Facebook
In my hometown (Laredo, Tx) I was only able to find two school library pages, one for elementary and one for high school (unfortunately neither of those were from the district that I work for). While looking for other school libraries, I noticed there were not many librarian pages or school library pages in general and unfortunately many of the library/librarian pages were set to private and you need to ask for permission to be added into their pages to view their content.
In the library pages that I was able to view, many of them posted "updates" for their followers of events happening in the library or around the community. I did not see many posts with activities for students to do that would have them interacting and communicating with the librarian or each other, which is something that I would want to incorporate in my school library Facebook page.
Advantages of Using Facebook:
* Facebook can be beneficial for parents and teachers to follow to stay informed/updated on anything happening in the library
* The school librarian can post students utilizing the library and can post events for students to be aware of
* Facebook has a "live" streaming service which the librarian can use to read books to students (this can especially be useful during distant learning)
* Also using the "live" stream service, the librarian can show events that are happening in the library
Disadvantages of Using Facebook:
* The library Facebook page may appeal more towards parents and teachers
* Elementary students may not be able to create an account (due to age restrictions)
* Students would need to be reminded of digital citizenship and online ethics to prevent any cyberbullying or inappropriate posting
When scrolling through the various educational technology leaders on Twitter, I noticed a lot of the tweets they shared are very informative for both librarians and teachers. As a librarian, it would be important to inform teachers of these influential leaders so they can follow them as well. I enjoyed seeing tweets that involved school libraries and it gave me some great ideas on how to interact with students on Twitter. Many of the technology leaders discussed technology tips, and some of these leaders also interact and communicate with their followers. This can be a fun and interesting way to communicate with these important people.
Here is one example of Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) asking her followers for ideas:
I enjoyed looking through Gwyneth Jones (@GwynethJones) account and I gained a lot of Twitter inspiration from following her.
For example, in this tweet Gwyneth Jones invites middle school students to a virtual Pet Parade!
In a tweet following the announcement, she (Gwyneth Jones) shares a tweet with a video showing how a staff member from the middle school joined in on the Pet Parade and gave an update to her followers on how the Pet Parade was a huge success with the 6th and 7th grade students!
Besides sharing tweets with fun activities that can be done with students online, Gwyneth Jones also gave me other ideas on tweeting directly to students.
In the following image, it shows how she tagged the middle school directly and wrote specifically to catch the attention of the 8th grade students.
Advantage of using Twitter:
* The school librarian can interact with students
* Twitter has a character count of less than 300, which allows the librarian to post simple and quick tweets
* Twitter users are able to follow celebrities, famous authors and illustrators (how fun would it be for students to tweet to a famous author/illustrator and have them reply back?!)
* Twitter is very helpful to use to stay updated on current events
* The librarian can recommend Twitter accounts to teachers for them to follow for helpful classroom and technology tips
In this tweet by Jim Lerman (@jimlerman), he shares a link to a website that offers strategies for teaching online. This would be useful information for teachers to have, especially with the recent events of teachers having to go from classroom teaching to distant learning.
Disadvantage of using Twitter:
* It would be very important for students to learn/review digital citizenship before using or creating a Twitter account
*With a non-private account, it is very easy for a tweet from across the world to show up on your timeline. This can have its advantages, but it also makes it very easy to find inappropriate tweets and pictures because of how fast tweets can be shared
* Elementary students may not be able to create an account (due to age restrictions)
* With the "retweeting" and "retweeting with comments" features, students may get overwhelmed with all of the postings
Instagram
Instagram is definitely my favorite social media platform!
Twitter and Facebook can get complicated to use, and Instagram is the easiest and simplest platform to use (in my opinion) because it only involves pictures and videos. With Instagram, you take a picture or video, write a caption under your post and you're done. If not, you can just get on Instagram and scroll through your timeline and you are able to see your followers' posts. Instagram is a fun way to view the world through other peoples eyes when you see what they have captured and posted on their Instagram.
Advantages of using Instagram:
* With Instagram being composed of just pictures and videos, students can share their creative abilities with posting projects, drawings, etc.
* During events happening in the library, the librarian can post videos and pictures of it happening
* The librarian can post "stories" showcasing new book arrivals, "how-to" videos, quick book reviews, book recommendations, and so much more
* Also using the "stories" feature, the librarian can post top AR readers, awards that were given out, etc.
