How, or if, your views on social networking have changed?
Coming into the subject, I was a social media detractor, and my social network use was minimal at best. Despite my negative outlook, I was looking forward to this subject because it was an avenue for me to immerse myself in a topic outside my normal purview. I was confident the experience would allow me to grow as a student and an individual. Being able to learn about and understand something I do not agree with is, in my opinion, an integral part of being a university student (Minson., et al. 2021). The short answer is yes; my social media views have changed.
It is a daunting experience studying a subject you hold a negative connotation with, however, my perspective slowly changed through analysis and research prompted by the content, the assignments, and the classes throughout the session. I realised that social media is an effective tool for libraries to use as marketing strategies (Ihejirika, K, T., et al, 2021) and internal communication and its application in a library and information setting is a positive one. My learning forced me to introspectively question my views on the topic. In future, I will continue to forgo most social media, but professionally I now understand it is a tool that can benefit library and information professionals and the community.
The irony of this conclusion was not lost on me, as this realisation tied into a blog post I made about how we adopt different personas based on social media use (Davidson & Johnson, 2021). At the time, I stated that people change their personas based on their social media profiles. In a sense, you could argue that I am changing my persona based on my personal and professional setting. I will continue to do this moving forward, creating a schism between my professional and personal lives. The difference is that I will not regard it with such a critical and judgemental lens, and it will be purely a professional persona.
Which tools and platforms you have engaged with over the session and their relevance to you as an information professional.
Throughout this session, I have engaged in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. One of the initial hurdles of the subject was choosing a ”dummy” social media platform to engage with class activities. I decided to go with Facebook, as it is easy to use, and I have familiarity with it from using it in the past. At first, I enjoyed using the platform and engaging in the activities because I knew the experience wasn’t a permanent one, and it was for academic purposes.
After subsequent logins, my enthusiasm faded, though the experience was beneficial from a learning perspective. It helped me understand how the landscape of Facebook had changed since using it last in 2018 and allowed me to understand how libraries and other organisations utilise their Facebook pages, something I researched in my social media proposal assignment. Seeing how my research was applicable in a social media setting helped bridge the gap between learning and practical use. If I am going to try and attain the goal of one day being a librarian 2.0, understanding social media and its landscape is a must (Partridge, 2010).
Other than YouTube, Messenger and WhatsApp, my usage of the other platforms were slim. Instagram is hard to access without an account, Twitter and Flickr were both used purely for research purposes during my first assessment, and I, unfortunately, used Tik Tok unsolicited through YouTube shorts. In hindsight, I should not have been so cautious and allowed my personal bias to affect my learning. Creating more than one dummy accounts for all platforms and actively participating in them would have been beneficial. Letting my personal feelings affect my study and my professional life can bring bias into my study and potential workplace. The role of information professionals is to collate information without judgement and provide access to the communities we serve (Australian Library and Information Association, 2020). The process of researching and using the limited number of platforms has allowed me to respect their use within the information industry. Like how the Library of Congress use Flickr to store and collate images and how various libraries engage with their community through social media. Being able to initiate and use social media is one thing; being able to utilise them effectively as an information professional is another (Costas, 2017).
Your understanding of issues in the online social environment.
I believe that my understanding of the issues within online social environments contributes to my lack of participation. Studies have shown that content on social media can induce low self-esteem (Abi-Jaoude et al., 2020, p. E136-E141). I understand that social media can influence people’s core beliefs and political views (Bail et al., 2018, p. 9216-9221) and that it can affect trends and societies (Amedie, 2015).
Social media is rife with many issues; however, a select few piqued my interest through my learning and research in an information setting. One repeated issue has been the engagement of stakeholders when utilising social media tools. This means understanding how social media works, its direct correlation with web 2.0, how that ties into Librarian 2.0—combining these elements and doing it all effectively (Mon, 2015). These elements also tie into how information professionals engage in their social media use.
I have learnt that Including a social media policy combined with a sound marketing strategy can help solve challenges information organisations can face when engaging stakeholders in a social environment (American Libraries Association, 2018; Jones & Harvey, 2019). Other issues I found that have piqued my interest revolves around information literacy (IL) and its importance in the age of misinformation and fake news (Agosto, 2018). I have read that 86% of U.S adults get their information through their smartphone, computer, or tablet (Shearer, 2021). This statistic surprises me and further drives home the point of how important IL is in our society. Furthermore, I have concluded that filtering all online use, whether in a social media environment or casual browsing, must be seen through the strong lens of information literacy. In order to combat the myriad of issues that plague online social environments, I have learnt that combining strong IL with librarian 2.0 ethos is a standard I can attain when I am a LIS professional and in life.
The process of constructing and contributing to your OLJ and engaging with the other class blogs.
When I began working on my blogs, I was apprehensive and had no idea what I was doing. The first draft of my blog encompassed how unconfident I felt. I noticed a recurring theme within the subject has been finding the right balance between professional and informal writing when using social media and blog posting. I felt that adding my personal experiences with my Mums social media use would allow my potential readers to relate to me personally and tie back to my analysis of the article.
