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Humanizing your Facebook Pages

by David Lee King on February 9, 2010

A “Book and Digital Media Studies” student (wow – what a cool-sounding program!) emailed me last week, asking about my favorite university library Facebook Pages. Well … to be honest, I can’t say I frequent university library Facebook Pages much.

But I followed up a bit, and did a search in Facebook for university library then narrowed the search to Pages, and found over 500 university libraries with Facebook Pages.

As I browsed through the list, I started noticing that some Pages had low friend counts in the 0-30 range, and many were in the 70-200 range. And there were a handful that had thousands of friends:

Why do these Pages have more friends? Glancing through them, it looks like they are doing one thing – they are humanizing their Facebook Pages. What do I mean by that?

They’re “doing stuff.” Stuff like this:

  • Posting regular status updates
  • Interacting with visitors in the comments of status updates – some status updates have 20-30 comments, as well as “Likes”
  • Pointing to stuff that’s happening in the library (ie., lectures)
  • Regularly add photos and videos – sometimes hundreds of them.
  • They use Facebook’s Events feature to list events.

How about libraries with a low fan count? Here’s one example – the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Main Library, with 7 fans. What are they doing? Nothing. They have 1 status update, from August 2009. Their most recent activity was adding the library’s website url, mailing address, and phone number.

So, to answer the question “Do students friend university library Facebook Pages?” (I hear that one a lot) the answer would be yes – IF those pages are being humanized. Looks like the pages with high fan counts have constant activity streams. Pretty much every day or so, something is happening on those Pages – there are regular status update posts, photos or videos are being added, and event reminders are being posted.

Basically, activity attracts Facebook users. Think of your Facebook Page like a party. Anyone ever attended a dead party? If there’s nothing going on, the party goers quickly find an excuse to leave, because the party is boring, right? In the same way, if your Facebook Page has no updates … your party is boring, and you are inviting your students to go do something else.

This is easily fixable if you do one simple thing. Post an update every day, and make it interesting. Examples from the Fan-heavy pages above include helping students out – pointing to a book/resource that has the “answers” for an assignment, just sharing an interesting tidbit of university or library news, sharing quotes, etc. Pretty normal stuff – just shared with Facebook users.

But if you’re not human, if nothing’s going on … no one will show up to your party.

Bunny by Alyssa Miller

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#5000 Tweets: What’s that Done for Me?

by David Lee King on January 8, 2010

tweetstats

I started experimenting with Twitter on March 6, 2007 (I am @davidleeking on Twitter), and I have just posted my 5000th tweet! What’s that gotten me, exactly? Actually quite a few things, including friends, connections to people, and some actual work, too.

First for some normal stat type things. Right now, I have:

  • 3198 followers
  • been included on 250 lists (mostly on librarian, kansas, rockstar, and social media lists)
  • created 4 lists of my own (that 20 people follow)
  • compiled a huge list of favorites
  • Also compiled 417 DMs that I need to delete but haven’t yet – most are other Twitter followers, saying something like “thanks for the follow, please click here” :-) But some are more relevant, like working out details of conferences I helped plan or some more personal conversations that didn’t need to be broadcast.

But how about those connections? Twitter isn’t about stats – it’s all about connecting with people. How has that looked over those 5000 tweets?

I have made some new friends through Twitter, and have kept up connections to people that I’ve met once or twice (like @shelitwits or @ifroggy).

Twitter has also given me connections to some smart “popular” people that I follow elsewhere, and normally wouldn’t have direct access to. People like Chris Brogan, Beth Kanter, and Kathy Sierra. They sometimes reply to my tweets – and in this way, Twitter has leveled out the playing field a bit. For the most part, people I want to talk to are a reply away.

I am also connected to lots of friends and colleagues, librarians, local friends and acquaintances, and other people sharing my love of social media tools.

