Tweets from Space

Special Libraries Association Annual Conference 2011 Jaime Ann Scibelli Science Librarian Wyle Information Systems/NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH Tweets From Space

Social Media: Friend or Foe?
Social media can help your organization:
Turn non-users into new customers
Turn customers into advocates
Build user support
Raise awareness
Reach users in multiple locations
Enable collaboration
Or, social media can be:
A burden for staff
Something they don’t understand how to use
Something they’re “stuck with”
Something they ignore

What We’ll Cover
NASA’s social media outlets
NASA Glenn Science & Engineering Library (GSEL) and social media
How to choose which social media to use
Challenges
Before you socialize
Continuing the conversation
Links to NASA channels
Questions?

NASA and Social Media http://www.nasa.gov/connect/index.html

And Now a Few Numbers…
NASA’s first Tweet: May 2008
NASA on Twitter now:
110+ accounts
800,000+ followers
20+ astronauts Tweet (including Tweets from space!)
NASA on Facebook
426,000+ “likes” (NASA’s main FB account)
35+ accounts
NASA Tweetups
First Tweetup in Jan. 2009
15 th Tweetup in Feb. 2011
Events have included shuttle launches and live downlinks with the International Space Station
Statistics from “Taking Social Media Efforts Out of This World”, presentation by Stephanie Schierholz, NASA Office of Communications (HQ) http://www.slideshare.net/nasa/nasa-and-social-media , accessed May 2011.

Internal Use of Social Media @ NASA
NASA also uses social media for internal communication across multiple locations
Yammer – free private social networking tool
Only those with a verified company email address can join a Yammer community
Spacebook
Similar to Facebook, an internal networking site that allows document sharing as well as tagging, chats, etc.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations/spacebook

NASA Glenn Science & Engineering Library and Social Media

NASA Glenn Science & Engineering Library and Social Media Library resources and recommended websites are bookmarked… … and displayed on the Library’s website

LibraryThing catalog is displayed as a “New Books” widget on the Library’s home page

http://gselmobile.blogspot.com/

Other channels used for user education and community interaction:
YouTube
LibGuides
For internal communication and project support:
NASA Exploration Soils Bibliographic Database
Used for internal sharing of research relevant to soils and terramechanics projects
Open source wiki from Sourceforge
Access controlled – potential users must register for access
Maintained by degreed Librarian
Watches for copyright issues, develops tag ‘catalog’

And of Course, the Numbers…
Glenn Library’s nasa.gov blog
~700 views per month
Started as a blogspot.com blog in 2007
Switched to nasa.gov blog in 2010
Glenn Library’s Facebook page
8,000+ fans
~1,000 monthly active users
8,000+ lifetime likes

So Many Choices, so Little Time… Which Social Media Outlet(s) do I Use? Before you ask ‘which?’ you need to ask WHAT? and WHY?

What? and Why?
Why are you considering social media? What goal(s) do you want to accomplish?
Expand your user base
Allow groups in separate geographic locations to collaborate
Build support for your program or organization
Increase program visibility
Capture organizational knowledge
Archive organizational/program history
Etc. – the possibilities are endless, and the decision is yours!

Now You Can Ask…Which Social Media Outlet(s) do I Use?
Is your audience internal or external?
Is it easy to use?
What do you have to say?
How much interaction do you want to have?
With your users?
Between your staff? (Do they need to just share news or do they need collaboration space for bigger projects?)
What kind of statistics do you need?
How much money do you have to spend?

Challenges to Consider
IT Security
Ease of use
Internally – staff need to learn to use it and use it consistently
Externally – if it’s not easy to learn or easy to use, your users may not stay with you
Staffing
Funds
“ Policing” your outlets – how much do you mediate the conversation?
Internally – up to library/company policy
Externally – can also be a PR issue

Before You Start the Conversation
Do your homework
Involve your users in the process if possible (ask for feedback, ‘beta’ testers, etc.)
Watch and learn
DO and learn
Use any outlet or tool in the same way that your users would be using it
Find the best ways to adapt a tool to your organization’s needs by learning how to use it ‘hands-on’
“ Oooh, shiny!”
Decide on your Terms & Conditions for use and make them easy for your users to find within your site
Establish internal policies – how often you plan to update, who will enforce user Terms & Conditions , etc.

Continuing the Conversation
Make sure it’s a conversation!
Enable feedback as appropriate
Respond to comments, posts and questions
Easy to use, easy to share
One size does NOT fit all
Your community members will vary in background, demographics, experience and comfort with social media
Provide training, Q&A, support
Make it personal
Give users an ‘inside look’ or a personal perspective that they otherwise wouldn’t have
Involve users in events within your organization

Links to NASA Social Media
NASA social media http://www.nasa.gov/connect/index.html
Glenn Research Center (GRC) http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/home/index.html
GRC:
On Facebook http://www.facebook.com/NASAGlenn
On Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/nasa_glenn
Glenn Research Center Library:
On Facebook http://www.facebook.com/glennlibrary
On Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/glennlibrary
On YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/GSELibrary
GSEL Mobile STI ONESearch http://gselmobile.blogspot.com/
“ Taking Social Media Efforts Out of This World”, presentation by Stephanie Schierholz, NASA Office of Communications (HQ) http://www.slideshare.net/nasa/nasa-and-social-media

Questions?
Thank you!

Tweets from Space

by Jaime Scibelli

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