Issue 1 6-‐month Social Media Strategy Report
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Social Media Strategy Report Submitted to Mary Ann Mavrinac and Ian Whyte. Written by Eva Stepanian
Background: The University of Toronto Mississauga Library initiated a Social Media Pilot Project in January of 2011. The recommendations from the pilot lead to the conception of a Social Media Librarian position, which received the annual OCULA New Librarian Residency Award. To date, the trials and achievements of the working social media strategy are testament to the potency of the medium and the mounting potential for it to lead the development of an active and engaged learning community.
Recap of Social Media Pilot Project final recommendations: Strategy • •
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Everybody (librarians, staff) should be contributing in some capacity to social media; the challenge is to get the commitment. “Editor” required, to be the “library voice” to coordinate and contribute consistently; an “editor” provides a consistent voice, consistent tone, familiarity with the library, and can effectively communicate to students. Generating content for Facebook/Twitter should take a backseat to video production; need to empower users to create video content; social media “editor” can push the content. Student centered approach to social media. o Educational approach (video tutorials, links to articles). o Informational approach (news, service changes, updates). Build a library identity using marketing and branding. Keep an eye on new social media platforms, critically considering their usefulness.
Best Practices • • • •
Brevity Video production cannot be overstated Twitter/Facebook as delivery method Lighthearted tone
Social Media Librarian Position • • • • •
Responsibilities: Advance the Library’s social media presence Build on the documented learning and presentations of pilot program Develop social media communications strategy for the library Implement the details of the strategy
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Prepare plans and tools for assessment Develop plan for content contribution Maintain and monitor the library’s presence on various services (including Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube)
Social Media Working Strategy September-March The overall goal of the working strategy has been to determine how social media platforms can be useful and valuable tools in developing or enhancing library/user interaction, thereby increasing the volume, impact, and quality of the library’s communications. The expectation is that by researching new and popular methods of communication via social media, and experimenting with various incentives and virtual/physical referencing, social media outlets can be immediate and constant tools through which the library AND its users communicate with EACH OTHER.
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Evolving and evaluating the Facebook presence Evolving and evaluating the Twitter presence Evaluating other potential social media platforms Integrating the library social media with other UTM social media voices Using Google analytics and platform-specific analytics Investigating strategies of generating content from all library staff
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The Social Media Librarian position supported a key recommendation of the pilot program, to secure a dedicated person responsible for social media in the library.
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As consistent with the pilot program, Facebook and Twitter continue to be the primary social media platforms that are relevant to our users. A departure from the pilot program: where the pilot program determined that content falls into educational or information categories, these categories have now been reimagined as broadcast (which includes educational and informational content), and engagement. Youtube remains a vital communication channel, acting less as a primary messaging method, and more as the platform for supplemental engagement materials.
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UTM Campus Relations •
In keeping with the Library’s vision to be indispensable to the UTM campus, a priority of the working strategy continues to be development and maintenance of campus-wide social media relationships with the Advancement Office, the Office of the Registrar, and the Career Centre, as well as various student organizations.
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Within these relationships, we continue to share information and promote relevant content between our respective social media outlets, to ensure optimal exposure and maximum impact for campus-wide initiatives.
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Nurturing these relationships is essential in demonstrating the Library’s vital presence on campus, in support of our overarching vision.
Future Recommendations Social media is currently the fastest growing and most influential form of mass media and information sharing. An academic library not only needs to participate in it, but also needs to recognize it as a tool, which can be used for role and service development, for delivery of services and information, and as a tool for which we must develop and teach technical competencies. The social media program going forward is understood as having two distinct areas of function: marketing and promotions, and student engagement and service. The nature of social media communication dictates that innovation and development comes from doing, rather than speculating, meaning ideas and experiments ought to be ardently applied, with frequency. Learning comes from doing. There needs to be an ongoing pragmatic understanding of what social media is (as it’s meaning, use, and significance are eternally fluctuating), and why it continues to be an effective tool for the Library. In remaining aware of the continual value of the tool and our role in social media participation, we will be able to reach an honest understanding of what real success is in this realm looks like, and whether we are achieving it.
