Review of Facebook

Review of Facebook as a social media tool for libraries

FACEBOOK
What do I want to use this social media platform for?	- Increase exposure of my library, and promote awareness of and use of its services - Connect with the library’s users and the broader community online, be a point of contact for feedback and queries - Post service announcements and details about library events and programs, and other things that may be relevant and interesting to my users - Post photos and videos of the library and events
What features are available (i.e. photos, videos, animations, hashtags, etc.)?	- Can post text updates, upload photos and videos, broadcast live videos, post gif animations, and “check-in” at locations. - Can React to other people posts (Like, Love, Wow, etc), and also comment on them and share them. - People can be tagged in posts, photos, videos, and comments. - Hashtags are supported on Facebook but are not widely used. - Facebook supports grouping photos into albums. Photos can be uploaded directly to albums, or posted on a timeline with the option to choose the album it goes into. - Can create Groups which Facebook users can join. Groups can be open to public, closed, or private. - Has a messaging service that has many features, such as voice/video chat, emoticons, stickers, group messaging, etc. - Can create a Page, which is distinctly different from regular personal profiles.
Any there any tools to help me use this social media platform?	Facebook has an extensive support section on its website, and there are many third party guides, tutorials, and videos available to help, both online and offline.
Can it be accessed on mobile devices? Is there an app for it?	Yes, Facebook can be accessed on mobile devices by using web browsers or dedicated apps. There is an app for Facebook itself, and additional apps for the Messenger service and a dedicated app for managing Pages.
Is the site fairly easy to use?	It is easy to post, but the privacy settings can be confusing.
Is the privacy and/or security of the site adequate?	- You can set Facebook to alert you every time someone is logged in to your account. It indicates where the sign in occurred and what sort of device was used. - Posts can be public or limited, e.g. to Friends, friends of friends, or custom specified individuals/lists. This includes photos, videos, and shared posts. All Reactions and Comments on other people’s posts are subject to the visibility of that post. - Each post’s visibility can be adjusted at the time of posting, i.e. you can choose who is able to see the post, photo, video, etc. You can also change the visibility of a post after publishing it, but this will not change the fact that it may have already been seen. You can specify to allow or block individuals or lists. (List: a collection of accounts chosen by a user. Lists are private.)
Are there any particular limitations associated with this social media platform?	Newsfeed can get very cluttered if following a lot of people, as what they Like and React to will be on your Newsfeed – there is an option to Unfollow but then you wouldn’t see anything at all from them.
Can I use my own branding (customization)?	Yes – can customise profile photo and the cover photo of own page. There is an About section on Pages which can be populated with information about the organisation.
Are other libraries using this social media platform?	Yes, there are many libraries using Facebook.
Is there a particular demographic that uses this social media platform?	There are more females than males on Facebook, but the age breakdown is similar. The largest demographic of Facebook users by age is 25-34 year olds (26.3%), followed by 18-24 and 35-44 equally (18.5%).
Would this stand as our only social media tool?	Yes – Facebook aims to “do it all” and has a wide variety of features. It is the most widely used social media platform and has the largest audience.
Recommendation	Facebook has lots of features which make it easy to share information in different formats – images, links, text, videos, animations, can all be uploaded and shared. It is a versatile platform, however the amount of clutter on everybody’s newsfeeds means that posting more than twice a day may be unwelcome. Facebook’s algorithms that calculate what to show each user also mean that some posts may not be shown to some users – for example, images are more likely than text to appear in Newsfeeds. In addition to the sharing options, creating a Page for an organisation allows access to some tools such as data about the page traffic, post reach, page Likes etc., which can be useful as an evaluation tool when looking at what approaches have been most effective at gathering interest. It also allows posts to be scheduled for publication, and can also hold draft copies. Multiple people can be admins for the Page. The dedicated Page app makes it easy to manage the page on mobile devices. Facebook Groups are also a useful feature which can be used to network and discuss things within the organisation in a private forum, although it does require each participant to have a Facebook account. Taking all this into consideration, I would recommend Facebook as the essential social media tool for connecting with library users.