Social Media Impacts on Library Services
by Abid Hussain
Social Media has become a familiar tool-set for marketing the library services in academic libraries.
The purpose of this medium is to reaching out the current and prospective members of the library via
the internet. The term “Social Media” is difficult to define but “Bradley & McDonald, 2011; Hanna,
Rohm, & Crittenden,2011” have defined that the social media is “any Internet-based or mobile
application that operates for the purpose of collaboration, which allows participants to connect,create,
comment, view, share, rate, discover, profile, and exchange user-generated content”. In short “Social
Media is referring to an online platform that allows users to link to each other and contribute and share
contents/commentary etc, Social Media is a source of gatekeeper passing out information to the
masses.
The information on social media is considered user-generated and user-created. Six primary types of
Social Media are collaborative projects, contents communities, blogs, social networking sites, virtual
game words and virtual social worlds. Some concrete examples of social media are :
1.
“Social Networking platforms, like LinkedIn, Facebook and Meetup”
2.
“Location-based social networking like Foursquare and Facebook places”
3.
“Social new sites like Digg and Reddit”
4.
“Website and group creation software, like Ning”
5.
“Wikis like Wikipedia”
6.
“Video and Photo-sharing sites, like YouTube and Flickr”
7.
“Social bookmarking tools, like CiteULike”
8.
“Blogging and vlogging sites, like Live Journal”
9.
“Micro-blogging sites, likeTwitter and Tumblr”
10. “Book-sharing sites, like LibraryThing and Goodreads”
11. “Community question-and-answer sites, like Yahoo! Answers, Quora, and WikiAnswers”
12. “Virtual worlds, like Second Life (an example of a virtual social world) and Ever Questand
World of Warcraft (examples of virtual game worlds)”.
Goals / Objectives
The main Goals and Objectives of Social Media
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To support the teaching, research and outreach
To reach out present and retrospective patrons
To Provide Library services beyond walls
To Market Library services etc.
Social Media is playing a vital role in reaching out to the current and prospective patrons of the
libraries. There are many people who even don’t have time to visit the library physically. In this case,
one can search all news on such tools. Although many patrons are familiar with these techniques. But,
still, there are needs for those who are partially familiar with this technology. Social media in academic
libraries services required content creators whose are diligent and skilful about social media tools.
Furthermore, as social media evolves and expands into new forms and shapes, so, the libraries must
update itself with new tools. A survey shows that 70% of librarians are imparting different services to
its end users via this media. Librarians should sphere time for these tools. Using these tools will
promote library services. A survey shows that 30% librarians are browsing and pasting on social media
sites on daily basis. But, a number of libraries in developed and developing countries are still not aware
of these technologies. Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin are highly used websites in library perspective
but, other channels such as Whatsapp, Youtube, Snapchat, RSS, Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest, etc, if such
channels were added, it will definitely bring charming in library services.
The writer is a library officer at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), Pakistan. He can be
reached at abidhussain@issi.org.pk