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS • •
Facebook Establish a clear understanding of the Library’s role on Facebook, acting more as a reference and “place” to go, rather than an actively engaged “friend”. Keeping presence as it is, no action can be taken to actively “friend” users. We technically do not have “Friends”, we have “likes”, and we have no precursory control over who “likes” us. The more likes, the better, stands as a leading principle.
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In terms of engagement with “likers” on our profile wall, as long as the best practice methods concerning “tone” are considered, then all wall postings should be responded to in an open-ended way that best promotes a second posting. Searching for discussion outside of our page is unnecessary and generally unhelpful. Indeed, any direct communication outside of our page is undesired (read: creepy). Continue ensuring that Facebook activity exists beyond the hours of 9-5, as the peak audience is generally reached in the evenings. We have thought long and hard about the value of having librarians as friends on Facebook, as it would break-down the boundary that currently exists when the library is a “page” that can be “liked” but not a “person” to be “Friends” with (the relationship is inherently limited). However, the most recent consideration of this option has also brought to light the mess of privacy involved in “friending” students, and raises the question of WHY students would want us to see their profiles? Even if they could limit our privileges, those are too many steps for them to make being our “friend” worth it for them. Twitter: Continue to use as most relevant, immediate source for instant communication, interaction, and engagement. Treat as a daily gauge of student attitudes, needs and interests. Maintain ongoing active search method for “UTM library” and its variants, in order to collect retweet material, and offer service to students who may not be aware of the library’s Twitter presence. In terms of timing, continue adhering to the principle that more is more, but most is better. The nature of the update feed is so rapid, that the most recent tweet is generally only relevant if it is visible in the last few hours of updates. Obviously, 9-5 tweeting is ideal. However, it is important to maintain the connection outside of these standard hours, as not only are students at the library while we are not (most unguarded tweets come out at night & on weekends). Twitter activity is higher in the evenings and on weekends than during business hours (classes, work, sleeping in, commuting, all mostly happen 9-5). So, tweeting outside of business hours should continue, particularly during the beginning of the year, and through 24/5 hours. Continue to promote the most popular current hash tags; #UTMSoundCheck and #UTMSpotClaim as important habit-forming practices. Followership; do not follow everyone that follows you. Following/being friends with professional institutions, especially UT groups and departments are important, because important information can be shared and content can be collected. However, it is critical to expand beyond the UT circle. As an institution ourselves, the more individuals we talk to, the more varied information and insight we gain, and the better our profile looks to potential followers. The details are important. Generally, it is a good idea to follow familiar/frequent tweeters, follow faculty and student group leaders.
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Continue strategically assessing whether someone should be “followed” by becoming familiar with their tweets and tweeting style, and considering whether they could (a) be useful to retweet directly or (b) share useful insight that could fuel/inform our own tweet. All direct tweets (mentioning @UTMlibrary) should be met with a reaction. A direct reply, a retweet of the original tweet, or a quote tweet (to contextualize or reintroduce a topic). Alternatively, one may retweet AND reply to a single tweet, given that the topic is robust enough to warrant double mentioning. Search results should be retweeted more often than replied to. Searched UTM library tweets will only warrant a reply when they obviously mean to be directed to the library’s attention (such as tweets which require some sort of library assistance or guidance). Through this method, the social media project reaches potential followers proactively and provides service in a uniquely intuitive, personal way. Understanding our user’s usage helps understand how our own usage is digested & presented in feeds. In following some of our users, it is important to learn the three major types of tweeters: v 1. The constant tweeter: [literally tweeting every thought that pops in to their head, tweeting about having nothing to tweet, etc. v 2. The pesky retweeter: They tweet vicariously through other’s tweets. Which becomes a bit annoying, and while it still tells us about their personality, it is not entirely relevant for us to explore too deeply. v 3. The conversationalist: Spends the majority of their tweets referencing someone or replying to someone’s tweet to them. They are building a conversation, much like a FB wall interaction. Youtube: Continuing its use as a support platform, create new materials to add to our existing collection of reference and entertainment materials in this channel. Opportunity to leverage the communication platforms of Twitter, Facebook, etc., to promote the use of the Youtube content. This needs further development. Google+ Followership is a grey area, since those you put in your “circle” don’t have to confirm this relation, so it allows for more liberal adding, less privacy considerations in terms of decision-making, and more of a “followership” than a friendship. Continue promoting and teaching the utility and benefit of the G+ Hangouts function. Determine the ideal use of this relatively new social platform, considering that the student awareness and use of the network is significantly low. Consider using G+ as a Faculty engagement and communication platform.
