social media | emerging trends | libraries
In November, I was at Rutgers, talking about makerspaces as part of their Rutgers University MLIS Colloquium Series.
It was a fun talk, and they recorded it and uploaded it to Youtube! So … if you have an hour and are interested in creating a makerspace of some sort at your library, you might find this talk helpful.
Thanks, Rutgers!
Wait. What? I just hit my 10 year blogging anniversary! Yessirree, 10Â solid years of writing blog posts!
What has happened in 10 years? Well …Â social media happened. Web 2.0 (and library 2.0) came and went (I think we’re on 4.7 now 🙂 ). Easy online video happened. Making physical and digital connections happened, for me anyway – I certainly have more librarian friends, colleagues, and acquaintances than I did 10 years ago!
How about 10 years in numbers?
Looking at the map in this post (from Google Analytics), I have readers in most countries (Not so much in Greenland or the middle of Africa. What’s up with that?).
In social media, I have 8767 Twitter friends and 1331 Facebook friends. Also bunches of friends in places like Instagram, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Goodreads, Youtube, and Flickr.
So why did I start blogging? Well … I like to write. Weird, I know. I also like testing things out, pushing myself, and thinking “out loud.” I also wanted a way to remember stuff, like links to good tools, or a repository of “stuff in David’s head.” Then I discovered blogs, and putting those things in a blog format, and letting people read if they wanted, made sense.
Then people actually started subscribing and reading and commenting. I very distinctly remember hitting a whopping 30  subscribers, and thinking “no way!” That was thrilling to me! Before Feedburner wigged out their subscriber counts six or so months ago, I was running 7-8000 subscribers. That’s HUGE (to me, anyway).
What has all this gotten me? A management job where I get to do cool stuff. I actually get to DO the things I write about here. And actually, they make me do it. I have heard “David, we read about this on your blog. Why isn’t it happening here?” more than once!
Also, lots of speaking gigs. Some international travel, even (more of that, please!). A part time speaking/writing/consulting gig. Two books – I’m an author!
And lots of time to think, process, and expand on how websites and social media and other digital do-dads are used to connect with libraries and customers.
Best of all, I’ve gotten … you guys! People who read my blog posts. You guys are awesome!
And … what do you get out of this? Hopefully something that makes you think, something that helps you next week at your job, or something that helps you successfully argue for an expanded digital presence. Maybe a stepping stone to a better idea that works for you.
Thank you So MUCH for reading, for interacting, for listening to me speak. You guys ROCK, and I’m truly honored that you spend even a small amount of your busy day reading my ramblings at davidleeking.com.Â
10 more years, here we come!
My new book, Face2face: Using Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Media Tools to Create Great Customer Connections, was just mentioned in this Inc.com article -Â Better Social Media Strategy: Show, Don’t Tell. Sweet!
In the article (sort of an author interview type article), I provide five tips on communicating with your organization’s customers using visual social media tools like Pinterest, Facebook photos, and Instagram.
Here are my five tips to create great visual communication that are mentioned in the article:
Each point is explained in more detail at Inc.com, so go read the article for more information (and thanks, Marla Tabaka, for the mention!).
And if you like that info … remember to buy my book!
As usual, I had a great time at Computers in Libraries 2012 (#CILDC). I learned some interesting things, and met some really cool people too.
I also gave a few presentations (ok – five presentations). Here are a couple of my slidedecks and some notes people took during the presentations, so you can get a feel for my sessions. Enjoy!
1. Seven Essential Elements to an Awesome Library Website
Nicole Engard took some pretty thorough notes! This slidedeck made the main page of Slideshare, in the Featured and the Top Pro Content sections!).
2. Digital Hangouts: Reaching Outside the Building
Digital Hangouts: Reaching Outside the Building
4. Benchmark Study – Library Spending and Priorities 2012 (another panel – notes from Joanna’s Conference Reports blog).
5. Let’s Make Video! (a preconference workshop with Michael Porter. Notes from the Montana BTOP Technology Training blog).
The fine folks at Information Today/Plexus Publishing just emailed and told me … my book is now an ebook! Sweet!
So – my book, Designing the Digital Experience:Â How to Use EXPERIENCE DESIGN Tools & Techniques to Build Websites Customers Love, is now in ebook format at these fine publishers:
If you haven’t yet purchased it (or if you have the burning desire to have my book in ebook format and didn’t download a rogue copy), please go buy it!
And one more slightly vague, mysterious plug for my upcoming book – it’s in editing mode at the moment. I have some touch-up work to do on it before sending it back. There are a few more steps after that, too – publishing a book is definitely a multi-step process.
The new book (tentatively called Face2Face) focuses on the nuts and bolts of  using emerging web tools to connect with customers. There are tons of books on emerging web trends, but honestly not too many that include practical “how to” tips for actually using those tools to connect with customers, patrons … and people. So I thought I’d write about that.
Look for it next year!