Let's Get Tweeting

Social media tools, like Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, and Digg, are hugely popular, especially with young people. I think it’s vital for libraries to capitalize on this popularity to increase library usage and awareness. This kind of publicity works especially well for events like concerts, appearances by authors or other popular speakers, and reading programs. These events are designed to increase the visibility of the library and its patronage. Once inside the library, folks can see all the services available and they might even start reading something!

Some library administrations may have been slow to utilize these tools, having the opinion that they are fads or that only the young people are using them. That’s no longer true. The fact is that, although MySpace seems to be on the decline, Facebook and Twitter usage continues to grow by leaps and bounds. More and more businesses are now seeing the benefit of being connected in this way. Companies like Home Depot and GM have Twitter accounts to increase their visibility, and they wouldn’t be doing it if it weren’t good for their bottom line!

A major difficulty that libraries may have with social media tools, however, is that staff members may not be sufficiently familiar with them to utilize them effectively. Although I am very computer literate, I personally have been quite reluctant to get onto Twitter or Facebook and, therefore, slow to see their possibilities. Fortunately, there are resources available to digital immigrants like me (and you thought I knew what I was talking about!) for navigating this landscape. SearchEngineWatch.com is a web marketing research company that assists its members in maximizing their exposure on the web. Their web page SearchEngineWatch.com/SocialMediaMarketing is a great place to start. I’m going to check out their Social Media Marketing 101 page and Twitter 101. I’ll post more after I learn what it’s all about.