facebook fan pages for libraries

©Copyright Laurie Boettcher 2010

Facebook Fan Pages for

Libraries


Social Media Landscape


Facebook is part of the social networks arena.


‘The Facebook’ was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg


Within 24 hours of launch, 1,200 users. Now Facebook has over 350 million active userswith anexcess of122 millionvisits perday.


Facebook Demographics•The 35+ age group now represents more than 30% of the entire user base.

•The 55+ audience grew a whopping 922.7% in 2009.


Facebook Facts• Average user has 130 friends

• Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook

• Average user writes 25 comments each month

•Average user is a member of 12 groups

• Average user becomes a fan of 2 Pages each month


Let’s Talk About Fan PagesWhat is the difference between a Fan Page and a Group?

Without getting technical, this is what you need to know:


• Groups are great for organizing on a personal level and for smaller scale interaction around a cause.


• Groups are great for organizing on a personal level and for smaller scale interaction around a cause.

• Pages are better for long-term relationships by organizations who want to interact with their fans

or patrons without having them connect to a personal account, and have a need to exceed Facebook’s 5,000 friend cap.


BonusFan Pages are indexed by Google, whereas Groups are not. This means search engines can find us.


Fan Page Facts• 95% of Pages have more than 10 fans • 65% of Pages have more than 100 fans • 23% of Pages have more than 1,000 fans • 4% of pages have more than 10,000 fans

This survey of 600,000 Fan Pages helps usbe realistic about the number fans we can attain.

• On an average Facebook Fan Page, the admin creates one wall post every 15.7 days.


What’s the difference?

vs


Trending for one:

With limited time and resources for social media, we need to be where our patrons are.


Another is demographics:


Social media researcher and Harvard Law School fellow Danah Boyd notes that there has been a trend of white, upper-class and/or college-bound teens switching to Facebook, while less educated and non-white teens still frequent MySpace.

Northwestern University professor Eszter Hargittai surveyed both 2007 and 2009 first-year college students at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her survey found that:• Hispanics are more likely to use MySpace.• Meanwhile, 80%+ of surveyed whites, blacks, and Asian-Americans were Facebook users. • Asians were the least present ethnicity represented amongst MySpace users (39%), • And popularity between whites and blacks was equal (57% and 58%).

As for socioeconomic disparities, Facebook users usually had parents with far higher levels of education than MySpace users had.

And, sadly, socioeconomics


Why do we choose Facebook?Most users want to connect with family and friends.


We choose to create a presence on Facebook because it is a bigger arena that tends to be more personal.

It is where our patrons celebrate their hobbies, share information, advocate for causes, and make recommendations to those they trust.


One More Thing . . .Facebook Fan Pages are NOT for US!

They are for our patrons.Fan pages give our patrons an outlet to talk about their library. Fans can post comments about books they are reading and start discussions. They can encourage others to attend programs and be part of library initiatives. We give THEM the opportunity to interact with other patrons and love their library even more.


The Best Aspects for Us?

We get to read, first-hand, what our patrons are writing about us.

We have another venue to share upcoming programs, services, and events.


Let’s do this!We’ll take a 15 minute break for you to empty, refill, and hop on a computer so we can do hands-on creation of a Facebook Fan Page for your library!


What About Troublemakers?What happens if a troublemaker, library hater, or someone else posts a comment on our Fan Page we deem inappropriate?


You Have Control


For Those of You Who Have a Blog . . .


Whenever You Are Ready . . .


Questions?

Laurie BoettcherSpeaker, Trainer, and Social Media Enthusiast

facebook fan pages for libraries

Education