Dee Winn, Michael Groenendyk, Sarah Polk, Melissa Rivosecchi and Julia Bjerke. Friend, Follow, Comment: An Analysis of Social Media Use by Academic Libraries in Montréal. ABQLA Conference 2015.

1. Friend, Follow, Favourite:
Analyzing Social Media Use by
Academic Libraries in Montréal
ABQLA Annual Conference
May 7, 2015

2. Agenda
•Introduction
•Concordia
•Université de Montréal (UdeM)
•Université de Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)
•McGill
•UBC
•Comparisons/Trends
•Best Practices

3. Research Questions
•Which social media site has the highest level
of engagement with its followers?
•What are the best practices academic
libraries should adopt for their social media
use?

4. Spotlight on Montréal’s Academic Libraries
Flickr, Nathanael Hevelone, Spotlight

5. Concordia Libraries: Twitter
Tweets Retweets Favourites Shares Followers
January 9 1 0 0 1116
February 15 8 3 12 1140
March 18 6 4 4 1150

6. UdeM Libraries – January 2015
Twitter Facebook YouTube
Total Posts (including shared posts) 0 3 2
Total Likes/Favourites - 7 0
Total Views (YouTube only) - - 68
Number of Followers - 1460 107

7. UdeM Libraries
0%
71%
29%
PROPORTION OF POSTS: JANUARY 2015
Twitter Facebook YouTube

8. Comparing 2 UdeM Facebook posts
Providing a short description of BibÉclair
would give followers a reason to click on
the link and learn about this great
resource!
Post description invites users to consult
the Library’s Annual Report.

9. UdeM Libraries- Observations
• Twitter:
• Account is active, but no tweets for January.
• Posting is sporadic (Oct: 1; Nov, Dec, Jan: 0; February: 3)
• YouTube:
• Videos are posted regularly - impressive because producing
videos takes longer than drafting a short post or tweet.
• To increase number of views, could be cross-promoted on
FaceBook.
• Facebook
• Very little activity the month of January: 2 original posts, 1
shared post.
• In general, posts promote Library and UdM events, notify of
closures, etc – which is great!

10. UQÀM Library
Twitter Facebook Instagram
Total Posts 4 13 2
Total Number of Favourites or Likes
0 12 2
Total Number of Retweets or Shares
(by followers)
3 2 N/A
Total Followers 767 1,020 28

11. UQÀM Library
21%
68%
11%
TOTAL NUMBER OF POSTS BASED ON SOCIAL MEDIA TYPE
Twitter Facebook Instagram

12. UQÀM Library
Facebook
Top January Posts
• Library services related
• 2 likes and 1 share (per
post)

13. UQÀM Library Instagram
Top January Posts
• Library contest
• 1 like

14. UQÀM Library- Findings/Results
• Facebook
• Most active account
• Most likes and most amount of followers
• Most engaged compared to Twitter or Instagram
• However…considerable low number of likes per post
• Twitter
• Not very active
• Low numbers of retweets/favourites by followers
• Instagram
• Least active account
• Lowest number of followers
• Not advertised on library website
• Discovered account through an Instagram photo shared on Twitter
• Potential to link more Instagram photos to Facebook and Twitter

15. McGill Libraries – January 2015
Twitter Facebook YouTube
Total Posts (including shared
posts)
42 49 1
Total Likes/Favourites 100 51 0
Total Views (YouTube only) - - 72
Number of Followers 3675 1763 46

16. McGill Libraries- January 2015
46%
53%
1%
PROPORTION OF POSTS
Twitter Facebook Youtube

17. Facebook & Twitter User Engagement
January-April, 2015
117
280
123 127
POSTS SHARES AND LIKES
McGill Social Media Comparison
Twitter Facebook

18. McGill Libraries- Observations
• Twitter:
• Extremely active twitter account
• Large number of posts and shares
• Dominant for Montreal libraries, public and academic
• YouTube:
• Average of 1 video per month
• Roughly 100 views per video
• Not utilized very much, especially in contrast to Twitter and
Facebook accounts
• Facebook
• Very active Facebook account
• Again, one of the most productive library Facebook accounts in
Montreal
• The interaction with audience much lower than that with Twitter
account

19. Spotlight on University of British Columbia Library
Flickr, Nathanael Hevelone, Spotlight

20. UBC Library (Jan 2015)
Twitter Facebook Instagram
Total Posts 38 23 6
Total Likes/Favourites 28 24 47
Total Retweets 38 2 1
Number of Followers 4897 1333 125

