Getting Started
When I first chose to enroll in this subject, I cringingly have to admit, I thought it would be a simple and quick overview of the different types of social media platforms that are currently available, for example the big four of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, and how they are and potentially could be utilised by the information professions. I was certainly not anticipating the realisation of just how much of our online presence and daily interactions are governed by social media and social networking sites. As I began making my way through the modules, and researching topics for my first assessment task and online learning journal (OLJ) posts, I found that the awareness of both my digital identity and what I was sharing online changed. While I previously, and continue to, believe in the concept that what you post or share online is never truly private or forgotten, I had never really considered what my digital footprint might look like, and just how much of my private data was available for anyone to find.
After watching and exploring the content and videos available on the website Me and My Shadow (n.d.) I began to wonder just how much I was unintentionally sharing without any conscious knowledge. Gone are the days where Googling your name was a fun exercise in discovering just how much your online identity had grown, and being proud of how easy it was to find yourself. Now I find myself not only seeking to control how much information and data others can potentially uncover about me, but also being more aware of just what I am posting and sharing on my social media accounts. Brandtzaeg and Chaparro-Domínguez (2020) note that most of us continue to use the same social media platforms as we develop from our youthful identity to our professional identity, and this has the potential to impact how we are perceived as we move through the professional landscape. Thinking of this I began asking myself, what platforms do I engage with in either capacity – personal or professional – and how are they relevant to either my study or my professional identity.
Before commencing this session, even though I have accounts with multiple social media platforms, I predominantly used Facebook and Instagram and to a lesser extent Twitter, however, this was more for personal than professional use. While I followed some larger organisations such as The British Library and The Smithsonian Museums, I was unlikely to interact with their posts on either platform past a ‘thumbs-up’ like as I was scrolling past. It was as I was researching for both my OLJ and the first assessment task that I began to actively look at what was being posted, and sought out similar orgnaisations and hashtags I could follow, especially on Instagram. As Budge (2020) writes it is through its popularity with social photography that Instagram has developed into a significant social platform where “life is represented and explored and then shared with the world” (p 4). I found that this way of posting social photography not only provided an interesting and captivating visual representation of the library and organisation but the captioning provided me the opportunity to investigate further. By using the captioned hashtags the ability to discover more users and organisations expands, and I have since found myself using Instagram for professional insights and ideas that I could potentially implement in my future workplaces.
It is not only Instagram that I have begun to regard in a more professional capacity after working through this course. Given its current popularity and its potential stemming from the inclusion in Hutchinson’s (2021) Top 6 Social Media Trends of 2021, TikTok has become the platform that I surprisingly find myself wanting to explore. Of course, I knew that it was a popular platform for creating short, silly, or fun videos usually involving a piece of earworm music that will just not leave my head. However, after delving into video after video, and blog post after blog post for my Key Trends OLJ post, I am now aware that it is so much more. Residing within the TikTok hashtags, the BookTok hashtag is a way to connect with millions of users and share something that is deeply personal to all of us – our reading choices. This hashtag has the power to rekindle a person’s love affair with books; it is a way to inspire a stranger to try something new; and it has the potential to promote and increase literacy in younger users (Flood, 2021; Merga, 2021). In the past, I had been hesitant to add another platform to my ever growing collection of hardly used social media applications, believing that I would never use it either personally or professionally. But, having seen the various ways it has in order to connect and engage with its users, I am sure that my future social media platforms will, very shortly, include TikTok.
Constructing and Contributing
The concept of creating and posting to an online learning journal (OLJ) or blog wasn’t foreign to me. For assessment tasks I had, in previous subjects, needed to create reading guides for my local (fictional) library which were posted to our upcoming events and activities page. For another, I needed to perform a series of professional development activities which then had reflection pieces posted to an OLJ blog. And if I am being completely honest, I found them enjoyable (especially the reading guide), but there was always an element that I wasn’t quite satisfied with. And even though I told myself that I would continue to add to it, keep posting, the truth of the matter is, I didn’t. The subject finished and I moved on. Nothing more to be seen (or read) here.
