(Yes, I'm calling it Twitter instead of X again. Old habits die hard.)
I admittedly haven't had much experience using social media here at NYPL. I have some colleagues who are amazingly adept at it, however. Well then, I figured, what better way to get a sense of our content strategy than peeking at one of our flagship accounts?
Firstly, let's review NYPL's mission statement here: to inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen our communities. I'm going to examine this account through the lens of said mission statement, and see how it meets those objectives.
This is, of course, a very active account! It looks we have about three posts going out a day. Notably, we have a Book of the Day post going out at 7:00AM daily, as we can see on 9/23, 9/24, and today! They range from general fiction to science fiction and magical realism, but do touch upon themes of loss and finding oneself--this suggests that the team responsible for this account finds that these themes resonate with your average reader at the moment. (9/25's post also gives us a murder mystery, which I can attest is perennially popular here).
Every single post includes some sort of visual. This makes a lot of sense, considering Twitter's character limit. Including a visual in each Tweet increases the likelihood that a viewer will at least stop and glance over it. Definitely a smart move there.
Some Tweets are quite clever, subtly weaving NYPL's resources into discussions of larger cultural icons. Take this tweet celebrating Mama Mia's latest national tour, which mentions that photos from past plays are available via archives from the Library of Performing Arts. Or this Tweet lovingly celebrating Fat Bear Week, which also serves to showcase our Digital Collections. In each case, NYPL subtly positions itself as keepers of cultural cornerstones. (I mean, where would we be without fat bears?)
In all seriousness, many Tweets emphasize NYPL's connection to critical cultural topics of the day. This tweet celebrates newly awarded Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, noted to be "the son of Chinese immigrants and a translator." NYPL contains many of his works and invites the viewer to peruse them,--the goal here, I imagine, is to showcase a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Similarly, this tweet showcasing children's picture books for Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month presents the library as a venue through which children from varying cultures can learn more about their heritage--a particularly crucial thing for individuals from groups who have been traditionally marginalized.
I could certainly continue, but then we'd be here for 2 days! So, the question is: does NYPL's Twitter content strategy align with its mission statement? Well, it's certainly working on two fronts: promoting the library's collection, and presenting itself as a keeper of various cultural heritages. Of course, these things aren't mutually exclusive--the aforementioned Hispanic and Latinx children's picture book tweet is a great way to foster cultural passion, or even inspire curiosity about other cultures in non-Hispanic/Latinx children. Our Mama Mia and Arthur Sze tweets, in the meanwhile, help to engender both nostalgia for a popular cultural play and celebration of new and diverse voices, thereby allowing for In this sense, I'd say that this content strategy is working pretty well on meeting its goals. (I swear, I'm not biased!)
So, what do you think? Is this a solid content strategy, or do we need to put Snapchat dog ear filters on Patience and Fortitude (the lions outside the "main" 42nd St Library)?
I've always found it frustrating when you can't view a post without being logged in! While it makes sense to want people to log in, public posts should be public! It's especially annoying when I am trying to get information that is only available in, say, a Facebook post while at work, and I can't view the information from my work computer and end up having to go on my phone to see it. This happens a lot with small/local organizations without websites that post about the time and location of events on their social media.
ReplyDeleteAnyway! I feel that NYPL's Twitter (yeah, still hard to just say 'X') definitely meets the goals of the mission statement. I think the strongest goal met is to strengthen communities. By celebrating marginalized communities and showcasing local Broadway productions, the communities served by NYPL are likely to feel more empowered, proud, and together. The account also inspires lifelong learning and the advancement of knowledge by showcasing books, teaching the public about Fat Bear Week, and spreading the word about services like the digital collections.
Overall a great account that utilizes strategies known to work while actively following the mission statement. However, photoshopping filters onto Patience and Fortitude would also be pretty funny...
I think login pop-ups are definitely something organizations on social media need to be aware of! If they're posting to a dedicated audience, that's one thing; it's going to be very difficult to reach a new audience if their casual browsing of your blog is disrupted by a pop-up, however! That said, that's not always something we can help, since these pop-ups are so prevalent (the amount of times I've tried to scroll down on a Tumblr post without being hit by the pop-up, I swear...).
Delete