Analysis of ALIA and UNESCO Twitter presence
- Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) @ALIANational
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) @UNESCO
I found that ALIA and UNESCO Twitter presence and online persona are managed properly, the content of tweet and re-tweets are also aligned with their missions. As pointed out by Barbara (2017), organisation utilises its resources effectively when it refers to the organisation mission and strategic plan, activities to achieve its goals. Both organisations have a similar mission, according to UNESCO (2019) and ALIA (2020), both organisations have a mission to ensure people have access to information which is based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that focus on economic, environmental and social development.
ALIA twitter feeds focuses on library and information sector that target GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) in communities/industry in Australia, such as:
- organisation announcements, promotion of ALIA News subscription and courses,
- employment opportunities in Australian libraries,
- promotion of library collection, library services and events,
- educational/useful resources in Library and information,
- special commemoration messages,
- competition announcement,
UNESCO Twitter accounts are available in multiple languages such as: Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish. Its twitter feeds cover a variety of aspects on economic, environmental, education and social development that targets diverse global communities/audiences, GLAM industry/communities, Governments and Non Government organisations, such as:
- Health advice for community
- Campaign on the importance of education, human rights, anti corruption, environmental protection, etc
- Global issues on inequality, education, politics, human rights, poverty, climate change , health, peace, diversity, heritage/historical collection, and culture
- Educational information/resources
I consider ALIA has a good Twitter presence and UNESCO has a successful Twitter presence as ALIA has gained 11,300 followers and it is following 1,070 other Twitter users, meanwhile UNESCO has gained 3.3M followers and it is following 2,069 other Twitter users. Both have demonstrated engagement with their audience by gaining Likes from other Twitter users, also by giving Likes to others, by posting tweets & re-tweets regularly, receives tweet replies from other Twitter users, many of their tweets have been retweeted by their followers or audience, and UNESCO tweets have been quoted by many people/other tweeter users. I believe the success of these two Twitter presences highlight the important role of social media in terms of inserting a virtual presence in many aspects such as public relations, promotion and community outreach (Kelly and Glazer, as cited in Williams, 2020, p. 147). Furthermore, the social interactions between the organisations and their audience will contribute to the community, building a sense of belonging, togetherness and collectiveness that will prompt Likes, comments, and shares on social media (Gruss et al., 2009).
References:
UNESCO. (2018, September 12). UNESCO: The lab of ideas, the lab for change! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt7l1Ky4-gQ&feature=youtu.be
ALIA. (2020). Think global, act local. https://www.alia.org.au/advocacy-and-campaigns/think-global-act-local
Gruss, R., Abrahams, A., Song, Y., Berry, D., & Al-Daihani, S. M. (2020). Community building as an effective user engagement strategy: A case study in academic libraries. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 71(2), 208-220. https://doi:10.1002/asi.24218
UNESCCO. (2019) UNESCO in brief – Mission and Mandate. https://en.unesco.org/about-us/introducing-unesco
Williams, M. L. (2020). The adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in academic libraries: A comparative exploration. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 52(1), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000618788725