That “actual work” thing. I have done real work that is connected to Twitter. Work that includes:

  • Overseeing three work-related Twitter accounts
  • Creating some goals for our primary library twitter account
  • I have written and spoken about Twitter. I have given at least three presentations on Twitter, and have written about Twitter in my book and in more than one magazine article.
  • When I have a work-related question? I sometimes go to Twitter first, and get quick, useful responses within minutes.
  • I use Twitter at conferences for discussion, committee planning, and (of course) dinner planning!
  • Remember when my library went through that book challenge last year? I tweeted the public meetings, and even “Twitter trended.”

Other general silliness, from TweetStats:

  • I generally tweet in the mornings and late afternoons
  • I tweeted the most during the library’s book challenge about 1 year ago
  • I average 6.1 tweets a day
  • I use Tweetdeck a lot
  • I have had 21 twooshes (a 140-character tweet, according to Tweetstats)!

So … looking back, has it been a useful 5000 tweets? I think so. I have made some friends via twitter. I have talked to people about projects, worked through ALA stuff, and shared things that interested me. I have shared jokes, sent links to my blog posts … and had fun.

p.s. – did you know that people tweet about their 5000th tweet? I sure didn’t… !

Twitter wordle screenshot

www.wordle.net

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Why do Librarians use Facebook?

by David Lee King on January 8, 2010

I’m sometimes asked why librarians should be interested in Facebook. Here’s a great answer to that question, via other librarians!

This video is one of a series of videos I’ve been creating for our library, called Tech Tuesdays. Tech Tuesdays is a weekly video series that focuses on emerging technology, library technology, etc – and focused on our patrons (find more of them in Topeka Library’s YouTube channel).

For this particular Tech Tuesdays video, I interviewed four of my colleagues at work, and asked them why THEY use Facebook. The answers are great:

Jeff, Adult Services:

  • keep track of friends
  • invited author to speak at library

Anne, Adult Services:

  • keep track of friends
  • teaching a facebook class for senior citizens on how to connect with family through facebook

Kyler, Youth Services:

  • keep track of friends
  • posts his upcoming music gigs (for himself and for library storytimes) on facebook

Gina, Library Director:

  • keep track of friends
  • shares info about the library and personal life

Interestingly, all four answers include a mix of personal connections and actual library work. Social media is still a pretty gray area – is it work? Is it play? Is it both? I think it’s definitely both… but that’s for another post.

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Seth Godin’s Good Advice

by David Lee King on December 5, 2009

I recently read Is It Too Late to Catch Up? at Seth Godin’s blog. The post is great – it includes ideas on how to “catch up” if you haven’t really done much in the web & social media world for the last 14 years.

But the one point that interested me the most was this: “Refuse to cede the work to consultants. You don’t outsource your drill press or your bookkeeping or your product design. If you’re going to catch up, you must (all of you) get good at this, and you only accomplish that by doing it.”

His point? You don’t outsource your main stuff.

Now think about the web for a sec. I can name more than one library that hasn’t done a whole lot with their website, but has “woken up,” so to speak, and wants to create a strong, dynamic web presence. For that matter, I know of more than one library association that has done the same thing.

I think Seth’s point, and I’d agree pretty strongly with it, is this – you need to create your web presence yourself. Especially if you want that web presence to reflect your library’s values, be truly dynamic on an ongoing basis, and be one of your major service points.

“But David, we can’t do that – here’s why:”

  • “We don’t have any money” – most of the tools and services on the web are free, and training (especially if self-led) can be, too. It’s a start, anyway.
  • “We have a web dude, but he/she isn’t up to snuff” – train them (or re-hire).
  • “No one in our library knows much about building websites/interacting on the web” – set up a learning program.
  • “Our library director/administrators don’t understand the importance of the website” – Talk to other library directors that DO get it, and ask them how to convince your administrators. Also, show your own leaders strategy and goals – not shiny cool tools.
  • “Our IT staff won’t let us do this stuff” – who’s in charge again? Do some strategic planning for the library, then make sure your managers enact it.
  • “Our city/county attorney won’t let us” – lots of other city/county/university/etc libraries ARE doing this, so call them up and figure out a convincing strategy that will fly with your attorney.

