Social media and the library- Is this a good idea?

When I told my parents I was going to school to become a librarian, they were like, "What?  Libraries are dying!  Why would you want to do that?"  Well, libraries are not dying, but they are changing.  The library is no longer just a place to go read or study.  The library is a vibrant and ever-changing place where technology is welcome and incorporated into everything we do.
One aspect of technology that is growing is social media.  Our students are on technology- or wish they were on it- nearly 24/7.  When I look at our parents, I see them on their technology nearly 24/7 as well.  Social media is here to stay, and with the constant changes and developments in education and technology, we in the library need to get on board the tech train.  So, how can we harness the power of social media in the library?

Enter Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Each of these social media apps has some tremendous benefits to education as well as some drawbacks.

Facebook is a social media platform that has been around since 2004 and is currently the largest social media platform in the world.  It was created for college students to be able to share information and control how much or how little information they shared about themselves while they used it.  Thus, it is an ideal platform for sharing information.

Libraries are using Facebook to share a great many things.  In looking through several library pages, elementary, middle, and high schools, I found that libraries are sharing a plethora of information through this platform.  Some of the fabulous bits libraries are posting include:

• Sharing upcoming library events (literacy night, movie night, Battle of the Books)
• Sharing pictures, videos and outcomes of the library events 
• Library and school celebrations (students winning awards, teams winning competitions)
• Important school information like school closings
• Prizes and awards our students have won (free books in the library)
• displays we have up in the library
• Pictures of classes and other groups using the library (English class holding a "book tasting" and a math class reviewing Geometry in a hands on activity)
• Keeping students engaged over the summer with ideas such as a summer mystery game where the librarian posts clues throughout the summer
• Book fair information
• Links to the library newsletter and other school pages
• Community participation in the library- such as a zoo visit
• Library information- such as the library's yearly report, how to work toward and earn a Library honor cord for graduation.

Facebook positives:

• Our stakeholders are using it.  Board members, principals, and community members are on Facebook and can see what we are doing with the resources they are providing us.
• Parents are using it- this is a great way to keep parents involved and in the know about what is happening in our libraries.  
• It is a great app for sharing videos.
• It works well for sharing information (videos, pictures, articles, etc.) with a lot of people at once.  
• It is easy for people to find and "follow" your page so that your "feed" shows up whenever they log on.

Facebook negatives:  

• Teenagers seem to be moving away from Facebook in favor of other apps such as Snapchat and Instagram
• There don't seem to be a lot of comments on the posts

Twitter began in 2006 when its founder wanted to be able to share text messages from his phone with several friends through a provider.  Thus, Twitter is great for creating short messages that can be shared easily with many people quickly and widely.

There are some amazing humans on Twitter sharing fantastic ideas specifically geared to benefit our schools and libraries.  Some of these people are:

• Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) is a big name in the world of technology, and has been an Apple Teacher of the Year.  Her information is ultra current.  She invites others to post and add to the conversations she starts.  Her posts focus mainly on:
•  reviews about tech she has tested out
• links to hers and others' ed tech websites
• updates on apps
• workshops teachers/librarians/educators can attend
• cool news in the tech and tech ed world

My favorite thing she does is to share what she has learned with us.  For example:

• Linda Braun (@lbraun2000) is a Librarian, past president of YALSA, educator and teen advocate.  Her tweets seem to focus on YALSA, workshops, building community, activism, and getting students thinking and promoting ways to get them thinking critically.  

My favorite thing about her is that you can tell, from looking at any few of her tweets, that her heart lies in our students and advocating for them.  As is shown here:

• Alan November (@globalearner) is a "Globe Wandering Educator", the founder of November Learning, an author, and host of Building Learning Communities conference.  While many of the tweeters on Twitter are sharing great information, @globalearner seems to share more of his own ideas on improving education through teacher strategies, tech tools, sharing ideas and information literacy.  He focuses on collaborating and the First 5 Days program.

My favorite thing that he does is share quick ideas to help educators.  For example, here are three posts in a row with quick, great ideas: 

• The Daring Librarian (@GwynethJones) is a Google certified, future ready mover and shaker, an ally and innovator.  Her self-description is hilarious, and her Twitter homepage is bright and colorful.  I loved her before I even started to look at her tweets.  In reading through her tweets, I saw tweets sharing free resources, "how to"..., neat ideas, books, ways to love our students, school activities, school updates, and tech updates.  Also, her tweets are hilarious, positive, and uplifting.  