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Tumblr This platform is ideal for sharing and displaying visual images and information. As such, specific campaign images and projects such as the Student Wellness initiative should continue to be promoted through this platform, and fed through other social media communication tools such as Twitter, and the library website.
For all of the platforms discussed, ensure that the methods outlined in Social Media Best Practices are followed (Appendix attached).
EDITOR • An enduring “Editor” role dedicated, to a substantial degree to social media
management, is essential for the optimal functioning of the recommendations outlined in this report.
Without a dedicated editor, the slightest future scenario defaults to a distribution of Social Media responsibilities on an ad hoc, as-needed basis. • •
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Low Commitment, Low Impact, Low Quality. This alternative essentially suggests reverting to the way social media was handled before the introduction of the Social Media Librarian position. However, it is important to note that this alternative will not allow the current recommended strategy to function successfully, given the technical detail and immersive commitment that is required to realize all of the outlined practices and techniques. The recommended strategy infers the existence of a more active and committed position in order to be effective. Keeps the library in the light “marketing” side of the social media program. Alternatively, student staff use of our social media outlets might be considered, although from this eventually becomes inconsistent as the students are inevitably supervised and their activities overseen and approved in advance, which constricts the nature of the medium. In addition, since ownership of the identity is dispersed, it predictably becomes less pronounced and less effective. Danger exists in realizing that a lack of consistency on social media, particularly after a time of active engagement, can lead to a loss of credibility and relevancy for current and future users. Highlights importance of having a librarian responsible for this duty, not only because of the level of commitment required to successfully undertake the recommended strategy, but also because of the knowledge and awareness of how to respond, what information to share, and how to understand and manage problems and new developments that are received at unpredictable moments.
Incorporating Social Media into responsibilities and duties of a fulltime librarian. •
Moderate Commitment, High Impact, High Quality.
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Covers both marketing & promotion, and student engagement & service elements of the social media program. The position of the Social Media Librarian, as it exists, is terrific because it has allowed for me to observe and experiment with social media possibilities and build a comprehensive strategy from scratch. In addition, it has allowed for me, as an OCULA resident librarian, to have a maximized experience, participating in all kinds of related tasks, events, meetings, etc. Going forward, as the role of the Social Media Librarian matures, the core of the social media responsibilities require 50% of an FTE. However, it is critical to recognize that my experience within this role has brought to light several areas, which directly relate to social media management, and currently remain undefined, unassigned, and lacking attention and development. These include areas of communication, digital public relations, faculty and campus outreach, library promotions, active digital signage management, homepage content organization and enhancement, library event organization, library event content creation and publicity, campus event coordination, community relationship building, and active brand and service recognition. With these areas unaddressed, it currently falls on the Social Media librarian to creatively bridge the existing gaps, or elect to do without these services. Addressing these service needs in combination with responsibilities that focus on social media management, emerging social media research, experimentation and teaching for learning support, and programming for social media literacy, would introduce a new role, which ensures maximum value for the library, and maximum growth for the librarian. Critical to the success of this station are position-specific qualities including creativity, spontaneity, alternative thinking, flexible workflow, and an inclination towards experimental communication and expression of ideas. Will work towards solving content-development challenges as well, as a clearly defined communications point-person might garner more thought and attention than one who seems to exclusively focus on social media. This robust portfolio holds value in its ability to address the aforementioned holes in the library’s role and service, while also providing a dedicated commitment to social media management and enhancement.