At the beginning of this session, I had the expectation that the same thing would happen. I would work my way through the modules, complete the OLJ posts, and once again, move on. However, this has not happened. As individuals we all connect with different aspects of the learning modules, and having several options to choose from depending on our interests throughout the modules has made the process of completing these OLJ posts a more rewarding experience. As I progressed through the modules, I began finding it more difficult to pick which task I wanted to complete, as I wanted to know more; to learn more. It has proven to be such a rewarding experience thinking about my social media and social networking use, that I have since created my own WordPress blog and am in the process of transferring my posts across. This subject has piqued my curiosity and shown me my voice, and the tasks that didn’t make the cut this session will be added to my new blog as I continue through my degree.
On the opposite side, the most challenging part of this subject for me has been the engagement with other class blogs and commenting on the group Facebook posts. I struggle with the fear that my comments will not sound ‘smart enough’ or that they will not progress the discussion in a meaningful way or that they are just plain wrong. I am very much a sufferer of Imposter Syndrome and I am not the only one. In their article Lacey and Parlette-Stewart (2017) look at some of their own experiences of Imposter Syndrome in the library and information profession, and list some activities and strategies you could employ to help overcome these fears. As I have worked my way through this session and read through the posts and comments made by others in the subject, I have come to realise that I do not need to post an essay length comment complete with references to show that I have engaged with the post. I have learnt that it can just be a short affirmation stating that I enjoyed the post and it has given me cause to think about a subject differently. Armed with this knowledge, it is my continuing goal to comment on more discussion boards and blog posts through the rest of my degree and across my social media accounts.
Completion and Moving Forward
Working through Assessment One, it highlighted how important social media can be for not only libraries and information organisations, but also for us, the current and future information professionals. The clear benefits of having a social media presence, keeping it current, using it to connect with not only our users but other libraries and information organisations, far outweighs the time and effort it takes to create it (Chi, 2020). But it is also important to know which platform is the right one for your organisation to use. And with the now almost endless choices, knowing who you want to reach is just as vital as deciding on the platform itself. However, what happens after you have decided which platform to use, and who you want to reach? Each platform comes with their own measurement tools, which have been created to provide a complete view of how users are engaging with the posts (Chi, 2020). Through further research after our proposal feedback, I learnt that evaluation and employing tools to measure the success is just as important as the posts themselves.
Even though I currently am not working in the library or information sector, my workplace still has a social media policy in place. I admit, before working through this course, I had never really given much thought to it, it was just a piece of paper I signed when I commenced my job. I didn’t post that much to social media, and I certainly never posted anything about my employer – how could this policy possibly affect me? However, over the course of this session, and after delving into the different platforms that are available, I have learned that having a comprehensive social media policy is an asset to an organisation, and to me.
So, now we come to the end. Of the reflection and of this course. This journey through social media and networking has been very different than I had first imagined it would be, the learning content so much more detailed than I expected, and the sense of accomplishment so much more satisfying than I have experienced before. I find myself slightly disappointed that it’s ending, but excited to explore some of the topics I didn’t get to post about – topics like: diversity and inclusion in social media spaces and platforms, as well as looking into online privacy and how to manage my personal data and social platforms. It has been a very informative session and I know that it has provided me the tools and knowledge to implement in my future information organisation workspace.
Brandtzaeg, P. & Chaparro-Domínguez, M. (2020). From youthful experimentation to professional identity: Understanding identity transitions in social media. Young, 28(2), 157-174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1103308819834386
Budge, K. (2020). Remember me: Instagram, selfies and libraries. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, 69(1), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2019.1688507
Chi, D. T. P. (2020). Developing the use of social media in libraries. International Journal of Library and Information Studies, 10(2), 49-57. https://www.ijlis.org/articles/developing-the-use-of-social-media-in-libraries.pdf
Flood, A. (2021, June 25). The rise of booktok: Meet the teen influencers pushing books up the charts. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/25/the-rise-of-booktok-meet-the-teen-influencers-pushing-books-up-the-charts
Hutchinson, A. (2021, February 17). The top 6 social media trends of 2021. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/the-top-6-social-media-trends-of-2021-infographic/595171
Lacey, S. & Parlette-Stewart, M. (2017). Jumping into the deep: Imposter syndrome, defining success, and the new librarian. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, 12(1).http://dx.doi.org/10.21083/partnership.v121i.3979
Me and my shadow. (n.d.). Take control of your data. https://myshadow.org
Merga, M. (2021). How can booktok on TikTok inform readers’ advisory services for young people. Library & Information Science Research, 43(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2021.101091