Would you follow your local grocery store in your favorite social network? The Topeka Hy-Vee is on Twitter and Facebook – and they WANT you to follow them!
Two observations here:
Social networking IS slowly becoming “normal” – I’m seeing similar “follow me on Twitter and Facebook” signs all over the place, at stores, restaurants, hearing it on the radio, etc.
If a grocery store can keep multiple social networking sites fresh (the Topeka Hy-Vee Twitter and Facebook Pages are updated daily) … I’m guessing you can, too.
And a question. Hy-Vee put a sign in the middle of their meat department advertising their social networking sites. Where are your signs? How are you inviting users into your digital spaces?
Andy at the Agnostic, Maybe blog (you are reading Andy’s blog, right? Good stuff there) recently posted Deconstructing Library 2.0 – and asked some good questions (I left a couple of comments).
Jenny Levine at The Shifted Librarian responded with a whole blog post (yay! Jenny posted! Jenny posted!). I almost responded in her comments, but needed some more time to process my thoughts. I’m not sure they’re processed yet. But I’ll throw this out – maybe y’all can help, and add to the discussion!
I’ll start us off with some observations from Jenny’s post. She quotes Andrew Burkhardt at the Information Tyrannosaur blog (yet another interesting blog to read) who said “The time has come for libraries to be social on the web. Social is the new normal. It has become mainstream and people expect it. Library 2.0 is not dead, it has just become boring and commonplace. And to quote Clay Shirky, “tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.”
Then Jenny goes on to say this: “The hard part, though, is that Library 2.0 doesn’t really replace anything … the opportunities these new tools afford us are in addition to everything we’re already doing, which causes problems, because we don’t get additional resources to implement them … That means being out in your community physically and digitally …”
My question is – are we there yet? I don’t think so. Remember my recent Facebook post? I pointed out that successful library Facebook Pages have staff members actively pushing out content and participating with their users in Facebook. There were some shining examples, and there were some, for all practical purposes, dead pages, too. Maybe those libraries ran into Jenny’s reality of Facebook being “… in addition to everything we’re already doing, which causes problems, because we don’t get additional resources” … so they dropped they thing they didn’t find to be important.
Or maybe, for those libraries, the technology has not yet “become boring and [more likely] commonplace.”
Here’s what I’m noticing when I speak at a library staff day event. I’m usually brought in to speak about “emerging trends and transformations” (translation – web 2.0 tools, services, and underlying philosophies). At these libraries, there’s usually a small cluster of staff that “get it” and are glad I’m there. There’s also usually a couple of staff that think that I’m somehow ignoring the digital divide, forgetting about people who need reading glasses, or even making library services tough for old and poor people.
Then there’s everyone else. For the most part, this larger group hasn’t really adapted to emerging tools, services, or philosophies (but are very willing to learn and to experiment). This is where the new stuff isn’t yet commonplace. For example, maybe some of them have personal Facebook profiles, and use them to reconnect with high school buddies, or maybe their daughter who lives out of state. But when I introduce them to using an organizational Facebook Page to connect with their community – to “be the library” to those people, in that digital space … well, that’s a whole different enchilada.
It’s the very same reaction that some staff might have if they were told to get out of the building, attend a local community focus group … and represent the library while there. It’s different like that … in the same way.
So, my tally on the good stuff mentioned in those posts:
“The time has come for libraries to be social on the web” – Yes, definitely.
“Social … has become mainstream and people expect it.” Yes and no. A growing segment of our community DOES expect it – but maybe not our traditional “regulars” who visit our physical spaces.
“Library 2.0 doesn’t really replace anything … the opportunities … are in addition to everything we’re already doing” – Yes, definitely.
Emerging = growing pains. For many of us, I think that’s where we are right now. We are emerging in many ways, and will continue to do so. But that emerging thing brings a lot of growing pains with it – new things to learn, new priorities, new philosophies to adapt to our organizations, new jobs being created to meet new needs.
Yay! and Ouch! at the same time. What do you think?
A couple months ago, I stayed at a hotel in Wisconsin with this sign … seems pretty useful, huh?
Except if you’re in room 429, like I was. I actually had to hunt a bit to find the room (it wasn’t obvious).
The point? Make sure to check your digital “signage” once in awhile. Make sure your labels and headings still make sense. Did you change the name of a room or a service? Make sure to change that name everywhere on your website, too.
Has your budget shrunk and you needed to drop a few databases? Make sure you removed those links on your database page (and any other page that mentions them, too).
Have you checked the driving directions to your library lately? At a previous job, I checked them out after starting, and discovered they were WRONG. So I actually hopped in my car, and drove around for awhile, taking notes of different ways to get to the library – and updated those directions.
Website maintenance never stops, huh?
Oh – and Happy New Year, too! I am looking forward to a fun, challenging 2010 – how about you?
Found this at Mashable – “Students at Purdue University are experimenting with a new application developed at the school called Hotseat that integrates Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging to help students “backchannel” during class.”
