Social Media: The Next Big Thing
As a twenty-something year
old teacher of seventh graders, I tend to think I know what is popular in my
generation and downwards. Social media is nothing new. While I was in middle
school, I had a blog that I posted to quite frequently, only having a few
friends as followers. Anyone remember Xanga? Yeah, that old. With that being
said, the blogging community has not spiraled down in the slightest, in fact,
it is at an utter high now. It seems nowadays that one viral video, a good or bad interview, or even a silly post can get you “famous”. Depending on how famous, that’s up to your followers and the rest of the internet. Leading to my point: social media controls us; we do not control social media. We control what we put on social media, but it is up to everyone else to decide on what happens with it.
Likes, follows, retweets.. they all depend on
someone else. This is why it is so important for libraries to post, not only,
interesting and inviting material, but for them to post material that is going
to hit home for all age groups, ethnicities, genders, and personal standards.
Sadly, we have to really think about what my middle school students are saying. Not only is it them, but many high school and college students that I know have talked about how Facebook has become null and all other social media accounts are “in”. Instagram and Twitter seem to be the top priority for those who are twenty-five and younger, while people my age to early forties tend to rely on Facebook with hints of Instagram and Twitter.
I truly believe that Facebook will never go away. Facebook, in my opinion, was one of a kind and one of the first big social media platforms that paved the way for others to create theirs. While I do not believe it to be the most popular social media site anymore, or one I use regularly, I keep it around because of how much information is on it. I have heard many friends and colleagues state the same. Simple things such as pictures loaded by oneself, tagged photos, birthdays at your fingertips, and announcements of birth, weddings, or even divorces. Facebook is the automatic go-to site when one needs the nitty-gritty of all information, whether people want it or not.
While, popularity speaking, it may not be the local hot-spot for individuals, I still think of Facebook as a great marketing tool. I constantly get notifications of upcoming events or will hop on to check out any new things to do in my area. The only disadvantage to this is that A.) one must have a Facebook and many young adults do not and B.) information tends to get looked over unless you are searching for something specific or end up remembering to “like” or bookmark the page.
Privacy is not a concern in the slightest when it
comes to Facebook. If the user doesn’t want people to see their posts, they can
easily block specific people or hide it from anyone who doesn’t get accepted
after trying to follow them. You can choose to accept or decline personal
messages, accept or decline events, people, or even comments on your posts. It’s
a win-win for all.
Ali posted everyone’s thoughts during college study time.
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| Screenshot image from my personal Facebook account.Please do not take without asking. |
Lauren helped me procure books for my classroom’s personal library using Facebook as a platform to get the word out. Because of her, and many others, I received close to one-hundred books, for free, to add to my library.
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| Screenshot image from my personal Facebook account. Please do not take without asking. |
When you search for anything, the information it gives you on the scroll area is the title, whether it is a group or page, the number of members, and the average number of posts a day. With that information, I went through and chose three different pages and groups to look at for three different reasons. First, we have to know that a page is designed to be official profiles for entities while groups are a communication platform for people to share common interests, concerns, and express their opinions.
One:
School Library Journal
@SchoolLibraryJournal
Basic Information
This is considered a page rather than a group, has
over thirty-two thousand people who like the page (including me), and is listed
as a news/media company. I chose this page for a few reasons: S.L.J. is well
known in the library community, the information is relevant and pertinent, and
the sheer number of people who like the page baffled me.
Posts, Comments, & Likes
I
randomly scrolled through and chose three posts to see the number of comments
on them. The first post that sparked my interest was a link from CSMonitor.com
on the number of published Muslim characters within books today. A whopping
seven people liked and/or loved the post, one commented, and one shared. This,
to me, was eye opening and enough so that I added it onto my Tumblr page for
more people to hopefully see.
The second post I chose was one that popularized
due to backlash from the community, rather than excitement for something new.
The NYTimes.com article that was posted to the School Library Journal was
titled “Drag Queen Story Hour Continues Its Reign at Libraries, Despite
Backlash”. But, backlash is what it got from others outside of this library.
With over two-hundred fifty likes/loves/sad faces, thirty-four shares, and four
comments, the information was respected and comments showed hearts full of
love. Then again, this is what we saw in front of society; we have no clue how
many rude messages the S.L.J. received for posting it.
