Facebook and Twitter
Facebook and Twitter are two of the largest social media
sites in use today. There are advantages and disadvantages of both, but they
can be a very positive way of communicating with others around the world. Finding ways to share your library on social
media has never been easier. Many people, both young and old, utilize both
Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis. Both can provide instant news and
updates about current events in “real time”.
I have been a Facebook user for many years and feel
relatively confident in navigating this social media site. I use it to follow
the happenings of friends, family and school news. I recently added several
library “pages” to follow. I love watching what fun and exciting events are occurring
in my daughter’s school. The Donald
Elementary Media Center has its own page and Facebook posts are encouraged
by the administration.
I looked at several other library Facebook pages
(Elementary, Middle School and High School) and I saw book promotions, reminders, library centers, maker
spaces, school events and many happy kids. The posts received several likes and
few comments. These pages do serve a wonderful purpose to promote their library
to parents and students. They build connections with the community and promote
reading. Parents love to see their children at school happy and learning. I
enjoyed seeing the wonderful ideas and books other librarians were utilizing. Librarians
need to promote their pages to be the most effective and post frequently. High
School libraries can also use Facebook to post about current happenings in the
school. One of the major downsides to Facebook is the possibility that the
posts won’t be seen. Facebook can be random in what posts are shown in feeds,
so not everyone may see the library’s post.
Here are a few of the Libraries I looked at (and now follow
on Facebook)!
Twitter is also a huge social media site the seems to become
more popular over time. I started utilizing Twitter this summer and I enjoy the
different feel of the platform, but it did take an adjustment period. By
utilizing apps such as TweetDeck, it helps manage the constant influx of
information on Twitter. You can create columns focusing on selected groups so
you can monitor who you want to help you stay focused and not miss an important
tweet. For example, I could set up columns for book publisher, another for
authors, one for school news, and much more.
There are some important individuals to follow on Twitter in
the world of librarians and educational technology. I investigated several of
these leaders and this is what I discovered.
The first leader I looked at was Kathy Schrock
(@kathyschrock). She is deep in the world of technology and her posts reflect
that. She promotes the conferences she speaks at and attends. She currently
maintains an active blog and also posts that link to Twitter.
My September @DiscoveryEd blog post on Kathy’s Katch is live. “Put the “make” in your makerspace”. https://t.co/sxKZPwe2hy— Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) September 1, 2017
Next I looked at Linda Braun (@libraun2000) who is a former
president of YALSA. Her posts focus on current events happening in the world of
libraries and promoting best practices. I enjoyed reading through her posts. I
also liked that her Tweets went directly to the article she was discussing.
David Warlick (@dwarlick) is still active on Twitter, but has stated
that his blog is read only due to his decision to care for his parents at this
time. He seems to be promoting his own personal experiences at the moment.
Gwyneth Jones, The Daring Librarian, (@GwynethJones) post
frequently, reposts and promotes her library. She also frequently posts about the
latest ways to use technology in the classroom. Her posts reflect some on her
personal life too. Her links take you to her Scoop.it page. If you have plenty
of time, it’s a fun place to look around and read several articles of interest.
Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) is also very active on Twitter. He posts
contain information on technology, brain studies, ideas for technology in the
classroom and creative thinking. His post also links back to his Scoop.it page.
Again, it’s a great place to find some really interesting articles, but may be
annoying to some to go the extra step to go to another website.
