Social Media & Education
I have been following a number of public and school libraries as well as library organizations and individual librarian bloggers and informers on Facebook for some time. Some favorites of mine are the Lillie Russell Memorial Library in Lindale, Fort Bend County Libraries (my county of residence), Texas Library Association, Katy Budget Books (also local to me), and Dr. Lesesne, many of whom I follow on other social networks as well. These accounts come to the forefront of my mind immediately when I think of Facebook, because they stay very active and regularly posts topics of interest that catch my eye when I am checking my mobile Facebook app; I check this approximately once per day. Generally speaking, I do feel that Facebook’s popularity has waned incrementally, but only due to the rising popularity of other social networks with younger patrons (among US citizens, 84% of users are aged 30 to 49); I still feel it is relevant and a good means for blasting out needed information, if only as one of many social networks that an audience may be following. In my opinion there is a sort of minimum expectation that any official business or mid-sized-plus organization have “at least” a Facebook page which is updated regularly, almost akin to the way we as consumers began to expect official websites many years ago. Is it an effective conduit of information for smaller organizations? I do feel an organization the size of a school district, or even a large campus, should keep Facebook followers abreast of the latest news; I would draw the line of expectation at the campus level, however, and feel that individual campus establishments, such as its library program, needn’t necessarily have a presence on Facebook, and should probably focus more on very mainstream platforms like Twitter or Instagram.
Twitter, a “microblog,” offers many benefits to reaching a broad audience; it currently has approximately 126 million daily users, a number that Twitter now prefers to reference as opposed to the number of “monthly” users; for Facebook, that number is approximately 2.5 billion users per month. However, the majority of users are still above the age of 18 (Walton, 2020), so while this is a more effective means of reaching high schoolers, for schools and library programs at the elementary level, it should be viewed as a primary means of getting information out to parents and guardians, not students.
What are libraries using their accounts to report on? By and large, Twitter accounts are being used to keep audiences informed on the lastest going’s-on in the library environment--the daily happenings and small triumphs, an effective means of promotion that makes followers feel they are in the loop. Leaders are using their accounts to not only advocate and express opinions on relevant issues in education, technology, and literacy, but to frequently retweet the views of others as much as they are posting original content. Facebook, by contrast, is more of a means of communication for many groups, a place to still post “events” to which people can RSVP.
Useful tweets from industry leaders:
Tweets from school libraries promoting their daily activities:
Tweets that let you know what’s going on:
As a third and final member of the Facebook/Twitter/Instagram family, Instagram can also be a fun and useful tool that has increased greatly in popularity over the last several years. Sadly, many school districts strictly block it’s access on school networks. Theories abound as to why schools choose to block Instagram, yet most don’t account for why other social media sites aren’t blocked as well; likely, the reasoning has to do with the photo-rich content of Instagram, which is more pictures than text. Still, older students as well as parents and guardians can access it from home, so should educators choose to maintain an account after hours, there are many fun and interesting ways to inspire learning, even imagining how a historical figure or alternately fictional character may post (Hudson, 2017). Follow educator accounts like MadlyLearning for inspiration:
And follow my new account for more!
Cited
Clement, J. (2019, November 19). Facebook users worldwide 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/
Hudson, H. (2017, July 4). 10 Surprising Ways to Use Instagram in the Classroom. Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://www.weareteachers.com/10-surprising-ways-to-use-instagram-in-the-classroom-2/
Kastrenakes, J. (2019, February 7). Twitter keeps losing monthly users, so it's going to stop sharing how many. Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/7/18213567/twitter-to-stop-sharing-mau-as-users-decline-q4-2018-earnings
Walton, J. (2020, January 29). Twitter vs. Facebook vs. Instagram: What's the Difference? Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/100215/twitter-vs-facebook-vs-instagram-who-target-audience.asp
Twitter, a “microblog,” offers many benefits to reaching a broad audience; it currently has approximately 126 million daily users, a number that Twitter now prefers to reference as opposed to the number of “monthly” users; for Facebook, that number is approximately 2.5 billion users per month. However, the majority of users are still above the age of 18 (Walton, 2020), so while this is a more effective means of reaching high schoolers, for schools and library programs at the elementary level, it should be viewed as a primary means of getting information out to parents and guardians, not students.
