Facebook
Many libraries are using Facebook, and it should be
considered essential in today’s social media landscape.
As we learned in the last chapter, 57 percent of US
adults are using Facebook.1
It makes sense for libraries
to set up shop with a Facebook Page since a majority
of customers are already using Facebook.
What are libraries sharing on Facebook? They are
sharing two types of content:
• Library news. Libraries are sharing about themselves—what’s
happening at the library, what
will happen, and what recently happened. For
example, Topeka and Shawnee County Public
Library recently purchased and unveiled a
new bookmobile. The library shared about the
new bookmobile (figure 2.1) through its Facebook
Page: “This beauty is 37 feet long and 94
inches wide. Come see its grandness for yourself
tomorrow during our Bookmobile Grand Opening.
Come to the library’s parking lot at 9am for
a chance to be the first person to check out on
the new Sherlock Holmes-themed bookmobile.
Fun!”2 To date, this post has received sixty-four
Likes and eleven Shares.
• Fun stuff. Libraries are also sharing what I’m calling
“fun stuff.” These are light-hearted or humorous
posts that one often finds on Facebook. These
types of posts tend to make people smile and click
the Like button. That’s the goal. The more often a
Facebook user interacts with your library’s Facebook
content, the more Facebook’s content algorithm
decides that the user enjoys that content.
Then Facebook will allow more of your library’s
content to be shown in the person’s Facebook news
feed. That means more of your library’s Facebook
Page content—the library news and the fun stuff
—will be shown to your Facebook Page followers.