UTL-wide Social Media Management Librarian. High Commitment, High Impact, Moderate Quality. To contextualize this alternative, consider that throughout the development of the social media strategy, people have begun to take notice and recognize that UTM library is really excelling at this social media game. Unfortunately, the general feedback seems to be that while libraries would love to do this, they don’t have the time, dedication, skills/knowledge and training to go forward with similar services, which is not only disappointing, but acknowledges that UTL is missing a key service opportunity. • Combining the understanding that a specifically designated position at each library might be over-dedication, and a lacking presence across academic libraries is a real missed service, consider the UTL Social Media Management Librarian. Social Media Strategy Report 8 • •
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Being a very large organization, it is understandably complicated and difficult to get ideas off the ground. This alternative offers a novel approach to this issue, in order to allow the core findings and principles of the recommended social media strategy to work to the advantage of the UTL libraries. By investing libraries-wide into a single resource, this is a financially smart move that positions the libraries well ahead of the game and on the leading edge of digital media and virtual service & engagement. Indeed, it would serve as marketing & promotions, and student engagement and service for the entire library system. This is a unique and novel opportunity to quickly and relatively cheaply ascertain an adaptable and actively relevant brand in an increasingly essential medium. The understanding is that the level of communication and interaction might not be as high as that of a dedicated library-specific social media management role.
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Content contribution continues to be challenging. There is certainly value in diversifying the social media voice and experience through different users, staff, and librarians. However, given busy schedules and workloads, consistent and reliable participation is not something that most individuals are willing to commit to. To this end, the recommendation is to continue the existing successful means of verbal content gathering from library staff [the technical terms for when people hang out by office doors, or go off on tangents during meetings] and strengthen the student staff engagement on social media as a demonstration of a “new/other” voice/experience.
STATISTICS, ANALYTICS, & QUALITY CONTROL •
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Users tend to “file away” much information as they receive it, which means that while it is useful or relevant, it does not compel them to interact or engage with the messaging. It is not important to chase the numbers in terms of these insights, because it is more valuable to understand and capture the moments of engagement to understand how/why they were successful and how it can be continued. The driving force is not to gain more followers, but to gain more interactions and user experience moments. As it stands, our Facebook popularity has grown by 34% over the last 6 months. There are built-in insight tools that provide various types of statistics, page views, demographics, and reach and frequency. For our purposes, reach, interactions, and the origin of visits are most useful to understand, whereas a growth in our “likes” is not as helpful, because it does not provide any insight into how to improve our activities. In addition, the challenge of Facebook for the library is accepting that it is simply not as powerful of an engagement tool for an organization. In this sense, page views are important for us to understand what types of informational or community-building components our “likers” find useful.
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For Twitter, the following increased by about 17% in the first 3 months of this program, and by 42% in the next 3 months, growing from a rate of about 2-3 new followers a week, to about 2 new followers a day. These types of statistics are particularly useful, because they illustrate two things: First, that this particular social network is growing quickly, and secondly, that our activity is attracting more attention. As mentioned earlier, however, the value of the tool is really much better understood through specific interactions than numbers.
The impact of a satisfied user interaction.
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Moving forward, it will be very important to continue paying attention to instances of successful interaction, as well as analytics to help supplement our understanding of successful messaging and engagement strategies.
Quality Assessment: • Continue to take informal opportunities to gauge content and interaction satisfaction among users. • An end-of year or summer student survey and an advisory board focus group is required at this 6-month point, but also as an ongoing quality and success measure, from which we will be able to validate many of the content goals outlined in this strategy, and verify the priorities of the strategy moving forward, as well as learn new insights into areas of our social media program which are lacking.
CONCLUSION In my 6-months as the very first Social Media Librarian, what started out as something “I think I would be good at”, has developed into something that I do not stop thinking about on a daily basis. The significance of this is twofold; it speaks to my utter enjoyment of the job, and more importantly shines a light on the nature of this medium, in that it is always on, always going, and most prominently always providing opportunities for new and exciting engagement, learning, feedback, and growth of services.
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The challenges and discoveries that have been encountered so far have worked in combination with my ongoing research and discourse concerning social media trends and prospective uses, and academic library trends and priorities, to shape the recommended strategy that is presented in this report. While a social media presence may have started as an added courtesy to UTM Library users, it has now developed into a full-blown vital service that is gaining recognition and awareness daily. In addition, the development of the social media strategy has brought with it a rich and valuable understanding of how to use social media tools and build a social media voice and presence, which is important to then share with our students, staff, and faculty for their own use of these tools. At the heart of this Social Media Program is the understanding that librarians are capable of improving the quality of service and facilitating and encouraging discourse in their communities in ways that Google and a home page cannot. Through the social media program, we are enhancing and optimizing the student experience in their own chosen spaces, as well as enriching the relevant role of the library/librarian.