Disadvantages of using Instagram:
*Students would need to be reminded of online ethics and digital citizenship to help prevent inappropriate postings, cyberbullying, etc.
*Student privacy and FERPA laws may not allow the librarian to post pictures of certain students and it may get complicated to keep track of who can be posted and who can not
*Over the years, Instagram has changed their algorithm on the order that allows viewers to see their followers' posts, and this may cause library posts to not be viewed by many
For ways to incorporate Instagram with your library, I would definitely recommend following "thetrappedlibrarian" for elementary library ideas, and "thedaringlibrarian" for secondary library ideas.
I was very inspired while looking through their Instagram accounts, and I now have so many ideas I want to try and incorporate in my (future) library!
The following 10 posts show great ideas on how a school librarian can utilize Instagram!
These posts were taken from Laura Trapp (thetrappedlibrarian) and Gwyneth Jones (thedaringlibrarian).
1. Remind students on resources they can us outside of the library
2. Inform students on upcoming events hosted by the librarian
3. Showcase students in the library (as long as the librarian is following FERPA laws of course)
4. Showcase students being involved in library events (this may also encourage more students to want to participate)
5. Instagram can also be used to inform teachers on resources they can find outside of the library
6. Show bulletin boards in the library (this is a very cute idea)
7. Share makerspace ideas and showcase what the students are currently working on in the library
8. Showcase students using technology resources in the library
9. Give book recommendations with a quick summary so teachers and students have some insight on what the book is about
10. Share resources that are found outside of the library to both teachers and parents
I hope these ideas helped inspire you!
The following links show how I used my Instagram "stories" feature to showcase different Children and YA book recommendations!
The following link shows how I use my TikTok account to create fun book videos!
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Great job on this blog posting. You gave a lot of different resources that educators can use with its advantages and disadvantages as well. I do have to agree that Facebook is not really a beneficial social media platform that all parents have. I also think that when Facebook first started it probably was the time to use it but unfortunately now there are so many different social media platforms that educators can use to promote and engage their student's learning. I also think Twitter is a bit complicated to use, even for myself! lol I can imagine the younger students which I would stay away from in general for them. I absolutely love Instagram. I feel like this is an almost perfect platform to engage students and parents in the classroom, library, and around the school. It is easy to use and easy to sign for.
ReplyDeleteI love that your blogpost is so image based. I was so interested the entire time and I think that students would have the same opinion! I loved your recommendation for Gwenyth Jones. It seems like her posts were super interesting and fun! I'm going to go check her out!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post! I especially liked that it consisted of a lot visuals and not just a bunch of text. I agree that Twitter and IG are great apps to use, but yes, students definitely need to be taught about digital citizenship before we expect them to use these apps for participation.
ReplyDeleteYou have some really great ideas when it comes to Social Networking and the library. I agree with you about how Facebook needs to be more than just an announcement platform. Your ideas for Instagram and TicToc are really great to see, because I do not usually use those platforms, but they are so beneficial.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the reminders about the age restrictions! Working in an elementary library, my patrons are about 5-12 years old--WAY too young for the 13 years and older requirements. I feel like a lot of the information we've looked at is mostly geared towards middle and high school, so I wonder where I could find good examples for elementary.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is very informative. We are currently using Facebook for announcements on my campus, but I know the district wants us to promote the school on Instagram and Twitter.
ReplyDeleteThis post was full of great information! Instagram is the social media platform I prefer too and I think is the best way to promote the library to students. I loved all of the visuals and can't wait to try out some of the ideas you shared. Ms. Jones, The Daring Librarian, is definitely a must when it comes to following and I discovered her during our blog readers assignment. She has so many wonderful ideas and you shared some great ones!
ReplyDeleteAmanda,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you organized this blog post! I especially like how you organized each digital platform with its pro's and con's or advantages and disadvantages. You made really great points! With social media and digital technology use comes pitfalls such as cyberbullying, harmful contacts, and more. I agree that students need to be reminded of or taught some type of digital citizenship curriculum and online ethics to prevent any inappropriate postings or safety concerns.
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing,
I really love how you organized your blog. I like that you don't have to scroll down to find a blog. It's simple to find information that pertains to what you might be seeking. I like how you broke down the pros and cons of each of the social media websites. I noticed that you said that Instagram was the easiest to use, well, I just started posting, so for me it will take a little to learn all the ins and outs. thank you for sharing!