I’ve certainly seen some good uses of status updates during conferences, from discussions about a presenter’s content, to asking questions of other people in multiple committees during an ALA Annual conference, to … yes … planning for lunch with friends.
But this could be a pretty useful tool – from the simple “what did he say again” types of questions, to thinking “out loud” about content …
Cool project! It will be an interesting one to watch, to be sure.
My part of this session is above… I introduced the concept and talked about the variety of interactions available using social networks.
Up next was Amy Kearns and Julie Strange, talking about: Tweet What? 5 sweet ways to connect in 140 characters or less. Notes below:
Searching for tweets with a positive/negative attitude – sentiment at advanced search of search.twitter.com
showing examples of types of tweets from libraries
Twitter can be embedded anywhere…
1. use it for reference
2. connect for customer service
3. broadcast news & events
4. solicit feedback
5. broaden professional networks
6. harness the hive
From the article: “Visitors to your digital space don’t want to think about interacting with your website. They want to—quickly and easily—make a purchase, find information, or have fun. It helps if they can be engaged and enchanted in the process. How can we facilitate this type of digital experience? These ten tips are a great place to start…”
Go visit the article to read my 10 tips (or just buy the book if you haven’t yet ) … and comment there! I’m curious to see what happens.
Watch the screencast and make a comment – what do you think? What are you doing with Facebook Pages?
Show up at my table Monday, July 13, 10:30am. Instead of a formal presentation, show up having watched my screencast … and we’ll have a discussion about Facebook Pages!
So … this screencast is all about Facebook Pages. Here’s what I cover:
The basics of a Facebook Page – I describe what can be done with the Wall, the Info page, friending, status updates, events, discussion boards, and boxes.
Who uses your Facebook Page? I talk about the stats that come with a Facebook Page.
Facebook Apps – I briefly talk about the two apps my library has built
Connecting with customers – I talk about the ways a library can connect with customers using their Facebook Page.
Two posts caught my eye over the past couple of days, and they’re still rumbling around inside my head … let’s see if I can pull a couple thoughts out of the cacophony.
Both posts discuss how lots of industries are at the beginnings of huge restructuring/remaking themselves or are disappearing entirely, and how much of our lives will seem like upheaval until the “new normal” is reached. No one’s exactly sure what “normal” will look like (after the recession and remaking is over) – but everyone’s sure it will be completely different from now.
Here’s the first article, and the main one setting off thoughts for me:The Great Restructuring, by Jeff Jarvis. Jeff talks about our recession – first quoting Umair Haque calling it a great “compression … as an economy built on perceived value reconciles with actual value.”
Jeff also mentions this article from the New York Times and ends up calling our current recession a “great restructuring.” Then, he lists thoughts about quite a few industries and their future. Here’s a partial list of them:
America may well not be in the auto industry soon.
Financial services will have to be completely remade
Newspapers will vanish
Magazines are in worse shape than I would have guessed and many will go
Books’ channels of manufacturing, distribution, and sales will go through upheaval
Broadcast media will become meaningless, replaced by digital delivery
Large-scale retail will shrink and consolidate and then be transformed by a search-and-buy economy
The blockbuster economy in entertainment will become harder to support as more attention and money shifts to the tail.
We should be so lucky that elementary and secondary education will also face such pressure.
And that’s just a few (go read the article for the whole list and some great thoughts).
Here’s the second article raising a ruckus in my head:Big Music Will Surrender, But Not Until At Least 2011 from TechCrunch. This article mainly gives a music executive’s perspective of coming changes for his industry, and how they currently plan to figure it out. So it’s one industry’s perspective on how change will ultimately play out for them. Interesting take.
My question to you – are you ready?
Look at that list from the first article: books, magazines, newspapers, media. All going through huge changes, all going to be remade. And all stuff that’s near and dear to our librarian hearts!
Some of these changes are already starting, you know:
Newspapers and Magazines have already started going digital. It’s just a matter of time before more/most decide to stop printing that paper thing and go completely digital.
Books… {David quickly ducks} DON’T freak out! Of course I think people will still read books. That’s a given. But have you looked around lately and seen the Amazon Kindle? Or the iPhone ebook reader that millions of people are now carrying around? I have a book on mine to read right now. Those 300-page paper things will eventually turn digital – because it’s simply a container for the content – not the content itself.
Music and movies – think LPs/8-Tracks, Cassettes, CDs or super 8, 16 ml, vcr, DVD … and compare that to iTunes or Netflix emerging subscription models. Also going digital!
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for libraries – most of our huge buildings exist to primarily hold physical stuff. What will we do when there’s no physical stuff to hold? Will you still be able to justify that large building? That staff? (My answer to that is yes, you can … if you are planning for change now).
How are you starting to re-think your services and libraries?My library is in the middle of strategic planning, and we’re going to tackle that whole “re-think everything” approach. Looks like Darien Library has been doing that, too. How about you?
