#PowerInNumbers: How Digital Libraries Use Collaborative Social Media Campaigns to Promote Collections

Abstract

Social media provides ample opportunity for digital libraries to work together to promote their online collections to users. Despite this, institutions rarely connect on social networking platforms, and there is little research of the outcomes when they do. This article examines the benefits of the monthly collaborative social media campaign #ArchivesHashtagParty, launched by the National Archives and Records Administration in August 2017, during the month of April 2021. Using Twitter analytics and personal observations, the author explores how users engage with the campaign and interact with material, how digital libraries work together as a community to promote their collections, and whether this campaign benefits participating libraries. Using return on investment to measure user engagement and increase in followers, this study finds that participating in this one-day collaborative campaign can benefit digital libraries of all sizes and is a valuable addition to social media strategies.

Keywords:

• Social media
• Twitter
• #archiveshashtagparty
• digital libraries
• collaboration
• National Archives
• digital archives
• return on investment
• Archives Hashtag Party

Data availability statement

The data that supports the findings of this study was obtained from TrackMyHashtag.com for a fee. Restrictions apply to the availability of this data, which was used under license for this study. Data is available from the author pending permission from TrackMyHashtag.com.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kyle H. Goedert

Kyle Goedert is a graduate student in the School of Information Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and expects to complete her degree in August 2021. She received her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Michigan in Arabic, Armenian, Persian, Turkish, & Islamic Studies in 2011. She currently works as an accountant and is a Research Assistant at the Levin Center at Wayne Law. Her main interests are digital archiving and social media research in the library/archival field.