To Use or Not to Use....Facebook and Twitter in the Library

I consider myself to be a digital immigrant. I use technology in my everyday life, but I have not fully embraced it. I still have some reservations especially when it comes to sharing about the details of my life in social media. I do have a personal Facebook account that I use to keep up with my friends, but most of them are just acquaintances. I prefer to stay on the sidelines and limit myself to responding with emojis. Even with doing just that, it could be time-consuming.

Looking at Facebook on a different perspective made me feel less intimidated. It's enlightening to look at some posts on Facebook elementary school library pages. I was able to learn some activities and programs that I can do in my library. I also followed some libraries to see the new posts that they would add. Librarians are eager to lend a helping hand, so connecting with other librarians will definitely be helpful in my professional development. Posting pictures of students could be tricky. Some parents don't want their child's pictures posted online where anybody can see, so the librarian has to be really careful when uploading pictures on Facebook. You also have to be wary of fake Facebook profiles who tries to infiltrate to promote their own agenda. Overall, Facebook can be used to advocate for libraries for promotion and networking as long as you do your due diligence in protecting your students' privacy and practice good digital citizenship. If you want to find me on Facebook, look for @westwoodelementarylibrary.

I would say,Twitter is a great social networking tool. I am more active on Twitter than Facebook. My Twitter account is @e_eliasm. I have followed 160 profiles as of today. Most of them have education background. I like Twitter better because it is less distracting and straight to the point. I retweeted some links to information about classroom technology tools, importance of reading, growth mindset, etc. to share resources that I think are helpful. Using hashtags like #personalizedlearning, #pbl, #KidsDeserveIt, #Mindset, etc. allow me to find people and organizations that posted anything related to those topics. I also used Twitter to post some pictures of events that took place in our school to showcase student talents and our school library programs.

@kathyschrock has tweeted several helpful technology resources for teachers to use. She also shares about events where she will be presenting.

@mrschureads is an avid book talker. He shares up and coming book titles and whets readers’ appetite by showing some of the colorful pages and book covers.

@BIEpbl is an organization that helps improve 21st century teaching & learning by creating & disseminating products, practices & knowledge for effective Project Based Learning.

Facebook and Twitter are both good social media tools that can be used in the library. Both can be used to network, share, promote, showcase, and learn from individuals and organizations. You don't have to use both at the same time. It is better to have one that is fully utilized because maintaining a presence on social media can be time-consuming.