Mayna Vessia- Libraries and Social Networking

Social networking and the heavily increased use of social media by establishments in the last decade has been astonishing to see. In the year 2021, not having a social media presence is generally stranger than the alternative. What do you mean you don’t have an Instagram? How do you stay connected without a Twitter? You DON’T have a TikTok? Are all things I’ve heard before. Society expects every single individual to be connected through the in-vogue social media platforms, so why wouldn’t McDonalds have a twitter? Or a small business a TikTok? Or your local library an Instagram? 

To put it into perspective, and according to the article, Likes, Comments, Views A Content Analysis of Academic Library Instagram Posts, “Since its inception in 2010, Instagram’s number of account holders has been steadily increasing. By 2019, more than one billion user accounts were active each month, making it the third most popular social media network in the world, and the Pew Research Center has reported that Instagram is the second most used social media platform among people ages 18-29 in the United States, after Facebook. Instagram has estimated that 90 percent of user accounts follow at least one business account.” In addition, it was also said that in congruence to the launch of Instagram, libraries have recognized and adopted its features to market their libraries and interact with patrons. The article also stating, “Library use of social media has steadily increased over time; in 2013, 86 percent of libraries reported using social media to connect with their patron communities.” Like any other social media account, libraries’ social media presence varies to different degrees of success. Success, in terms of social networking, is determined by three important numbers: likes, comments, and followers. Take for instance New York Public Library with nearly 500K followers on Instagram, and San Diego Public Library with nearly 8K followers on Instagram. Although both libraries have an impressive number of followers, receive interaction with patrons, and serve large populations, one cannot deny the clear gap in these social media accounts’ online presence and the power it holds to have a huge following. 

As mentioned before, libraries across the world have taken to Instagram to market and engage with their patrons. The wonderful thing about social networking is that it invites people no matter where they are in the world. Thus, potentially inviting new patrons that would have otherwise never known prior to social media. For instance, without social media, I might have never known about the George Peabody Library in Baltimore, a beautiful cathedral-like structure housing over 300,000 volumes, or the Tianjin Binhai Library in China with its futuristic design of overwhelming floor to ceiling shelving, or perhaps the Trinity College Library in Dublin with its dark-academic gothic architecture… This is the power of social media, the freedom to interact with the world, even if it is out of reach. 

 

References: 

Doney, Jylisa, et al. “Likes, Comments, Views: A Content Analysis of Academic Library Instagram Posts.” Information Technology & Libraries, vol. 39, no. 3, Sept. 2020, pp. 1–15. EBSCOhost, doi:10.6017/ital.v39i3.12211.