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Appendix: UTM Library Social Media Best Practices. Content Original Content vs. User Generated Content: • Sharing on Facebook and Google+, and retweets on Twitter have an important function, but are not as valuable as original content and correspondence. We must ensure that they are relative. A good standard is to have about 4: 1 ratio of tweets to retweets or posts to shares on your profile. • However, be aware of any user-generated content that could lead to valuable engagement opportunities, and capitalize on them. Examples include a multimedia driven post, or a tweet that could encourage sharing of thoughts and opinions. In this case, the library is facilitating a discourse between users, not between users and us. • Retweet non-library tweets from your following. They typically like it or are oblivious to it, only one has ever commented relatively awkwardly.
News/Updates: • Always be alert for urgent messaging opportunities, including tech problems, etc. Tweet/post these with vigor. [if it is a relatively short-term issue, no need to post it to Facebook].
Scheduling posts: • Scheduling is a good method for keeping ongoing programing and marketing
content consistent, especially for Facebook. Consult librarians and staff to find out about upcoming events and regular tweets that they’d like to see, and schedule them per week. • Tweeting, particularly, should be more of a combination of spontaneous occurrences and scheduled posts.
Ask, don’t tell: • Get personal (not too personal, of course). Ask engaging questions that prompt more than a yes/no answer, instead of simply broadcasting impressive/useful information.
Understand the message: • Always consider whether a potential post/tweet is meant for broadcast or engagement. Both are fine, but it is useful to understand the motivation of a message, in order to maximize on the response. Then, consider whether the information being purveyed is worth stretching out and asking a few questions to incite interest before making an announcement.
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Get Content: • It is critical to collect content from contributing staff, librarians, and student staff. However, the problem continues to be that this type of participation is generally not forthcoming. Typically, when approached with a question about a particular event or issue, people become eager to contribute content and information, but it is unrealistic to expect that content will be offered without provocation. In terms of provocation, weekly emails asking for content in general are not entirely useful, as they are not specific enough. “Verbal content curating” [the technical terms for when people hang out by office doors] and observation during meetings and casual discussions still are the most effective means of gathering useful information. • The reference wiki is a great place to get content ideas, keep up with what students are asking. Searching: • Run a search for “UTM library” and its variants at least twice a day. This is a good way to get retweet material, and offer service to students who may not be aware of our Twitter presence. Redirection: • For Twitter, in keeping with the sentiment of minimizing the broadcasting of information, avoid redirection to an external site. Instead, attach a pdf to the tweet and keep it contained within our twitter page. • Facebook is a bit easier to redirect from (and links are displayed quite nicely with the opportunity to still comment/like the link inside of our Facebook page), so external links are okay. However, if/when possible, let there be a Facebookspecific version of a flyer/event posting. • This also creates a “library” of information on these sites, which students intuitively refer to first for any and all of their information needs. • Cross posting between Facebook/Twitter is okay—it is really only effective in promoting one to the audience of the other. The actual information or event being cross-posted should, in most cases, be network/platform dedicated (twit pic, wall post, etc). • Cross posting between multimedia networks is more successful (i.e. cross posting between Tumblr and Facebook, or cross-posting between YouTube and Twitter). Repetition: • It is okay to repeat tweets on twitter, especially for evening/weekend tweets to make sure the message got across to the majority of your audience. • For Facebook, repetition is not as effective. The pace here is slower, and the nature of browsing allows for your audience to easily see several posts on your wall over time. Only repeat information or questions after a lengthy period (weeks, if not months).
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Content-Relations Hashtags: • excellent for establishing normal service priorities, and changing user behaviour, so consider them when introducing an ongoing topic, and try to be consistent in using them. Also, include “UTM” or “UTMlibrary” in a hash tag when possible, to make it more obvious and searchable. • The success of a hashtag depends on timing and audience reception, so be aware of ideal moments to introduce them. For example, jumping into a library space conversation on twitter turned into #claimedyourspot. Which illustrates that half of the plan, is planning to GO WITH THE FLOW. This ensures a more intuitive, and effective interaction. • Connecting things like #utmproblems and other popular [non-library] hashtags or topics works your own message into a RT and helps spread the msg. (i.e. when I incorporated printing problems into a #utmproblems)
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As mentioned in hashtags, jumping onto an opportunity that is being discussed is critical [like noise or space complaints]. This demonstrates why it is important to strategically prepare content and then wait for the appropriate time to execute it. Alternatively, staying open to new types of conversations or messaging is also beneficial, in terms of keeping up with student interests and expectations. For example, our own version of the popular “Y U NO guy” tweets—which was student inspired, and occasionally, a better way to communicate messages.