Thoughts?

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Reading Convergence – How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector

by David Lee King on November 20, 2009

This morning, I discovered a blog I hadn’t heard of before – the Leading Blog, at leadershipnow.com (subscribed). The post that interested me pointed to a report just released by La Piana Consulting, titled Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector.

Here’s a blurb from the report: “For the nonprofit sector to survive and thrive, everyone – nonprofits, fudners, and capacity builders alike – must become futurists. … being attuned to rapid and continual shifts in the environment; continually evaluating and interpreting how organizations can best adapt; and experimenting with new responses and approaches. Being a futurist requires both individual and institutional curiosity, and a willingness to take risks. No one of us can afford to rest on our laurels, assuming that the old ways of doing business will continue to serve us in this dramatically new and ever-changing environment.”

It goes on to discuss “five key trends converging to reshape the social sector”:

  • demographic shifts redefine participation
  • technological advances abound
  • networks enable work to be organized in new ways
  • interest in civic engagement and volunteerism is rising
  • sector boundaries are blurring

Interesting reading, so far – looks like the non-profit sector is dealing with very similar issues to us libraries!

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Purdue Adds Twitter & Facebook Participation to Classes

by David Lee King on November 3, 2009

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.

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IL2009: Micro Interactions, Conversations, and Customers

by David Lee King on October 26, 2009

Micro Interactions, Conversations & Customers

View more documents from David King.

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

Lists overview

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Tweet Like you Mean it! Twitter Strategies for Tweeps

by David Lee King on October 25, 2009

Tweet Like You Mean It! Twitter Strategies For Tweeps

View more documents from David King.

I am one part of a 3-person preconference session at Internet Librarian 2009 that’s focused completely on Twitter! Here’s my part of the session – enjoy!

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Tips for Managing Social Media Burnout

by David Lee King on October 22, 2009

Great tips from the Nonprofit Tech 2.0 blog on avoiding social media burnout (some of which I could use, boy howdy). The tips are:

  1. Don’t update your organization’s profiles on the weekend.
  2. Pick a time to quit in the evening and stick to it.
  3. Pick one social networking profile and keep it entirely for fun and your personal life.
  4. Sometimes just leave the smartphone at home.
  5. Take time for lunch.
  6. Breathe, exercise, and treat yourself. Seriously.
  7. Make time to connect with friends… in person or over the phone!
  8. Ignore, block, and delete grumpy, mean people.
  9. Stay focused on the Good.
  10. Make sure your work is appreciated by the higher ups in your organization.

Go read the whole article – lots more explanation for each point! Here are a couple more articles on burnout for those interested:

Pic by shoothead

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Topeka Tweetups

by David Lee King on July 9, 2009

Topeka tweetup @ wibw studiosAnyone ever attended a Tweetup? I attended my first, last night. What’s a Tweetup? Simple – a Tweetup is a get-together of people who use Twitter. The tweetup I attended was for Topeka-area people using Twitter, hence it’s called a Topeka Tweetup.

It was fun! This tweetup was hosted by WIBW Studios, a local television station. About 50 or so people attended. And I met some people that I have chatting with on Twitter, but never met in person, so that was cool. And it was fun hanging out at the studio, and seeing what “the other side” of the news cast looks like.

OK – Digital Branch Managers, Digital Initiative Managers, webdudes, marketers… you should be attending this type of gathering. Why?

  • If your library has a Twitter account, these are the people following you. Go meet them!
  • This group tends to be highly active, they get stuff done … you want to hear from them about library initiatives.
  • In Topeka, many of them work in highly connected jobs, i.e., tv stations, newspapers, marketing and advertising firms, political campaigns, etc. It’s always good to make those connections.
  • They all use the web, probably in an advanced way. They are your digital branch users (or at least potential users).
  • They’re just really cool people!

Want to find out more about last night’s Tweetup? We made a couple of news sites:

Question – How are you connecting with your social media users?

ps – I’m @davidleeking on twitter – feel free to follow me!

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