Here’s my presentation from today’s Handheld Librarian III web conference. It was a fun talk, and a great conference – lots of good food for thought.
Enjoy!
social media | emerging trends | libraries
Here’s my presentation from today’s Handheld Librarian III web conference. It was a fun talk, and a great conference – lots of good food for thought.
Enjoy!
It’s been fun today watching the #inatweet meme take off on Twitter. Which made me think it’d be fun to document it a bit – memes, trends, and interesting topics CAN originate from your organization (it’s certainly happened to my library before).
Here’s how the #inatweet meme started:
Justin Hoenke (@justinlibrarian) was talking to Joe Murphy (@libraryfuture) about Dropbox, a cool file sharing and storage service, and I chimed in too (’cause Dropbox really IS a cool tool). Justin asked Joe and I if “either of you point me in the direction of a good place to start for learning about Dropbox?” I just said “they have a video about themselves – I’d start there.”
Joe, however, tweeted this: “Dropbox in a tweet: Transfer/synch files across comps & mobile devices via web or software @JustinLibrarian @davidleeking.” And I replied back “@libraryfuture @JustinLibrarian good job! Hey, u cld start a meme – describe *** in a tweet!.” …
And of course Joe, master of all things social, actually DID it – “Let’s do it! @davidleeking Librarians- share an intro to a useful tech in a 1 Tweet blurb & use the #inatweet hashtag.” Then we both did a couple of retweets …
And now we have this:
Besides being pretty useful – short, to-the-point descriptions of services is always a good thing – think about this:
We need to engage our communities, and something as simple as starting a conversation on a social media tool can be a way to do it. Think about it.
ps – make sure to add to the meme! Describe a service in a tweet, and add the #inatweet hashtag. It’s that simple!
Sometimes, I get these types of questions:
“I’m learning about social media tools, and a patron saw I was online and asked me a question … but I wasn’t at work! What should I do?”
“I was at work, and a friend saw I was online in Facebook and started asking me about the party last night. What should I do?”
Here’s my take. I’d love for you to add to the discussion!
First, for the patron/after-hours question. There are a few different ways to deal with this:
How about the friend-contacting-you-at-work thing? For starters, I’d say chatting with a friend while at work is perfectly fine (as long as you’re getting your work done). You’re learning the tool with someone you trust. That’s a great way to gain new skills.
What if that staff member is spending too much time in Facebook? Think about your work phone for a sec. In most jobs, it’s fine to get an occasional call from a friend. But if you’re spending 5 hours a day on the phone with that friend, then it’s a problem. And it’s not a problem with the phone – it’s a behavioral issue that the employer needs to deal with. Same thing with Facebook. Deal with the problem (spending too much time talking to friends while at work) – not the symptom (phone/Facebook).
While I’m on the topic, a related question that I’m also asked is this: “Should I set up separate work and personal accounts in social networks, or set up one for everything?”
I’m not convinced the question is completely warranted anymore. Some social networks have made this issue pretty easy to figure out without worrying too much about personal/work-related stuff. For example, Facebook has two types of accounts – personal profiles nad organizational Pages. If you set up an organizational library Page, and you set up a personal profile that’s you, the two don’t really cross over.
There is one kinda tricky part to Facebook Pages. To set up a Facebook Page, you use your personal profile. That organizational Page is connected to, or owned by, whoever originally sets up the Page. This is important to think through! Do you create a “library david” profile, then create the Page (which sorta goes against Facebook’s policy – one profile per person)? Or do you use your real personal profile to set up the page? I know more than one librarian who has gotten another job, moved out of state … and still technically “owns” the Facebook Page from the old job. That can get weird fast!
There’s also one slightly tricky part with Twitter, too. My library has a library Twitter account. And I have my personal Twitter account. Easy enough. I also do a lot of “listening” via Twitter searches for my library. So, when someone asks a question or says something about the library – even if they don’t use the proper @topekalibrary to do it – I see that comment. I usually reply to them using my @davidleeking account. What do you think – is that ok, or should I use the @topekalibrary account? Not sure.
S0 – what do you do? Do you find it easy or hard to separate your work life from your personal life online? Let me know – and share what you do!
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:
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?
[David gets busy making signs…]
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:
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:
Other general silliness, from 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… !