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Inspiration & Our Version
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Continuing messaging AFTER an event is critical, to keep the discourse going, inform those that missed it, and remind those that were there to share!
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Time-of-Year Considerations: Beginning of the year: • Introducing our voice all over again while being familiar to old followers, trying out new things like “library style” posts, implementing new programs & hash tags, directional questions, etc. Reading week/Christmas break (emptier periods): • More room for fluff, time to experiment with new techniques, post more photo’s and ask more random questions. Like in the following example, where we just tweeted a cool trick that had really no purpose but entertainment (which is important to remember, beyond information and engagement, we are entertaining them).
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An important underlying point here: know your audience. If it is reading week, they are sleeping in, so do not send out your important tweets at 9am, instead work with THEIR flow. Imagine how they will be seeing the tweets in their timeline. Engage in some FUN! Marketing and communication has always been more successful at the “fun”. Similar to the principles behind games, fun is essential and healthy for people’s lives. When they’ve got a zillion things coming at them, the fun stuff resonates, gives pleasure (and maybe even some info). Previously, marketing and engagement through fun was expensive and challenging, now it costs nothing-- so do it! (talking to Bella the security guard
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confirms that humour and fun work better than “authority”, somehow garnering respect via appreciation). Exam Period: • Make reference and resource help a top priority, as well as being aware of student wellness. Something as simple as us suggesting that an overwhelmed student take a coffee break resulted in a grateful, more relaxed tweeter. (i.e. “Library Nonsense Catalogue Project”).
Tone Twitter: • Tweets thrive on brevity, abbreviation, and the use of acronyms. • Humour should be used, but only mildly. A helpful gauge is to consider whether your grandmother would find a comment vaguely humorous, and avoid exceeding this level of comedy. [Note: other people’s funny tweets should not necessarily be held to this standard when retweeting. Instead, judgment is appropriately gauged based on considerations of profanity and vulgarity] • As a rule, “lol” should be used almost exclusively as a reaction, in replying to tweets (more or less to make the tweeter feel good about their sense of humour or the circumstance of a situation). Otherwise, keep “lol”ing to a minimum. • Avoid “haha”s and “hehe”s entirely.* • “rofls” and the like are never to be used.* • A note about punctuation: Ironically, although punctuation tends to eat away at precious character-allowance, the following seems to be true; periods are more or less unnecessary, comas only as required, but question marks and exclamations in excess are a trend – a way to underline or bold a sentiment without adding any more words. • CAPITALIZATION is a good way to attract attention, but be warned: Abusing capitalization often leads to your post being ignored all together. Use it sparingly, preferably only for 1-2 words per post, and far between in postings. * • Words to avoid: omg, like, yo, *This does not apply in the context of someone else’s’ tweet being retweeted. Retweets are quotations, and should not be altered. •
The consideration of tone of Facebook and Google+ is much more straightforward, and essentially identical to the tone used on our website, with the addition of features like tagging names (which makes it a touch more personal and less formal).
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Activity/Interaction Records •
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It is important to remain aware of the nonpermanent nature of the social media platforms that are being used, and thus set measures to ensure important interactions, information, examples, and conversations are captured and recorded. The easiest and most efficient method of capturing activity is through a screenshot or screen capture. This way, the interaction is captured in its most authentic form, conveniently also capturing date and time stamps, and can be used for learning, analysis, and presentation purposes. Some suggestions for important activities to capture include: particularly successful engagement moment, a user complaint or compliment, event-related conversations, user-to-user interactions facilitated by the library, and potentially problematic activity (as in the example below).
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For more information on the Social Media Project, see the feature on “Social Media in Student’s Lives” in our Annual Review here.
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