The last post was a heartwarming one! A repost from
the @nytimes, Emma Boettcher, a fellow librarian, raked in over $2.46 million
dollars and thirty-two plus wins on the show Jeopardy. The post was simply to
honor the librarian on her achievement and it brought in seven comments of
congratulations, fifteen shares, and one-hundred twenty-five likes/loves.
Two:
School Librarians/Library Technicians
No @ available
Basic Information
A group of almost five-thousand,
60 members who previously attended SHSU, was another good place to start. With
an average of three posts a day, this group is described as “a place for
librarians/library technicians working in schools to exchange ideas, great
books, great library programs, etc.”. Interestingly enough, this is a closed
group, allowing me zero access to anything other than very general information.
Because the group is closed, and has been for the past twelve years since its
creation, I am unable to see any posts or comments, making it difficult to
decide if one should join it or not. How frustrating would it be to think you
found a perfect place to gravitate to for ideas, only to come back to it and
realize it was an utter mess? I joined. We shall see. Follow up to come!
Three:
Sugar Land Branch Library-FBCL
@SugarLandBranchLibrary
Basic Information
Located in Sugar Land, Texas (my school’s
hometown), the Sugar Land Branch Library is not far from home. With only
nine-hundred sixty-eight likes and a little over a thousand followers, this
page had, by far, the smallest amount of likes and followers. The page is
listed simply as a library, but is geared towards students who live in the Fort
Bend area and attend a Fort Bend Independent School District school. Their
blurb on the search engine homepage is a recent post made that talks about the
upcoming summer reading books for the next school year.
The page has many events,
staggered every couple of days, geared towards all age groups. The latest date
the events go to are July 24th, giving residents plenty of time to
plan ahead and choose an event they will enjoy. It was also interesting to see
all of the past events that have gone on. Past events are listed by date, the
name of the event, timing, who RSVP’d online and the location. This library is
not short of events, to say the least.
Posts, Comments, & Likes
And, last but not least, we
will try this one last time. The first post was only submitted two days ago
(June 5th) and was focused on a college fair being held at the
location, both inside and outside on June 11th. Not a single person
liked or commented on it. While I could understand, to an extent, it was hard
for me to see that no one “showed” any interest in something that is so
beneficial to any age group.
The second post was from May 20th, presented
as a “family program for all ages”, titled Star Wars Day. This post received ten
likes but still no comments.
The last post was a bit farther down, on April 10th,
about a book club over the book The Bad-Ass
Librarians of Timbuktu. Now, bear with me here. I chose this one because of
the language portrayed (book or not) and the thought of the helicopter parent
coming to the childs’ rescue and scolding the library for inappropriate material.
Yet, to no avail. Only one share and three likes were recorded.
I personally like Twitter over Facebook. Then again, if you had asked me that five or more years ago, you would have received the opposite response. Twitter is just easier, more straight-forward, and promotes the four C’s. The quick snippets of information, some attached with a link, are easy to understand, quick to devour, and some leave you wanting to read and learn more about.. the whole idea of it. I’m not going to lie, when I need a quick reference for day to day news, I pop onto Twitter rather than a big name news group, simply because it is easier.
On top of following the required teachers/professors, my classmates, and a few professional organizations, I opted to also follow some of my favorite authors. As I said before, and I will saw over and over again, Twitter is so easy to use for any age group, that if you cannot access it, I might be a little worried if you know what a cell phone even is.
Twitter is quick and to the point. This is what people want nowadays. I see it daily as I walk about, people are quick to judge something or refuse to sit for an extended period of time to hear the long drawn out answer. They want one-hundred forty characters or nothing.
My favorite thing about following authors is that, even though they promote their books, a true, good author promotes and uplifts his or her fellow authors. Jason Reynolds (@JasonReynolds83) is the epitome of this idea, constantly tweeting fellow authors and uplifting their achievements. Plus, the dude is really funny. Have you checked out his description?
