With the emergence of digital technologies since the last few decades, the information context has been undergoing “technological revolution” (Kim, 2020). The advance of digital technology make way for social media (SM) to bloom, which drastically transform the service mode of information organisations in the aspects of service outreach, collection promotion, disaster management, user engagement and more. As information professionals, we need to embrace the challenges and grasp the opportunities that come with technological advancement in order to make our service to stay relevant.
The web 2.0 environment facilitated the implementation of library 2.0 which is a critical consideration point when information organisations take up social media presence. Web 2.0 technologies allow websites to be more dynamic and interconnected, producing “online communities” (O’Connell, 2018). The Web 2.0 features prompted the vibrant growth of free sites like Wikipedia and Facebook. We need to evaluate critically by taking into consideration the goals and objectives of the organisation, characteristics of different SM tools, staffing requirements, user experience and overall SM strategies in deciding SM implementation.
Strategically, we must match the SM functions with deliverables for a multi-pronged SM approach. For example, when we need to relate our services by social interactions to a massive number of audiences what pops up on our mind could be Facebook. Facebook is representative of the widespread uptake of online social networking. It is by far the biggest social networking site, boasting over 2 billion active users. If video function is desired, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube all offer this feature. We will be able to make a sensible choice when we evaluate more aspects like user habits, user base, staff capabilities and the SM’s supplementary functions.
Further, user acceptance is important to SM selection. We must orient towards our target service group for effective SM outreach. For academic libraries, professional social networking sites such as LinkedIn, XING, ResearchGate or Academia.edu would be suitable given their popularities among professional communities. LinkedIn caters to professional networking and its user demographics are quite different to those of other social networks. High earners are more likely to be LinkedIn users (O’Connell, 2018).
Operationally, a user-friendly SM approach with less technical requirement from library staff could be a good choice for many libraries. Blogging is a popular form of expression for many people to share thoughts and experiences about events, activities, or interests for its simplicity and flexible format. Twitter, a microblogging tool, combining video broadcasting functions and user friendly features has been gaining popularity among libraries (Collins & Quan-Haase, 2014). New York Public Library, Princeton Public Library and Queens Library tweeted heavily to update users about their library status and policies, advertising library events and services and for social interactions.
After careful selection of SM tools and well-thought design of SM strategies, we could level up the SM effect by coupling it with the latest technologies like virtual reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and mobile technologies to enhance users’ experience. Facebook is investing heavily in social VR technologies (O’Connell, 2018). With specially designed APP, special learning experience and efficient resources fetching functions can be brought to users. With VR or AR combining the use of mobile technologies, patrons may interact within an imaginary 3D virtual learning environment. Users will be immersed in interactive learning games to enhance learning experience or retrieve swiftly e-resources alongside physical collections (O’Connell, 2018). In Australia, librarians at Macquaire University creatively developed an engaging interactive game for undergraduate students to spark curiosity and instill evidence-based practice (EBP) knowledge and skills, while rewarding students for successfully completing learning tasks (Lessick & Kraft, 2017, p.408-409). VR could have a particularly profound impact on the medical professions. The startup VR service at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at the University of Virginia illustrates a new role for libraries to catalyze user creativity by providing exposure to VR technology and technology-enabled spaces to support VR use by a broad range of users (Lessick & Kraft, 2017, p.408-409).
Most importantly, devoting information professionals should undertake a bigger mission by steering our initiatives from the widest perspective for well-being of the society. SM offers us enormous opportunity in research achievements and disaster management. Data collection capacity of SM tools is an important consideration in SM strategies. We should utilise our SM tools to assist the work of researchers (Library of Congress, 2013) and manage a large-scale SM data archives (Bell, 2013). SM has been evolving rapidly partly due to the increasing number of disasters facing humanity (Alexander, 2014; Han, 2019; Liu et al., 2017). We should integrate emergency plans into our SM strategies (Bishop & Veil, 2013). In the rapid development of the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter provide a valuable source of information for research, while providing psychological and social support to users (Bell, 2012; Cuddy et al., 2010; Xie & Stevenson, 2019). Facebook supports personal social interactions and self-expression (McAndrew & Jeong, 2012, p.2359). It allows intensive analysis of personal preferences data and social interactions and thus allow librarians to make relevant recommendations on collections or services most useful to users (O’Connell, 2018). SM enables the seamless delivery of library service and events by live broadcasting or recording even during disastrous period like Covid-19.
While SM opens to us enormous opportunities to bring information services to unlimited heights, there comes with imminent challenges which must be dealt with vigilantly. Among challenges in association with SM like digital divide, digital literacy, copyright issues and others, privacy is a prime concern of our users. Informed consent, anonymity, and avoiding undue harm are three key concerns of users. SM platform should be designed to guide the decision to obtain consent to use individual’s social media data (Beninger, 2017, p.57–73). We should educate library SM users be aware of their privacy options. Users would feel angry and betrayed even if their public data was used as part of a research study (Pagoto & Nebeker, 2019, p.312).
Today, as information professionals it is our mission to propel the society forward with information and technologies. SM prevalence transformed the landscape of information context unprecedentedly. Only with perseverance, vigilance, creativity, courage and devotion can we ride on opportunities and confront challenges. Let’s do our utmost to safeguard our information society on its path to social networking.
References
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