What are libraries using their accounts to report on? By and large, Twitter accounts are being used to keep audiences informed on the lastest going’s-on in the library environment--the daily happenings and small triumphs, an effective means of promotion that makes followers feel they are in the loop. Leaders are using their accounts to not only advocate and express opinions on relevant issues in education, technology, and literacy, but to frequently retweet the views of others as much as they are posting original content. Facebook, by contrast, is more of a means of communication for many groups, a place to still post “events” to which people can RSVP.
Useful tweets from industry leaders:
The Crafting of A #MakerSpace https://t.co/2jM4RzVht6 pic.twitter.com/1pvQ51iQO8
— Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) January 6, 2020
Tweets from school libraries promoting their daily activities:
Excited students received their book bags from @BarbaraBushFdn today & got to hear volunteers read aloud! @bcecougars pic.twitter.com/8g8EpTF06Y
— BCE Library (@LibraryBce) November 22, 2019
Tweets that let you know what’s going on:
Family night at the BCE #ArcticAdventure Book Fair is Tues., Nov. 12, 4-6 PM. See you there! #hotchocolatebar ❄️❄️📚 @bcecougars pic.twitter.com/9Peo8iVZFr
— BCE Library (@LibraryBce) November 8, 2019
As a third and final member of the Facebook/Twitter/Instagram family, Instagram can also be a fun and useful tool that has increased greatly in popularity over the last several years. Sadly, many school districts strictly block it’s access on school networks. Theories abound as to why schools choose to block Instagram, yet most don’t account for why other social media sites aren’t blocked as well; likely, the reasoning has to do with the photo-rich content of Instagram, which is more pictures than text. Still, older students as well as parents and guardians can access it from home, so should educators choose to maintain an account after hours, there are many fun and interesting ways to inspire learning, even imagining how a historical figure or alternately fictional character may post (Hudson, 2017). Follow educator accounts like MadlyLearning for inspiration:
And follow my new account for more!
Cited
Clement, J. (2019, November 19). Facebook users worldwide 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/
Hudson, H. (2017, July 4). 10 Surprising Ways to Use Instagram in the Classroom. Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://www.weareteachers.com/10-surprising-ways-to-use-instagram-in-the-classroom-2/
Kastrenakes, J. (2019, February 7). Twitter keeps losing monthly users, so it's going to stop sharing how many. Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/7/18213567/twitter-to-stop-sharing-mau-as-users-decline-q4-2018-earnings
Walton, J. (2020, January 29). Twitter vs. Facebook vs. Instagram: What's the Difference? Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/100215/twitter-vs-facebook-vs-instagram-who-target-audience.asp
I agree that Facebook is more for the older generation of people using social media. Twitter and Instagram are by far more popular with the younger crowd. If I could only choose two platforms, I would go with the latter two...but I still feel utilizing the triad of platforms would reach more people, especially if you're trying to spread a universal opinion and not directly toward and certain age group.
ReplyDeleteYour blog post was extremely informative. It seems that you are very well acquainted with educational and academic social media and blog sites. As an educator that is very important. In this new age of modern technology, social media is the best way to acquire and spread new and innovative information that can reach millions. It's so refreshing to learn new ideas and activities that are proven effective by other educators. I loved the account MadlyLearning!
ReplyDeleteYou are correct social media has many uses in the school. I am not a huge fan of social media (keep in mind from a much older generation)--I promote and use it anway, albeit, with some resistance. I prefer Twitter only because I started using this more. I just started an Instagram account out of force, I admit. However, after seeing your infograph perhaps I should use Instagram more as people like to look at it several times per day? Great blog!
ReplyDelete