Source: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
This reflection will highlight my evolution as a social networker through studying INF206 and exploring the implications of social networking in my development as an information professional.
I had an extremely simplistic view of this subject before we started, believing the focus of INF206 would include the best social media tools for marketing libraries and information agencies. I assumed it would also cover personal networking opportunities (which it did), current social media trends, and how libraries worldwide are harnessing new platforms to create visitor engagement.
INF206 did indeed provide this information, but I found the history of this socially networked world we live in particularly interesting. I was part of the evolution of social networking in the late 90s/early 2000s; from playing multiplayer games through Telnet at the public library to using ICQ at home (albeit slowly due to dial-up internet) and creating a social media account through Myspace. For my friends and I, we found it easy to learn these user-generated Web 2.0 technologies; as it progressed, so did our skills. In 2024, though, with Web 3.0 on the horizon, it is near impossible to know and understand every social networking tool available. INF206 has updated my knowledge in this area, especially around the modern issues of privacy and data safety. Since finishing this subject, I have made more informed decisions about my online presence and the security of my library clients.
As a social media user, I have become increasingly frustrated with the centralised platforms such as Facebook and Instagram due to the aforementioned privacy concerns and the algorithms that provide distressing content combined with a never-ending barrage of targeted advertising. In addition to personal social media accounts, completing this degree online, and being an administrator for my library’s Facebook page, I feel fatigued by the amount of time I spend connected to the Internet. Through the course content and discussions in the INF206 Facebook group, CSU Discord channels, and the reading of my classmates’ online learning journals, I am aware of the variety of new platforms that promise fewer advertisements, less targeted posts, and more authentic online connections, but in all honesty…
I am completely over social media.
That is not to say I am against all social networking sites. There has been a positive shift in online professional development and internal social media tools. I have found myself viewing platforms such as LinkedIn Learning that offer short skills-based courses. Although LinkedIn can be frustrating with the constant requests to become a financial member, it is the most valuable platform for networking within the library and information professional community in both Australia and overseas. The other beneficial platform is Microsoft Teams, which provides easy communication across the eight branches in the library’s geographical area and the State-wide library network. Having a centralised platform for sharing important notices, storing documents such as rosters and policies and holding staff meetings despite where I am in the state is extremely helpful.
But let’s get back to social media…
Throughout the course, I explored the “old” platforms of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter/X and the more recent WT Social, MeWe, Vero and Minds. To stay relevant, social networking professionals must analyse the functionality of available platforms (both new and old) and adapt to changing preferences. For instance, continuing to use Facebook to promote library services to the youth market despite data showing they are using other platforms indicates a lack of commitment to staying relevant (Target Internet, 2024). However, the challenge for libraries to change platforms would come down to a lack of time or money but in the case of TikTok, online security must also be considered.
TikTok
This hugely popular platform is the go-to for young people; libraries are creating funny, engaging videos worldwide to change the perception that libraries are boring, stuffy places. You must only look at the success of #BookTok for “making reading cool again” (The Conversation, 2022) to see how beneficial it could be for libraries to use a platform to connect with an interested group of readers. Unfortunately for TikTok, the platform has been identified as a threat to national security due to concerns around privacy and in 2023, TikTok was banned on all government devices (Al-Khouri et al., 2023). For us here in Tasmania, our library network is state government-funded, so we cannot access the platform on any device we use for work-related activities, including our email accounts and Microsoft Teams. Because of these restrictions, I did not engage with TikTok throughout this course even though I am aware of the fun and engaging content shared by libraries on the platform. Privacy and data safety must be taken seriously, and it was one of the areas my readings focused on throughout the course.
Issues in the online social environment, data and privacy in public libraries.
One of the topics most relevant to me as a public library employee was data privacy and whether the responsibility to keep personal data safe was the responsibility of the library or the client.
As government agencies and businesses move their administrative tasks online, the onus to complete these tasks shifts to the person accessing the service over those providing it. Personally, I am unsure whether service providers fully understand the challenges that many people in the community face in having the access and skills to complete these tasks or if they do not care in order to save money on staffing. Whatever the reason, it means that public libraries often become where people conduct these activities. All libraries have policies and guidelines around Internet use that warn people against using public PCs for tasks involving confidential information. Still, the reality is that some people have no other choice. In Tasmania, accessibility is a huge problem, both logistically and financially, with communities living as close as ten minutes away from a major town or city and unable to access adequate bandwidth to complete the required tasks. Combine this with the cost of mobile data or a Wi-Fi connection, outdated devices, and a lack of general literacy in regional communities. Internet access in the library is vital for participation in day-to-day society.
As librarians, we uphold ethical values around a client’s right to privacy, yet the nature of public computers does not allow us to respect those values. Through the course readings, I have learnt there are ways we could minimise the risk for clients using our spaces to conduct confidential tasks.
For example, a client arrives at the library to use a public computer to access Netbank as they need to print a statement to apply for a rental property. The problem is that the client has forgotten their password and, hard of hearing, has put their phone on speaker while talking to the bank, verbally answering their security questions while other library users listen. As library staff, we could tell the visitor not to use their phone in the library, that it is risky for them to log into their bank on a public PC, or we could implement ways to make our online networks safer. The library could move a PC to a secluded area or room for clients needing additional privacy. Public computers can install plugins to limit third-party tracking, enable private browsing modes, and make settings that purge a user’s browser history between uses. While it may seem that a large-scale cyber-attack or data breach is unlikely for a regional public library, we must take precautions to prevent this rather than wait until it happens. The potential for these problems and possible solutions is one of the most interesting aspects of this subject, and I look forward to discussing what I have learned with my colleagues at the library.
