Using Twitter to Build Communities: A Primer for Libraries, Archives, and Museums

by Valerie Forrestal, Tinamarie Vella

Overview

Using Twitter to Build Communities looks at ways for libraries, archives, and museums to go far beyond Twitter as a “broadcasting” tool, and highlights innovative methods to use the service to spark communication and create ties within your institution’s greater community.
Appropriate for the social media beginner as well as the experienced user, it covers topics like:
·Creating a Social Media Strategy/Policy
·Choosing the Right Software
·Gaining Followers
·How to curate content
·How and when to automate your feed
·How and when to embed your feed
·How to use cross-platform strategies
·Using Analytics

This book condenses years of research and expertise on using Twitter in an institutional setting into one handy reference for launching or reviving your organization’s Twitter presence into an impactful medium in your community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538106051
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/02/2018
Pages:	120
Product dimensions:	8.37(w) x 10.99(h) x 0.32(d)

About the Author

Valerie Forrestal is the Web Services Librarian and an Assistant Professor at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. She holds an MA in Media Production from Emerson College, an MLIS from Rutgers University, and an MS in Service-Oriented Computing from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Valerie has written and spoken extensively about web development, social media, technology planning, and innovation in libraries and higher ed. You can find her online at vforrestal.com, vforrestal.info, or on Twitter @vforrestal. You can also find her @vforrestal on Instagram if you enjoy looking at pictures of cats.

Tinamarie Vella is the Library Manager at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York (CUNY). Vella earned an MLIS from Long Island University and an MA in English from Brooklyn College. She was named an American Library Association Emerging Leader in 2011 and has held numerous leadership positions within the organization. Her academic focus is on research trends, diversity and leadership, and media and cultural studies. Tinamarie tweets personally @tinamarievella and institutionally @newmarkresearch.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Getting Started
Chapter 2. Making Connections
Chapter 3. Choosing Software
Chapter 4. Curating Content
Chapter 5. Automating Your Feed
Chapter 6. Push Publishing
Chapter 7. Using Analytics
Appendices
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

This book gives Twitter users the tools to successfully begin, based upon case studies used in a variety of institutions. It also offers an excellent array of ways to think about using Twitter differently for those who feel like they’ve learned all there is to know about it. Use this for yourself, and use it as a means of forging a dialog within your institution for strengthening your Twitter game in order to make your voice one that your patrons turn to again and again

Kelly Jensen

Forrestal and Vella provide a no-nonsense, practical guide to all aspects of using the social media platform for outreach. Suitable for all levels of experience, the reader will get specific and useful advice for using Twitter in all kinds of libraries. Twitter noobs will appreciate Forrestal and Vella’s plain language explanations of essential concepts and techniques, and veterans will learn new methods and tools for using the platform..

Jason Puckett

For casual or beginner users of Twitter, Forrestal and Vella provide a deep dive into the tools, techniques, and possibilities of the platform. More advanced users will find robust software reviews and nuanced engagement strategies. This book gives readers the skills to start shifting their Twitter strategies from simply sharing content to creating meaningful conversation between library and archives users and their communities.

Maggie Schreiner

This handy guide, written by innovative, real-life, academic librarians, explains all the nuts and bolts, how to make great connections, and why and how Twitter can benefit you and your institution. Chapters cover how to create a social media strategy and policy, how to curate content, how to gain followers, and how to use cross-platform strategies. This reader-friendly book is easy to beginners and useful to those experts already familiar with social media platforms. A highly recommended and must-read!

Mimi Lee

04/01/2019

Forrestal (web svcs. librarian, City Univ. of New York) and Vella (lib. manager, City Univ. of New York) argue that Twitter can best be leveraged by libraries, museums, and archives as a tool for building community and networking rather than simply broadcasting news and events indiscriminately. As such, this work is designed to prepare both novices and regular users to employ social media to demonstrate their institution's value to constituents. Some sections are generalized and platform agnostic, such as developing a social media policy, learning how to understand community needs, and evaluating social media options. Others are Twitter centric or focus on current apps and devices (including detailed, step-by-step, menu-by-menu instructions in some instances). This resource will work well for those interested in learning how to build a following, use automation tools, create and curate content, harness hashtags, and publish across platforms. Appended examples of University of Central Florida Libraries' social media guide and San Mateo County Libraries' social media procedures will further give beginners a starting point. VERDICT Recommended for those interested in developing a more robust social media program geared toward community engagement.—Evan M. Anderson, Kirkendall P.L., Ankeny, IA

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