Promoting with Web 2.0

Speaker: Curt Tagtmeier

Adult Services Librarian

Fremont Public Library (the library Facebook page); Library Website

Mundelein, IL

Highlights of his presentation can be found in the September issue of Computers in Libraries magazine.

Free Services such as:

  • YouTube
  • iLike.com
  • Twitter
  • Mobile Joomla
  • Meebo
  • Blogger/Dapper

But Stop…

  • how can patrons enjoy the benefits of these services without always being asked for a password?
  • how do we keep the patrons in one place sponsored by the library?
  • Is there one service?

Facebook!

Why? Because that’s where the people are at.

Grandparents are on to see their kids’ photos. Everybody uses Facebook.

Stats about Facebook….

  • 111 million in the US (30% of Facebook; 50% log in on a daily basis.
  • Average user has 130 friends on Facebook (if HS were like this, it wouldn’t have been quite so miserable 🙂 -speaker; lots of laughs )
  • Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events.

Flexibility….

  • best of many social networking sites in one
  • post photos
  • status updates
  • videos
  • Instant Message
  • private messages

Libraries should be on Facebook because of its ever expanding mobile potential

  • convenience
  • viewing updates & creating updates from almost anywhere

Mobile Site for the Library Website

  • doing it ourselves can cause a great number of headaches when compared with the ease of Facebook
  • doing it ourselves allowed us to do a few things we couldn’t on Facebook
  • Nobody used the site & they continued to receive feedback on the Facebook page
  • In the end, too little results for too little payoff
  • Now it is just a static information tool.
  • Library size & budget — further development not worth it.

Secrets of our Facebook success

  • be unique (some libraries reduplicate their library website) [Facebook was created by people who hated traditional websites]
  • be practical
  • be innovate
  • be fun (always key) — show that library has some personality; give them something they couldn’t get on their website.
  • Try to think outside the box; what are others doing, try to take it a step further, and integrate apps into your Facebook page.
  • Make the information crucial and important to them.
  • Facebook Marketing for Dummies mentioned as a good resource.

Things Fremont Public Library does with Facebook

  • RSS feed into your library’s Facebook page, adding new updates from your library website (KLOW sites have RSS, Kansas libraries; I actually prefer using the Networked Blogs app to bring in the posts to the NEKLS Facebook page)
  • You can create customized links at the side of your page utilizing Facebook Markup Language (Widgets, basically)
  • Admins can now browse Facebook as a page and interact with other pages.
  • Apps can now be easily added as links to your Facebook page
  • Video playlists: New DVDs promotion
    • movie studios are now pushing their trailers to YouTube
    • once a month the library shares a video playlist of their new dvds and their official trailes
    • You can’t play the video playlist inside Facebook, only single videos
  • New Music and iLike.com
    • iLike is a social music discovery service and app
    • social networking for music
    • the library creates streaming playlists of highlighting new music recently purchased by the library
    • sometimes the songs are 30 seconds and sometimes the full clip
    • we publish technology training podcasts through iLike.com
    • How certain technologies work — a separate tab on their Facebook page houses all of these podcasts
  • Dapper.net
    • a free web-based service that allows you to extract info from any web site by using data mapping
    • options include RSS feeds; Google gadgets; widgets; xml; more
    • currently using Dapper to highlight current news as a Google Gadget
    • not using this much right now but will in the future.
    • (Wonder if you can use Dapper in a WordPress blog as a widget or text widget…)
    • Envisionware apparently (new version) can embed RSS; library not done this yet
  • Using FB as a reference services tool
    • instant messaging convenience — Meebo used on regular website
    • with the help of FBML, we were able to embed Meebo into our Facebook page (no stats)
  • Using FB as a searching tool
    • we added a widget for our catalog, so Facebook users could search for library materials
  • Communication tool
    • allows you to message your fans directly
    • don’t overuse this feature.
  • Walls have become the new discussion boards
    • library has tried to use the wall as a book discussion; hasn’t really worked so far.

Advice

  • Some things work
  • Some things don’t work
  • Have to evaluate the services and how their being used

Twitter

  • Twitter is active communication; Facebook is passive communication (you are asking for a reaction)
  • Twitter is a large wedding reception where you know 1 or 2 people; Facebook intimate dinner party

Questions

  • Future of library website and Facebook?
  • Will the two meeting somewhere in the middle? (Ning, example mentioned)