Social Media Use of National Libraries: A Content Analysis Specific to Instagram

Abstract

Europe’s top five most developed countries and five developing countries were determined based on the Human Development Index. The national libraries of these countries and the Instagram accounts of the National Library of the Presidency of Türkiye were examined, and content analysis was performed. Within the scope of content analysis, general views, post types, interaction data, purpose of sharing, narrative format of the content, personal values in the content, visual content, and message association themes were discussed. This study aims to reveal how national libraries use Instagram posts to interact with their target audiences. Within the scope of the study, Instagram posts shared by national libraries were analyzed through content analysis using the ReCall program. The findings showed that national libraries focus more on rational content and emphasize posts that highlight rootedness and nationalism rather than the goal of communicating with the masses or mobilizing users. It was also found that the posts of national libraries differed according to their Human Development Index values. In countries with a high Human Development Index, information and arts-related messages were more prominent, while in other countries, promotional and event-related content was more dominant.

Keywords:

• Content analysis
• Instagram
• libraries
• national libraries
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.