Facebook Pages and Twitter
Did you know that Facebook is considered the social media for "old people" (by old I mean people in their 30s and 40s), this of course is according to my twelve year old daughter. Young people are currently using Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, Kik and Music.ly for social media.
As I explored some of the school library pages using Facebook, I was surprised to find that most pages were from other countries and they had been "abandoned" for quite some time (one or two years, to be exact). As an elementary school librarian I can see some advantages for having a library page on Facebook. I like that I am very familiar with Facebook, therefore, creating and managing a library page seems possible. Also, if what my daughter claims is true, then I can potentially use Facebook as a tool to attract parents to be more involved with our library program. The library page can be used to promote events and activities happening at the library. Sending a flyer home with the link to the Facebook page could be a great way to build this new connection.
However, if I wanted to connect with students to promote books, authors, events or activities, creating a Twitter account would be the way to go. Our district currently has a Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat to promote our district. Individual schools are not allowed to create any of these accounts without their consent and supervision. I did however create a library page using Facebook for this assignment and I plan to ask for permission to use it with my parents and students. If it proves to be a success maybe more school libraries will be allowed to use them.
When I did my exploration of edtech leaders I was very impressed with The Daring Librarian @GwynethJones. Her profile was colorful and full of wonderful links. I retweeted some of the links that she shared so that I can go back and use them later. I did noticed that @GwynethJones and @jimlerman both used scoop.it when trying to access their links. At first I was confused because I had never used scoop.it before, but it seemed like a form of blog to keep important sites all in one place. I plan to look into scoop.it when I have more time, it might be something that I can use and share with my colleagues.
Here are some tweets that I really liked from some edtech leaders:
Here is the link to my library Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/cesar.chavez.psja/
I just learned recently about us "old people" using Facebook. It seems like that elementary schools use Facebook to get parents to volunteer, donate, or to come to book fairs. I am new to Twitter and am very excited about the great information I found. I really like that you can scan and find new ideas in a short amount of time. I learned about sketchnotes and took that idea to my school's curriculum coach.
ReplyDeleteI love the pictures you added to your library Facebook page. I agree that using Facebook will be better for parents rather than students. I look forward to learning from your blogs this semester.
ReplyDeleteI was also unaware that old people use Facebook. I will say I am trying to be more technology savvy since I did not grow up with computers. When searching library pages on Facebook, I did come across a high school, and elementary promoting their library. I like your idea of sending a flyer home with the link to Facebook. I feel Facebook can be an advantage to keeping parents updated with what's happening in the library!
ReplyDeleteI am part of the "old people" group you mention. I am just getting comfortable with Facebook and my 14 year old son tells me it is no longer used by his peers. This thought seemed to be confirmed as I looked at the Facebook pages for several libraries. Very little student participation was noted. Maybe the Page is not promoted enough or we just have to move on to another, more current/popular, method of social media to interest students to visit our libraries.
ReplyDeleteI'm also a part of the "old people" group. :) I had heard students saying- no one uses Facebook anymore. I wonder if it will suddenly be uncool to use, kind of like My Space. I know the younger crowd does use Twitter and Instagram more often, and I love your idea of using Facebook to reach out to the parents rather than the students.
ReplyDeleteIt is vitally important to know what the young people of the world are using as their social media if we want to connect with them. The "cool" social media seems to change so quickly it can be difficult to stay relevant.
ReplyDeleteI agree Facebook is great to connect with parents, but it seems more professionals, (including administrators), look to Twitter for announcements, happenings, etc. So having a presence in both would not be a waste of time. I hope your sites take off.
ReplyDeleteI think that your writing is relatable and many can connect with it. I find it great that you brought in the comment by your daughter, it is very cute!
ReplyDeleteSorry, forgot my name:
DeleteKarina Arroyos
I also fall under the "old people" group. Its funny how not too long ago facebook was a big thing now it's "outdated". Snapchat is the in thing on my neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteDamiana Guerrero
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