with online tools and TweetDeck.
- Complaints:
- Praise:
- Inquiries:
- Recommendations/referrals:
- Pay attention to breaking news and leverage your own content appropriately.
- Join and monitor forums where people are talking about your brand. Respond when appropriate.
- Don’t be a robot. Listen to your target audience and those who are similar to your brand. Engage with them.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141101222342-20930888-measuring-the-roi-of-social-media
While measuring social media ROI can be tricky, especially since each company has different goals in mind with their campaigns, here are the key metrics that social media marketers should keep in mind:
1. Reach
2. Value of Increased Traffic
3. Conversion Rate
4. Depth of Engagement
5. Cost
http://www.copyblogger.com/bye-facebook/
Have you ever stared at something, knowing you’re doing everything right, but it still won’t … freaking … work?
See, Copyblogger’s main focus is serving its audience. And if that audience wasn’t engaging on Facebook, then there was no real reason for us to pour energy into it. That’s energy we can put into other areas — ones you appreciate more.
We all might love Facebook for a wide variety of reasons, but that means jack if our audiences don’t interact with us on Facebook.
http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-september-2014/
1. Facebook – 13,600,000 users (up 200,000)
2. YouTube – 13,100,000 UAVs
3. WordPress.com – 6,000,000
4. Tumblr – 4,600,000
5. LinkedIn – 3,900,000
6. Blogspot – 3,100,000
7. Twitter – 2,791,300 Active Australian Users (see calculation)
8. Instagram – 2,060,000 Active Australian Users (see calculation)
9. TripAdvisor – 1,650,000
10. Yelp – 1,300,000
11. Tinder – 1,250,000 Australian users (my estimation)
12. Snapchat – 1,070,000 Active Australian Users (see calculation).
13. Flickr – 730,000
14. Pinterest – 370,000
15. Reddit – 160,000
16. MySpace – 150,000
17. Google Plus – approx 60,000 monthly active Australian users (my estimation *revised*)
18. StumbleUpon – 51,000
19. Foursquare – 29,000
20. Digg – 19,500
21. Delicious – 19,000
