I choose to examine the University Of Florida Levin College
Of Law’s twitter account. I have not
been on campus in over two years and right away the images on the page took me
back. I was able to see the grand entrance
of the library and at a glance I was able to see many events that are taking
place on campus.
Overall I think the twitter page is very well done and
highly informative. The information
about the Law Library being closed on GAMEDAY is very important because many new students would not
assume that the library would be closed on a Saturday. This type of information is very good to have
tweeted to students instead of them having to check the website because it is
the very type of information that you forget to check.
There was also a post about when a librarian would be in the
courtyard to give out research tips and advice. This is an example of Web 2.0
providing information about traditional in-person services! Irony anyone? Also
there were numerous posts “more propagandistic in nature” which extolled the
virtues of attending the University of Florida.
Some of the limitations that I see are the very small number of
followers. At any given moment there are some 1000 law students attending the University
Of Florida Levin College Of Law and the total number of followers was only
357. Awareness is always an issue with
Web 2.0 technologies and this is something that can be solved rather easily.
Also there were no recently added images and I think this is a flaw to the
account since I am a firm believer that a picture is worth a thousand words.
All around I would say GO GATORS!
I am glad that you mentioned that a picture is worth a thousand words, I agree completely. One thing that I have not learned yet is how to post on the blog pictures...If anyone out there would like to give me a hand I would appreciate it. I love adding pictures on my Facebook account. I think that twitter is an incredible tool I do not use it because of time constraint and I believe you have to committed to tweet and committed in keeping your followers interested in your tweets. At the present time I am not working at a library but with a International Insurance company and working with Dr. all over the nation providing referrals to patients and is kind of time consuming so my social media experience is limited to checking my facebook on my android once in a blue moon (at least once a day) because the rest of my time is occupied talking to patients, nurses, case managers and doctors. But I would love to get into the spirit of tweeting. Anyway, on your post you gave many examples on how University of Florida Levin College of Law has positively used tweet to be informative to their students etc. and staying connected with the student body is a good way in staying relevant and students do notice and see how forward thinking the school is or as many others would classify as being cool....
ReplyDeleteI think twitter has become an *extremely* important tool in conveying information to today's youth (say that in a 90-year-old woman's voice, would ya?) - there is absolutely no fluff with a 140-character limitation. All tweets are short, sweet, and to the point....which is how these young whippersnappers communicate nowadays.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Erica that Twitter is a great way to convey information to the youth. However, it was interesting to find out that only 357 students were following the Twitter account. I think that as popular as Twitter is, it still hasn't reached its maximum potential. Many people still do not have Twitter accounts who are very tech savvy. That is why it is important for the library to reach out in other different social networking areas as well.
ReplyDeleteTweeting opening/closing hours, especially if there are any changes due to events, etc. is wonderfully helpful. If you are out running errands or something and have a Twitter app on your phone, you can just check the library's tweets to find out if it's open before wasting your time going there to find out it is closed. Plus, you don't have to try to navigate a comprehensive library website on a tiny phone screen!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't think 357/1000 is a terrible statistic, especially for a Law School library. Some people just don't use twitter, or may just check the page without following. If the library is also active on other social media outlets, they may get more students to follow their announcements.