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| Screenshot image from @JasonReynolds83 Twitter. |
Many of the required people to follow did very similar things, had similar ideas and thoughts, but they each made it special in their own way. Each one of these people truly care about reading, literature, and the future of education in not only America but around the entire world. Like Jason Reynolds’ Twitter page, I saw many others uplift each other and review each other’s’ work in a friendly manner. Rarely was there any negativity or harsh words broadcasted for the world to see; hopefully that mess is all done in the DM’s.
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| Screenshot image from @JasonReynolds83 Twitter. |
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| Tweet found on @YALSA from June 6th. |
While users can be limited on word count, they can
continue a tweet for as long as they want if they utilize the post button,
allowing them to have a string of tweets to finish off their
story/blurb/rampage. Then again, if the user doesn’t want people to see their
tweets, they can easily block specific people or hide it from anyone who doesn’t
get accepted after trying to follow them.
Stories. To me, they are like reading a short story and posting about it. You get snippets of the best parts of what is going on, just like a book or movie trailer. I created a few stories the other day on my SHSU made Instagram, @MollyChildsSHSU, (sorry, the personal one is all for me, guys) and shouted out a woman (@yaallegiance) who had recently redone her bookshelves, making them look perfect and organized to a T. She direct messaged me with hearts, heart faced emojis, and a huge thank you. Let it be known, that at this point in time, I have one follower.. my sister. But, it was still great to see how excited she was to see that her work was validated and appreciated. And, she did receive close to five-thousand likes in two days, so I guess I would be happy too.
I have wanted to start my own classroom Instagram, but it is frowned upon in our district. If I was able to have one, I would add posts that were both beneficial to the learning environment, important notices, and books to read, including student reviews.
As a classroom teacher, I would post reminders of assignments, instructions, examples, and books. As a librarian, I would post similar things: current events going on in librarians around the world, popular books on top lists (ALA, NYTimes, YALSA, etc.), student reviews, library/tutoring hours, and special classes for students to take.
Let's Sum it Up
Facebook: "The Blue Letter F"
Social media platform for posts (private or public), event invitations, groups, pages, and direct messaging
Pros- Has been around the longest and is most well-known. Many people have it, making it operational and not the new "in" thing to learn. Can connect outside links.
Cons- Older generations tend to veer towards this platform.
Rating for librarian use- Second choice for use of a social media platform.
Instagram: "The Camera"
Social media platform for pictures that can include captions, hashtags, and tagging of people and places.
Pros- Very popular with the younger generation, while older generations still utilize it. Very popular with bloggers, authors, and interviewers. Editing of pictures is simple as pie, through the app or not. In a story, opening up to a new web page is simple with the swipe up method.
Cons- Can take a bit of time to become adjusted to the features (i.e. stories, adding in locations, etc.). Hard to connect outside links through a post because copying and pasting is rather difficult.
Rating for librarian use- FIRST choice for use of a social media platform.
Twitter "The Blue Bird"
Social media platform for short, straight to the point messages.
Pros- Made for short snippets. Can link to other websites.
Cons- Limited amount of space/characters to use per post.
Rating for librarian use- Third choice for use of a social media platform.
I liked the input of other popular authors in your blog or how others are using social media to get the word out about school library events and happenings ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you! These assignments allow for a bit of fun, so I try to have as much fun with them as possible! Plus, I hope I can still use a ton of it when I go back to teaching this fall.
DeleteI really enjoyed your display of the social media icons with each group. I like how you took the time to give your background on the apps and how they are beneficial today. It is very true that social media is not something new, but something that is more popular today. A video or post can make you famous, or a new dance move is created and becomes popular for a few months! All because of the way social media works today!
ReplyDeleteOkay, let's create something, become super famous, get rich, and become retired librarians!!
DeleteThat was a good idea in following the rest of the people in the class. Also, following Jason Reynolds along with you! I love reading the things he shares. I like your "Sum it Up" section giving a brief overview of the pros and cons.
ReplyDeleteThe class following was my first idea and it could have turned out creepy or good. In the long run, it has been great! I have gotten a few authors to tweet me back, but I have never gotten anything from Instagram. Let's see how long it takes..... :)
DeleteThis was a really detailed and informative post! I like how you talked in depth about the importance of each platform to its various users. I also think Jason Reynolds is awesome and I know that any conference panel is going to be great if he is in it.
ReplyDelete