From studying INF506 regarding the function and development of social media and how it assist information professionals in enhancing our skills and fulfilling our needs in delivering information services in the library, I found the knowledge that I learnt from the modules had educated me with knowledge about the concept of Library 2.0 service module, what type of technologies has been adopted into Library 2.0 service module, how they can support the library in delivering Library 2.0 services, and what role does social media plays in an information agency. Also, I have learned about the development of social media, how they can assist libraries in engaging with their clients and how some of the issues have affected social media, such as the fake news issue.

Throughout the time of engaging with other students through the subject’s Facebook group, I had been given a precious practical opportunity to practice using some common social media features which are available on Facebook, such as engaging with other people’s post by indicating my reaction to the post, leaving a comment to interact with the post creator to share our thoughts, which intermittently stirred up a virtual discussion between different social media user. For example, when a student or the lecture had posted something onto the Facebook group, I can leave a comment to highlight my thoughts towards the post and indicate my reaction to the post with either a ‘like’, a ‘laugh’ or a ‘wow’ emoji, which can become a useful feature for information professionals in engaging with the library clients, as Mon (2015) state “libraries can us participatory interaction features of social sites to engage users in discussions and invite user comments, suggestions, and requests” to obtain feedback about their perspective towards the library’s current collections and services. Also, I found Facebook can provide us with an alternative way to interact with other students within the class, such as at the beginning of the session, the comments for the first post allow us to further understand each other regarding our background and our experience in using social media.

Other than engaging with other students through the Facebook group, the experience of writing an online learning journal for each module and post it onto my Thinkspace blog have also given me a new opportunity to try out creating a personal blog that I haven’t try out before, as Facebook and Instagram are the social media platform which I normally use to engage with others. From the experience of posting my online learning journal onto the Thinkspace blog, I had discovered that a blog is like a website which an individual or organisation had adopted as a form of communication tool to disseminate information and expressing our ideas to the targeted group, which is supported by my reading of the article “Biblioblogging: blogs for library communication” as McIntyre (2008) state “blogs are a successful strategy for disseminating internal information to library staff working in public services”. For example, the LITA blog post “#NoFilter: Social Media Content Ideas for Libraries”, which is available in module 4 as one of the reading, was created to target information professionals who manage the library’s social media and disseminate information about generating quality content for social media.

Other than posting my online learning journal, the Thnkerspace blog had also allowed me to engage with other INF506 students by reading each other’s blog post to understand each other’s findings. For example, I can read other students’ blog post which covers a topic that I didn’t write about and they can review my post at the same, allowing us to explore the knowledge which we didn’t study.

Also, the ‘comment’ function available in each post allow everyone to express their thoughts after they have read the post content, offering an alternative method for INF506 students to engage with each other with our understanding regarding the topic we wrote. For example, if another student had written a post regarding the developing trends of information, I can leave a comment in her post to express my thoughts about her findings. And vice versa, other students can also leave their comment in my post to express their thoughts over my findings.

Other than learning the function of social media in the libraries, I have also practice using social media in my personal life to engage with my friends and follow different social media channels to receive different forms of information, such as news media for acquiring the latest events happening around the world, companies for promotional materials and service updates from library and information agencies. From my social media experience, I found myself rarely create social media post for entertainment purpose, but I have frequently used it to share posts which I found interesting or providing useful information which I want to share with my friends. And from my personal experience with social media, I found it has created some positive impact on my ability in understanding the knowledge I learnt from this subject, especially the practical experience offered by the subject’s Facebook group had offered me a platform to apply the knowledge I learnt in the modules, such as having the experience to understand how a social media post can successfully disseminate information to a large group of user, and how it can engage people into a discussion over the topic highlighted in the post.

Studying INF506 had taught me lots of social media knowledge I’d never heard of before and what role it plays in a library. It had also taught me different formats of social media platforms that libraries have adopted to engage with library clients, such as Facebook, blogging, etc., allowing me in developing social media skills that can be beneficial to my development as an information professional.

References

McIntyre, A., & Nicolle, J. (2008). Biblioblogging: blogs for library communication. Electronic library, 26(5), 683-694. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470810910701

Mon, L. (2015). Social media and library services. Morgan & Claypool Publishers. https://doi.org/10.2200/S00634ED1V01Y201503ICR040