CNI 2014
Transforming Community
with a
Strategic Social Media Program
Scott Young
@hei_scott
Doralyn Rossmann
@doralyn
Presentation Outline
Social Media Background
(Online) Community Research
Future Directions
MSU Social Media Survey, Fall 2013
“If [social site] can help cultivate a brand that expands beyond books, students may discover that the library is more relevant and approachable than previously perceived, and a valued part of their personal networks.”
Phillips, 2011
Digital Dualism
An interrogation of the discourses that draw sharp boundaries between the ‘online’ and the ‘offline’ world.
Particularly those discourses that "deploy a moralistic argument claiming what occurs ‘in real life’ is inherently more social, substantive, significant, and healthy than what occurs in ‘the virtual world.’"
Geiger, 2014
Where
How
“Be Interesting, Be Interested.”
Glazer, 2012
Research Question
How is community formed?
Community Analysis
Quantitative
Action-Object Mapping
User Type Data
Interaction Analysis
Qualitative
Focus Groups
Survey Data
Group 1
Automated Tweet content
Low responsiveness
No dedicated personnel
No programmatic approach
Twitter as a broadcast platform
Action-Object Mapping
Group 1 Median Interaction Rate
12.5%
Group 2
Original and unique content
High responsiveness
Dedicated personnel
Programmatic approach
Twitter as an interactive platform
Group 2 Median Interaction Rate
46.8%
Interaction Rate Increase
Group 1 → Group 2
275%
Group 1 → Group 2
Strategic Social Media Program
Social Media Plan
Realize mission of the university
Build and engage community
MSU Library Social Media Guide
-
Audience Focus
-
Goal
-
Values
-
Tone and Tenor
-
Activity Focus
-
Posting Frequency
-
Posting Categories
-
Posting Personnel
-
Assessment
Audience Focus
Undergraduate and graduate students
Other MSU units/departments
Library and information professionals and organizations
Goals
Build an (online) community
Form partnerships
Engage and connect
Increase awareness
Values
Availability
Care
Scholarship
Activity Focus, Tone and Tenor
Information sharing
Social interaction
Welcoming, warm, cheerful, energetic tone
Posting Frequency
Post daily at minimum
Regular monitoring of subsequent interactions
No automatic posting
Interact
Quantitative Data
+
Qualitative Data
"Organizations are sort of notoriously bland on their social media accounts, because everything you say represents the entire organization and it’s very hard to be edgy or funny when you have the organization’s face attached to it."
-Student focus group feedback
“On Facebook I think of it much more as a community, because it’s more interactive and personal that way. Twitter for me is more receiving information. It doesn’t feel community-based, more networked-based.”
- Student Focus Group
“. . . a Twitter account that was more than just updating you on events, but that was more inviting you in and creating that community.”
- Student focus group feedback
"I never expected to have established personal connections with people on Tumblr, but I ended up doing it. That was pretty cool."
- Student focus group feedback
“If you have a Twitter account, you have to give people a reason to follow you. I think a lot of entities at MSU don’t understand that. The library does an awesome job. You guys give people a reason to follow you. You’re responsive. You’re clever. Interesting. And it’s not just event updates. And I’m serious. I really admire all of the social media at the library.”
— Student Focus Group
Anthropomorphic Library
Q: How important is the idea of personality for social media?
A: It’s essential.
A: It’s huge. Which again, I think, coming back to campus and coming back to the library, the library and the Rocky G has personality, and that’s why people follow it.
- Student focus group feedback
- Student focus group feedback
Social Media at the MSU Library
Group 1 → Group 2
New content
New interactions
New connections
New community
New value for the library?
Future Directions
“Social Network Sites have the potential to serve as a medium for meaningful support . . . in students’ lives”
Gray, Vitak, Easton & Ellison, 2013
“Institutional Involvement is related to degree completion, because a student who is committed to the institution is likely to persist in that environment.”
Brown & Burdsal, 2012
Campus-scale social media
"Social media creates new opportunities for classroom instruction, especially for enhancing student interaction and engagement beyond the formal learning environment."
Joosten, 2013
"Twitter proved to be an effective way to engage students in experiential learning by applying course material in a social media setting."
Rinaldo, Tapp, & Laverie, 2011
"Using Twitter in educationally relevant ways can increase student engagement and improve grades."
Junco, Heibergert, & Loken, 2011
"Because many social media tools are not institutional enterprise systems,
educators are concerned about using them."
Joosten, 2012
"Organizations and institutions need to consider how social media guidance and usage can impact instructional, research, administrative, and
other functions on campus."
Joosten, 2013