Walt Crawford, internationally recognised writer and speaker on libraries, technology, policy and media, has compiled a comprehensive picture of how public libraries use social media both for outreach and marketing. Examining almost 6000 US libraries, Crawford provides an analysis of the different strategies used by libraries of all sizes and funding levels.
Prefaced as a ‘voyage of discovery’, this book is essentially a research report, but it also could be used to explore the opportunities that ‘could be’ to guide librarians through the maze of potential pitfalls and promises to the social networking presence that ‘should be’. The author explores key questions that will help libraries to define and develop their social media strategies and provides guidelines for setting goals and ongoing evaluation. Crawford provides within this slim volume examples and ideas, the scripts for tweets and posts, and strategies for being noticed. Most impressive is the depth and breadth of the supporting research that provides the data for ‘who, when, how many and why’ from so many libraries that there is bound to be a scenario to match the needs of most readers.
Crawford compares the value of Twitter versus Facebook and discusses how to make the most of the media. He includes examples of posts and conversations collected from his research, and he reviews the effectiveness of these posts with supporting data and suggestions for improvement. In Chapter 6 he discusses how to market a social networking project, ‘to link or not to link’ and other strategies for having a visible presence online. This chapter also addresses the difficult topics: when to close the account, and the ‘right’ way to do it.
In the closing chapter, Crawford reflects on the changing social media landscape during the preparation of the book, the number of posts and tweets, the number of new accounts and, sadly, the number of unused accounts. He concludes that, despite the potential benefits for all libraries, social networking is not for every library and that for many the investment in time and attention is too high a cost. It is a cool reminder that ‘the bright shiny things’ are not a short cut, but with planning and considered development there are benefits that cannot be otherwise achieved. In the meantime, says the author, ‘thousands of libraries reach more than a million people through social network accounts – and that's a good thing’. The potential is there to reach millions more than we ever could by traditional strategies.
This book would be useful for librarians exploring the opportunities for engaging clients through social media as well as marketing their library service. It provides research and hard data to support a proposal for a new programme or the ongoing development of an established social networking programme.