OLJ Task 4: Twitter feeds

The Twitter feed I explored was the American Library Association’s, @ALALibrary.

The @ALALibrary feed consists of updates from the American Library Association (ALA) and American libraries in general. The American Library Association also uses Twitter to point out highlights on their websites—everything from event announcements, to links for nominating your favourite Library Worker, to promoting store products.

At first glance this Twitter feed was very similar to that of many other Library Association feeds, however delving deeper it was apparent they had a unique way of sharing information and content that engaged and captivated a larger following.  What was particularly refreshing about the @ALALibrary Twitter feed and what makes it stand out from other accounts, is that they celebrate and share different American Libraries’ accomplishments and news, no matter how big or small.

Two examples of this are; in one post, Bonne Terre Library received a grant for new technology in their library, which included the purchase of a computer and printer. In another post, Anaheim Library revamped their old bookmobile and replaced it with a Mobile Library. Both improvements to these library services were equally shared and celebrated on the @ALALibrary twitter feed.

The audience of the @ALALibrary. Twitter Feed is Libraries, Information professionals and students. @ALALibrary is very successful at engaging it’s twitter feed with a large variety of engagement on its content including likes, comments and retweets. Since joining Twitter in February 2009, @ALALibrary has gained a total of 185 thousand followers and has posted 21.6 thousand tweets, averaging 5 posts a day. The feed features retweet content including tools, news, events and resources from other American libraries.

“The essence of Twitter is conversation” (Milstein, 2009).

Libraries, however, generally tend to use Twitter as a broadcast tool. @ALALibrary encourages followers to interact with the Association, to ask questions, share links and re-Tweet interesting posts from other organisation.  They take advantage of trending posts to open up conversations on different topics in a fun and unique way to captivate their followers including, Throwback Thursday, Fun Fact Friday and National Days, most recently, Puppy Day.  The conversations are what makes the @ALALibrary  feed so unique and engaging.

References

Image Credit: Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash

American Library Association. [@ALALibrary]. (2019, March 22). How many puppies have their own READ poster? @ChrisRaschka’s Daisy does. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ALALibrary/status/1109190012447457283

American Library Association. [@ALALibrary]. (2019, March 26). Congrats to @BTMLibrary! Getting a technology refresh including a new printer and computers thanks to @US_IMLS. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ALALibrary/status/1110634785758683137

American Library Association. [@ALALibrary]. (2019,March 26). National Library Workers Day is Tuesday, April 9th. Visit the @alaapa website and submit a star to let everyone know about the great library workers in your life.  [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ALALibrary/status/1110567589468606465

American Library Association. [@ALALibrary]. (2019, March 26). Thanks to an infusion from @US_IMLS, @Anaheim_Library’s revamped mobile library gets rolling again. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ALALibrary/status/1110545440859140098

American Library Association. [@ALALibrary]. Posts [Twitter profile]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ALALibrary/

Milstein, S. (2009). Twitter for libraries (and librarians). Computers in Libraries, 29(5). Retrieved from http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/may09/milstein.shtml