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Facebook + Library = good

Just a few ideas for the academic libraries out there. If you’re in an academic library, you probably know (I hope!) that Facebook is the site of choice for social interaction on a university campus these days. Just a couple of ideas that I thought of this week, and approached my dean to potentially implement.

1. Facebook just included a new feature they are calling “Pulse”, where they list the top 10 movies, books, tv shows, etc…on your campus. How cool would it be to do a display of the top 10 FaceBooks every week? The interaction of this virtual world being represented in the library would be very cool, and I think it would draw students to become more interested in the library as a whole.

2. The new advertisement option in Facebook could also be used to the libraries advantage. Got a program you want students to know about? Want to boost your gatecount for a speaker? Advertising on Facebook is really cheap, given the number of eyeballs on it. I’m going to see if we can do a handful of random advertisements, and just see how they effect gatecount.

By griffey

Jason Griffey is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed. Prior to joining NISO in 2019, Jason ran his own technology consulting company for libraries, has been both an Affiliate at metaLAB and a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and was an academic librarian in roles ranging from reference and instruction to Head of IT at the University of TN at Chattanooga.

Jason has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently AI & Machine Learning in Libraries and Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design from 2018. His newest book, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, will be published by MIT Press in 2024.

He has spoken internationally on topics such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his CV.
He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project (http://measurethefuture.net), an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces. He is also the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project (http://librarybox.us), an open source portable digital file distribution system.

Jason can be stalked obsessively online, and spends his free time with his daughter Eliza, reading, obsessing over gadgets, and preparing for the inevitable zombie uprising.

3 replies on “Facebook + Library = good”

funny you should mention this. we signed ourselves up for a facebook account last year. it wasn’t very well regarded by many, if any, of the librarians. but, over the year, we’ve picked up a bunch of friends including other libraries and alot of students. it’s viral marketing, in my opinion! the pulse thing is really cool. i like your idea. also, the advertisement is very cool as well. only if there were more hours in the day to play with fun stuff like this!

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