Social Networking and Libraries: To Tweet or Not to Tweet?...That is the Question.

Social Networking and Libraries

To Tweet or Not to Tweet?…That is the Question.

These days everyone is using Twitter, from millennials to large corporations, even the president of the United States.  But, as we all know, there are times when a tweet or a post on Facebook is not the best way to get your message across.  Many libraries, both public and academic, have used social networking platforms to reach out to their library users with varying degrees of success.  As a social-networking participant and library user, I can understand why libraries experience less than stellar success; over-arching privacy concerns.  Would I “Friend” my local library if they sent me a request?  

Results of a recent survey of library users at an Indiana university library were surprising as they showed half of respondents would like to receive library information via social media, specifically Facebook.  This result is quite different than earlier research which showed people wanted their page to be a personal space for recreation and didn’t want organizations to have access to their information.  Facebook has changed its policies for organizations; a person can “like” an organization without the organization having access to personal information.  This change makes users more comfortable receiving information from organizations they like.  

This same survey showed social media users are also interested in obtaining information from YouTube and blogs, with little interest in Twitter or Wikis as a source for information from organizations.  This shows that libraries can’t treat all social networking platforms equally, and they need to consider how people use each one.  Libraries need to have clear goals and strategies in order to avoid any time and effort spent on social media marketing from being wasted, and that’s something no one can afford.

One more result from this survey which I found surprising was that although a majority of users thought it was important for libraries to use social media to communicate with users and market their services, a significant number still prefer getting their information through flyers in the library.  Old-school methods still thrive.  

So…would I “Friend” my local library if they sent me a request?  In a hearbeat!




by PJ Wiebe
April 18, 2018
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Works Cited 

Booker, Latrice and Subir Bandyopadhyay. "How Academic Libraries Can Leverage Social Networking
       to Popularize Their Services: An Empirical Study." Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social 
       Sciences, vol. 16, no. 2, June 2013, pp. 129-146. EBSCOhost, login.ezproxy.palomar.edu/login?
       url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=101197809&site=ehost-
       live&scope=site