21. UBC Library (Jan 2015)
57%
34%
9%
TOTAL POSTS BASED ON SOCIAL MEDIA TYPE
Twitter Facebook Instagram

22. Top Twitter Post
• Collections Related
• 2 Retweets
• 5 Favourites

23. Top Instagram Post
• Photo
from 1925
• 13 likes

24. UBC Library- Findings/Results
• Twitter
• Most active account
• Engaging with followers
• Facebook
• Fairly active, but little response and engagement
• Social media requires more than just daily posts
• Instagram
• Significant # of likes when compared to # of followers
• Good way for reaching non-followers
• Recent significant increase in posts: 14 in April

25. Social Media Trends:
Academic Libraries in Montréal
Flickr, Graham Lavender, Redpath Library Building

26. Twitter: January 2015
Tweets Retweets Favourites Shares Followers
McGill 76% 98% 100% 84% 60%

27. Twitter: March 2015
Tweets Retweets Favourites Shares
Followers
(April 27)
McGill 61% (-15) 90% (-8) 90% (-10) 75% (-9) 60%

28. Tweets January-April, 2015
66%
7%
25%
2%
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL TWEETS (OUT OF 179)
McGill UQAM Concordia UdeM

29. Twitter posts vs Likes and Shares January-
April, 2015
117
13
45
4
280
8 26 1
MCGILL UQAM CONCORDIA U DE M
Total Tweets
Total Tweets Likes and shares

30. Facebook: January 2015
Posts Likes Shares Fans
McGill 75% 73% 87% 41.5%

31. Facebook Posts vs Likes and Shares
January-April, 2015
123
10
30
127
28
57
MCGILL U DE M FACEBOOK UQAM FACEBOOK
Total Facebook Posts vs Total Facebook Likes and
Shares
Facebook posts Facebook likes and shares

32. Other Libraries in Montréal
Flickr, BAnQ at Night, Kevin Chan

33. Facebook: January 2015
Posts Likes Shares Fans
BAnQ 21 303 113
16, 427
April 17, 2015
Bibliothèques de Montréal 17 132 120
5, 004
April 19, 2015
McGill 49 51 13 1763

34. Facebook Engagement
January-April, 2015
163 136
212
1683
ACADEMIC LIBRARIES PUBLIC LIBRARIES
Academic Vs Public Library Facebook Engagement
Facebook Posts Facebook Likes and Shares

35. Other Academic Libraries
Flickr, Phillip Jeffrey, Koerner Library at UBC

36. Twitter: January 2015
Tweets Retweets Favourites Shares Followers
McGill 42 62 38 16 3675
UBC 38 38 28 25 4897
U of A 14 23 24 67 2337*
*April, 2015
U of T 25 64 72 18 5432*
*April, 2015

37. Canadian Academic Libraries
Twitter Posts vs Likes and Shares
January-April, 2015
117
13 45
138
78
64
4
280
8 26
261
354
171
1
MCGILL UQAM CONCORDIA UBC U OF T U OF A U DE M
Total Tweets vs Likes and Shares
Total Tweets Likes and shares

38. Facebook: January 2015
Posts Likes Shares Fans
McGill 49 51 13 1763
Memorial QEII 10 3 1 287*
April, 2015
UBC 23 24 2 1333
York University 0 0 0 246*
April, 2015

39. Instagram: January 2015
Posts Likes Comments Followers
U of Guelph 7 51 1 345
UBC 6 47 1 125
UCLA 3 287 7 2336
UQAM 2 2 1 28
U of T 25 4120 74 2843

40. UofT Fisher Rare Book Library Instagram
Top January Post
• In response to @NYPL and #libraryshelfie day
• 324 likes

41. Anonymous Social Media
Flickr, Quinn Dombrowski, Hello my name is anonymous

42. Anonymous Social Media Apps
• Yik Yak and Whisper
• Yik Yak is text based
• Whisper is text over images
• Completely anonymous
• Posts aggregated by GIS location (usually a 3 mile radius)

43. Yik Yak

44. Best Practices
• Communicate your social media presence
• Diversify your content
• Post on a regular basis
• Less may be more
• Consider Instagram
• Be creative and have fun

45. Our first contest!

46. Questions?
Flickr, SEO, Totally Tweet

47. @divaeducator
@j_bjerke
@melisrivo
@mgroenendyk
Flickr, JI Ruan, Follow me on Twitter icon