Social media strategies and plans.
As a social media administrator for the Burnie Library Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BurnieLibrary/), I feel as though our page is a hindrance to library staff rather than a dynamic marketing tool used to engage and promote our library’s wonderful services. At a local level, there are between six and eight staff members with varying roles with permissions to post content. Yet, we have no social media plan, schedule, or consistency in tone and too often, there are grammatical errors in posts; not a great look for a library!
The readings, in particular ‘The 2024 Guide to Facebook for Libraries: Updated Tips To Get the Most Organic Reach’ and ‘The Library Marketing Tookit’s ‘Seven Concepts for Marketing Libraries’ (Potter, 2012) has given me the confidence to approach my own leadership team with a proposal to create a Burnie Library Facebook strategy with a two-week in-advance content calendar, a plan for data capture and a reporting process to measure progress and success.
The OLJ
Creating this blog in Thinkspace was a refreshing experience compared to writing traditional assessments in Microsoft Word, despite challenges with the formatting. I continuously improved my blog over the weeks, changing from classic mode to block text, improving the style and fonts, and adding categories and tags for easier searchability. It was through reading my classmate’s blog on accessibility (https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/moth/2024/01/05/inclusiveness-accessibility-and-diversity-in-social-media/) that I went back through my entries and added alt text captions to allow screen reading software to describe the images to people who may be reading my blog who have a print disability. In Thinkspace, there were two issues I found problematic compared to writing and assignments in Word: the lack of a working spell checker and the ability to conduct a word count. In the case of the spell checker, words were highlighted as being spelt incorrectly, but when hovering the mouse over them, there were no suggestions of correct spelling. I did try to solve this issue through the Thinkspace help pages and forums. Still, due to time constraints, I created a workaround by writing the blog posts in Word, correcting all spelling and grammatical errors, conducting the word count, and then copying/pasting them back into the blog template. It was inefficient, but it did the job, and I am happy with my blog’s overall style and content.
Research for Assessment 1
The last point I want to reflect on is how my PLN assisted me with the research for Assessment 1. As part of the assessment, I compared the Facebook posts of nine libraries in the Libraries Tasmania network across the month of November 2023 to discover which content had the most likes or shares (comments are deactivated as per Australian defamation laws). There was a clear pattern: any generic posts advertising upcoming programs or events had almost no interaction yet posts that received the most attention was those that connected the user to the community. Photos of prize winners, attendees participating in a library event, and even a family of ducks living near the Rosny Library were popular (well as popular as they can be on a Facebook page with a small following). I then needed to compare Libraries Tasmania posts against a similar regional library, and it was here my PLN came in handy! As a recent attendee of the Public Libraries of NSW SWITCH Conference, I had met the new librarian for Wentworth Shire Public Libraries and knew they were having similar issues with social media engagement, therefore it would be a good comparison. It was, and the data I received from viewing both their Facebook and Instagram pages correlated with what I had gained from our own Facebook pages, that people still prefer to engage with social media that promotes human or emotional connection.
I think that will be the key for libraries moving forward, as the social networking landscape continues to become saturated with new platforms, at the end of the day people will gravitate towards a human connection and if a library can get that balance right, they will be unstoppable!
(1962 words)
References
Agarwal, S. (2023, October 3). Great news: social media is falling apart. https://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-splintering-new-less-toxic-era-meta-bluesky-twitter-2023-10?op=1
Al-Khouri, C., Lowrey, T., & Long, C. (2023, April 3). TikTok to be banned from Australian government devices. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-04/tiktok-ban-australian-government-devices/102183478
Conversation. (2022, May 10). What is BookTok, and how is it influencing what Australian teenagers read? https://theconversation.com/what-is-booktok-and-how-is-it-influencing-what-australian-teenagers-read-182290
CSU Thinkspace. (2024). Using Categories and Tags. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/using-categories-and-tags/
Humphreys, S. (2019). Tweeting into the void?: Creating a UK library twitter list and analyzing best practice – successes and myths. Insights, 32, 1-23.
Hurst, A. (2023). The 2024 guide to Facebook for libraries: Updated tips to get the most organic reach. Super Library Marketing. https://superlibrarymarketing.com/2023/11/13/facebook2024/
Libraries Tasmania. (n.d.). Internet conditions of use. https://libraries.tas.gov.au/public-libraries/computers-internet-access/internet-conditions-of-use/
Potter, N. (2012). The Library Marketing Toolkit. Facet Publishing.
Statista. (2023). Most popular social networks worldwide as of October 2023, ranked by number of monthly active users. https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
Target Internet. (2024). How different age groups are using social media 2023. https://targetinternet.com/resources/how-different-age-groups-are-using-social-media-2023/
Warren, T. (2023). Inclusiveness, accessibility, and diversity in social media. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/moth/2024/01/05/inclusiveness-accessibility-and-diversity-in-social-media/
Yorio, K. (2022, December 5). Leaving Twitter? Where will librarians and the kid lit community go? https://www.slj.com/story/Leaving-Twitter-Where-Will-Librarians-and-the-Kid-Lit-Community-Go