I have learnt that consistent editing is crucial for assignments and most written work from feedback throughout this subject. Because of this, it changed my approach to writings my blogs. First, I would analyse and take notes on the literature the OLJ was prompting. Once my notes were collated, I would map out the statements I wanted to make in my blog. I write fiction as a hobby, so taking inspiration from a good story, I tried to apply those elements in my blog writing. The aim was to write a thought-provoking and beautifully written blog that contained aspects of my personality sprinkled throughout. Once the blog was finished, I would proofread, analyse, revise, and rewrite my blogs time and time again. I found myself becoming immersed in the process and sometimes lost hours editing, finding photo’s, adding more information, and adding little things to make my blog appear more engaging. All subsequent blogs followed this new process.
The blogs were a valuable experience and something that I wouldn’t have tried prior to this subject, as I wouldn’t have had the confidence to start. In tandem with my writing, blogging has been an enjoyable and fulfilling process and something that I would consider doing after this subject. I feel as though blogging will add to my repertoire as a writer both as a hobby and while studying. Engaging with my peer’s blogs was an interesting and enlightening experience. It was fun comparing the different writing styles and seeing what points they tried to make when choosing the same OLJ prompts as myself. Writing gives you an idea of their personality, research methods and how they collate and articulate that information into an extension of themselves. However my only criticism is that it was sad to see that only few of the class were engaging in the OLJ activities throughout the session and some had only started them a few weeks before this assignment was due.
The experience of conducting research and completing assessment 1 and how that task contributed to your understanding of working in a social environment.
Because I have limited experience in proposals and even less at university-level writing, conducting research and completing this assignment was a difficult experience. I had never written a university-level proposal before and in hindsight, my first step should have been to understand the fundamentals of a proposal and how to construct a successful one. Had I done this, there is a chance I would have made the correlation between choosing a library of a similar nature to Riverland Public Library and not comparing it to The New York Public Library and the Library of Congress, which was a rather glaring mistake and outside the realm of common sense in my opinion. My research revolved around finding the information I deemed sufficient to answer the prompts in the suggested approach. I broke down each section into specific word counts and researched literature and other resources to formulate relevant answers. I was worried that some of the references I utilised wouldn’t be sufficient in a university setting; however, I tried to remind myself that it is a social media proposal and not an essay.
The assignment helped give me an insight into what it would be like to work as an information professional. I visualised my subject coordinator as my boss and tried to convince myself that the situation was real. In a real life application, the mark I received would have been a professional indicator for improvement, because I was disappointed with the outcome. On the positive side, the assignment helped bridge the theory and information we explored in the modules, such as web 2.0, social media marketing, engagement of stakeholders. The experience allowed me to extrapolate my research, place it under a microscope to disseminate and articulate the information into my own words.
It helped me understand that social media is still not fully embraced within the library world despite being integral aspect of society. The assignment helped forged the ideal of what kind of librarian I want to be in future and if I am going to be a competitive employee. I will need to adapt to the times and embrace social media professionally, develop strong information literacy when viewing information and research. Adopt Librarian 2.0 ethos such as the cultivation of digital content, facilitating access for my future stakeholders, allowing digital practises in the workplace, and then cultivating digital spaces for all. My early, fond memories of the physical library are slowly changing and evolving. I will strive to be one of those who embrace this change.
References
Abi-Jaoude, E., Naylor, K. T., & Pignatiello, A. (2020). Smartphones, social media use and youth mental health. CMAJ Canadian Medical Association Journal, 192(6), E136–E141. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.190434
Agosto, D. E. (Ed.). (2018). Information literacy and libraries in the age of fake news. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Amedie, J. (2015). “The Impact of Social Media on Society” Advanced Writing: Pop Culture Intersections. [Final Journal Paper, Santa Clara University]. http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/engl_176/2
American Libraries Association (ALA), (2018). ALA Social Media Guidelines for Public and Academic Library. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/socialmediaguidelines#:~:text=Library%20staff%20should%20protect%20patron,or%20used%20for%20other%20purposes.
Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). (2020). Foundation Knowledge, Skills and Attributes relevant to Information Professionals working in Archives, Libraries and Records Management. http://www.alia.org.au/open-access-resources/policies-standards-and-guidelines/foundation-knowledge-skills-and-attributes-relevant-information-professionals-working-archives
Bail, C. A., Argyle, L. P., Brown, T. W., Bumpus, J. P., Chen, H., Hunzaker, M. B. F., Lee, J., Marcus M., Merhout, F., & Volfovsky, A (2018). Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization. Proceedings of the National Academy of sciences of the United States of America, 115 (37) 9216-9221; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804840115
Mon, L. (2015). Social media and library services. (p. 51)
Minson, J. A., Chen, F. S., & Tinsley, C. H. (2020). Why Won’t You Listen to Me? Measuring Receptiveness to Opposing Views. Management Science, 66(7), 3069-3094. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3362
Partridge, H., Lee, J., & Munro, C. (2010). Becoming “Librarian 2.0”: The skills, knowledge, and attributes required by library and information science professionals in a web 2.0 world (and Beyond). library trends, 59(1), 315-335.
Jones, M. J., & Harvey, M. (2019). Library 2.0: The effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool for libraries in educational. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 51(1) 3–19 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0961000616668959
Shearer, E. (2021). More than eight-in-ten Americans get news from digital devices. Pew Research Centre. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/12/more-than-eight-in-ten-americans-get-news-from-digital-devices/