Closing thought – I live in lucky times – I get to see … basically … my whole life change before my eyes. And I get to help it change.
Facebook just changed the way they handle Facebook Pages in a major way. According to their Facebook Pages Product Guide, “Facebook is unifying and simplifying the way people interact on the site by making Pages similar to user Profiles.”
Stuff you can now do on a Facebook Page includes (quotes pulled from the Guide):
Posts by the Page will start to appear in News Feed, giving Pages a
stronger voice to reach their Fans
Posts by the Page will start to appear in News Feed, giving Pages a
stronger voice to reach their Fans
In addition, Pages now have the flexibility of multiple customizable tabs previously
exclusive to user profiles
Like a user profile, your Page can now update its Fans with statuses—short
text-only messages. Soon, these statuses will appear in Fans’ News Feeds
The Facebook Pages Insights tool will include new data on Fans’ engagement with posts from your Page. You’ll be able to see how many comments Fans make on your posts, and you’ll also be able to track how many Facebook users start and stop viewing your posts in News Feed.
And the list goes on. Go read the product guide (it’s a 10-page pdf file) for the whole scoop!
Why do I think this is cool? Until now, there hasn’t been much interaction allowed on Facebook Pages. Any interaction and conversation was essentially relegated to discussion group Q&A and to Wall-type comments.
But now … those of you who are heavy Facebook users … how do you use Facebook? Because you’ll be able to do that stuff. You’ll be able to send daily statuses reminding fans of important stuff happening at your library. I’m hoping this will have the ability to be tied to your organization’s Twitter account … to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.
And a couple of tiny warnings:
Facebook statuses allow comments – so you’ll have to check those comments AND respond. Yes – it’s another thing you have to check. Which I find AWESOME.
Some of you heavy Facebook users LOVE those silly “throw an egg at a friend” type activities… and you participate multiple times each day. My guess? If you do lots of those things with your organizational account … you will be unfriended fast. So – think twice, throw once
What do you think? Anyone else excited about these Facebook Page changes? Anyone have some fear and trepidation about it (sorry – I just wanted to use the word “trepidation”)? Discuss.
We live in a new world. A world in which local decisions made by very small groups can go viral, can be spread by a variety of social media tools, and can even reach global and unintended audiences. We are no longer private or anonymous! I watched just this thing unfold last Thursday at my library’s Board of Trustees meeting.
We Went Viral
By now, some of you have probably heard about the decision my library’s Board of Trustees made last Thursday regarding restricting access to four books in our collection. By the end of the evening, our very local library board meeting was the 7th hottest “trend” in Twitter.
I had decided to tweet the board meeting – I posted play-by-play public comments made by people in the community and the deliberations of the board on a hot topic. I used #tscpl as a hashtag, since I wanted to provide an easy way for people to follow the meeting as it progressed.
And I started tweeting. I took photos of the local TV news vehicles lined up outside the library and a fewpics of the meeting, and posted them to Twitter via the TwitPic service (a service that lets you easily share photos on Twitter). Jim Ogle, general manager at a local TV station (and cool tweep at @jimogle), was also present and tweeting at the meeting, as were a few other Twitter users.
Who followed the conversation? Local Topekans who weren’t at the meeting were following. Library staff that worked the evening shift were following along, too. Since I have my tweets linked to my Facebook status, Facebook friends were also following and participating by making comments and asking questions. Other librarians were following the meeting, as well.
At some point in the evening, our hashtag, #tscpl,”trended” on Twitter. What’s trending? “Trending topics on Twitter are keywords that happen to be popping up in a whole bunch of tweets. We measure these topics and adjust them in real-time throughout the day. It’s a great way of finding out what’s happening right now.” – from Twitter’s blog.
And like I said, we were the 7th hottest trend for a while – sure wish I had a screenshot of that! The screenshot I DID get is from my iPhone, capturing some Twitter Trend-watching services that noticed our hashtag was trending.
We Went Global
The next day, the conversation continued, and it went global. People continued tweeting about the meeting and the decision, and I posted news stories as I found them. An AP reporter was at the Thursday meeting, so we made the AP newswire… and we quickly made the USAToday, the International Herald Tribune, and the Taipei Times, of all places. And of course the usual library-related news sites noticed.
Some unintended but interesting sites: two adult industry news sites (found via twitter searches for tscpl and topeka), some book industry news sites, and a children’s rights group. With some of these, I’m guessing they follow a combination of keyword searches and RSS feeds – they primarily picked up the AP story.
The conversation on those sites is continuing, since many of them allow comments on each article! It’s actually quite interesting to compare the local comments on the Topeka newspaper story to the comments on the USAToday story (98 comments so far).
We’re No Longer Private
What’s this all mean? That Twitter works great as a real-time information spreader and conversation starter. That people are interested even in seemingly local stuff. That … yes … even your small library board meeting is no longer private.
) … and comment there! I’m curious to see what happens.