The one thing I loved that she shared that I didn't see in anybody else's tweets was self-care.  She had uplifting quotes and more than one update on the newest release of The Great British Bake-off.  Reading the tweets of @GwynethJones makes me happy- and what more can I say than that?  Here's a self-care post followed by an uplifting post sharing amazing news from her school:

• Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) is an "Architect of Ideas and Implementation", author, speaker, educator, and project director.  He tweets about flipped learning, the best learning environments, shares links to innovative ideas, ideas for actual spaces to be utilized well, educational links about history and science, articles on education, critical thinking, technology, inquiry, arts in education and Project Based Learning.  His links all go to substantive articles and information.  

What I like best about him is that he really appears to be the "architect of ideas and implementation" he claims to be in his Twitter description.  I didn't know what that term meant, but as I looked through his tweets, they show me what that means.  I am intrigued by his work and plan to follow more of what he is doing.  He thinks differently than I do, and I appreciate that.

Twitter positives:

• Excellent for collaboration
• Short messages hold attention easily
• ultra current information
• Students love writing tweets!  

Twitter negatives:

• It is not great for long pieces and requires following links to get to in depth information which many people just don't want to have to do.
• The app can be frustrating for people not practiced in the art of moving quickly through a lot of information.

Come grow with me on Twitter @ktbmom3!

Instagram is one of the largest-growing social media platforms around.  It was created in 2010 with the sole purpose of communicating messages through images, commenting and liking.  Thus, Instagram is a great way to share pictures and videos.  It also has a new component called a "story"that only stays up for 24 hours.

How can we use Instagram in education?  In the classroom?  In the library?  There are many ways people are using this platform to further teaching.  I have a friend who has been using Instagram for a few years to put up interesting pictures for students to write about.  He has used it for creative writing, journal writing, dialogue writing, etc.  Some amazing pieces have come out of this.  Some other ideas for working with students include:

• Showcase student work
• Spotlight a student of the week
• Have students find elements of art and design in the images they find
• Use it to promote the yearbook
• Students can find pictures to create stories of ecosystems, life cycles, etc.
• Students can find images to portray a culture they are studying
• Reading recommendations can be shared (either in images or videos)
• Creating fictitious Instagram accounts for historical figures, favorite characters, etc.

Some ideas for sharing with the school family and community include:

• Showcase displays and bulletin boards that look fantastic
• Share images from field trips and other school events
• Promote activities going on in the library

Instagram positives:

• It is visually appealing, and a picture is worth a thousand words, so count this positive a thousand times!
• It is easy to follow, even for the tech-not-savvy
• Great for sharing an important moment, memory, or idea
• Young people love it
• It is growing very quickly, so people have it

Instagram negatives:

• This platform is not set up for long articles 
• You need to have an image or video to post

Come visit my Instagram! I am in the process of growing it to be more educational/ library-oriented and I would love for you to see the fun things going on at: https://www.instagram.com/ktbmom3/ 
Here are some posts I have made recently about shenanigans in the library:

             .               .           
Here is my latest story:

First image of my story 

IN CONCLUSION
Libraries have been at the heart of education since the beginning of civilization (literally).  New technology has come and stayed and come some more.  Libraries have adapted and grown and become technology hubs.  The advent and rise of social media is nothing to be scared of.  In fact, social media is an amazing tool that we can harness and use to collaborate and communicate with our students, faculty, community and stakeholders.  We can turn the use of social media from a source of frustration in the classroom into another outlet our students can use to think critically and creatively. You've got this friends!

Resources:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ 
Facebook logo image taken from: https://en.facebookbrand.com/assets/f-logo/
Information about Twitter taken from: https://www.thoughtco.com/twitter-1992538
Twitter logo image taken from: https://twitter.com/twitter
Rankings of social media companies came from: https://influencermarketinghub.com/50-social-media-sites-you-need-to-know/ 
Instagram logo image taken from: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/instagram-symbol-logo-photo-camera-1581266/
Instagram uses take from: https://www.weareteachers.com/10-surprising-ways-to-use-instagram-in-the-classroom-2/
and https://prezi.com/fvbrbbznr7ee/using-instagram-in-the-classroom/ 
How instagram started taken from: https://medium.com/@obtaineudaimonia/how-instagram-started-8b907b98a767 
Top image taken from: https://www.ebsco.com/blog/article/ten-tips-to-master-social-media-at-your-library 
Bottom image taken from https://www.tricitynews.com/news/coquitlam-library-to-get-the-word-out-with-social-media-ambassadors-1.23167713