9. Discussion
9.2 Relationship between post types and user engagement
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40 It is clear from the quantitative analysis and results that regional factors play an important role in metrics of likes and comments. It has also been proven overseas, like in America that libraries end up having “to compete with each other for students’ [attention]” (Spalding &
Wang, 2006, p. 495) when they are based in smaller regions. Therefore, it was noticeable that AUTL shared posts that were related to the wider community of AUT such as gym classes and the AUT student association. AUTL also made an extra effort to follow people (1616 accounts) on Instagram to gain followers (1178) in return. Whereas MUL is only following 44 accounts and they have 542 followers without the effort being put into networking.
The connection strategy and networking seem to be working for AUTL, given that they have a higher proportion of complimentary/thankful comments compared to MUL. This is despite the fact that they do not have the same regional benefits as MUL. According to Mon (2015), lower level of meaningful interactivity will be observed if the library focuses only on posting its own content, which MUL has done on both platforms. Sharing, liking and following other pages relevant to the community, as AUTL is observed doing, will lead to consequential engagement (K.E. Anderson 2017; Mon, 2015).
41 services in the offline world. For example, the posts were about opening hours, public holiday closures (Table C.5, Sample no. 59) and the photo of the service points (Table C.1, Sample no. 8).
AUTL’s promotional posts were focused on the events happening internally (in Studio 55) hence these posts attracted the highest number of comments from the ‘general information on library services’ category (see Tables B.2 & B.4). MUL’s promotional posts attracted mostly general comments or complimentary/thankful comments (see Tables C.2 & C.4).
General comments were gained because the nature of the promotion/connection types posts were quite general. For example, Joo et al. (2018) noted public libraries posts
contained announcements, library rules, and wishes for special days such as Valentine’s day.
It is a nice gesture to do it because public libraries have to engage a whole community. But academic libraries have specific agendas and audience. Perhaps promotional posts should be focused on these specificities. General comments are unrelated to the library therefore it can be determined that their value is lesser than the ‘general information on library
services’ and ‘complimentary/thankful’ category.
Connection: Emotional connection can be formed with students when shared interests are identified and created into posts. Overall, connection type posts were third highest for AUTL and fourth highest for MUL. According to Kerpen (2011), staff can be used as a source of forming connections online with users. AUTL and MUL have made use of their staff where they are shown wearing pink in support of Pink Shirt Day. It has emotional value as it shows that library and staff care for student’s mental health (Tables B.1, sample no. 27, B.5 sample no. 21; and Tables C.1 sample no. 41, C.5, sample no. 52). Also, AUTL shared posts from other AUT related pages which resulted in more connection type posts, whereas MUL preferred to create original content. Joo et al. (2018, p. 952) also found that “social media posts that inspire emotion, such as humour or inspirational content are considered an effective method to create a connection with viewers and drive engagement” for public libraries.
AUTL’s connection type posts garnered complimentary/thankful comments along with general and friendship categories. MUL had only seven comments on connection type posts 4 of which were in the general comments’ category. Again, AUTL seems to have more engagement than MUL for connection type posts, possibly because AUTL targets more on the community of AUT while MUL seems to have a much wider audience and scope.
However, Wenger (1998) argues that connectivity is not enough for a community of practice, but the focus should be on knowledge sharing and gathering.
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42 Promotion/Connection: These types of posts usually had promotional motives behind the creation. In addition to library-related topics, MUL was in the habit of sharing content that targeted the students through enjoyment and inspiration. An example of this was Table C.1 sample no. 18 and C.5 sample no. 22 where an April Fool’s joke was shared. It gained attention for MUL because many users tagged their friends in the post, possibly bringing MUL’s Facebook and Instagram to the attention of non-followers/friends. This post also garnered the highest number of ‘funny/humour’ comments for MUL. For MUL
promotion/connection posts garnered an equal amount of friendship/humour comments and general comments. According to Coelho, Oliveira, and Almeida (2016) these posts seek to involve users in the process of image building because they are a way of advertising. This approach is more suited to public libraries to establish that they are an approachable by all members of the community (Cho et al., 2014; Coelho et al., 2016). However, it can be argued that academic libraries should be approachable too, given that they can be an intimidating space for new university students.
AUT heavily marketed their makerspace called Studio 55 to students and shared their photos after the event to create connections with the students (such as, Table B.5, sample no. 8). The comments they garnered from such posts were mostly complimentary. For example, the comments were either the library thanking the students who participated, or students were thanking/complimenting the library for successful workshops, and for sharing the students’ photos. This is in line with overseas academic libraries such as the UCLA Powell Library. UCLA Powell Library regularly reposted student’s photos on their feed as a way of connecting with undergraduates (Salomon, 2013). Photos taken by students of library buildings, study spaces, unusual books, events help to promote the library. For example, when UCLA noticed students taking photos of books, they created a hashtag
#booksyouneverknewwehad to further encourage students to take photos of books (Salomon, 2013). This hashtag and photos served both purposes for them: promotion and connection. Similarly, AUTL and MUL made an effort to repost students’ photos on
Instagram but did not go further than that to create connection while promoting.
Conversation: Chen et al. (2012, p.7) pointed out that conversations on social media can be
“knowledge gathering opportunities” and that both public and academic libraries have
“underused and underexplored” this opportunity. This is also one of the most important areas for establishing a thriving community of practice (Wenger, 1998). The analysis of AUTL and MUL’s content shows that the trend has continued because both libraries only made one conversational post each in the three months. MUL garnered a suggestion from their post while AUTL had friends tagging each other to spread the message. The frequency of AUTL’s posts also suggests that perhaps they prefer to keep conversations in the physical
43 space of the library rather than the online personification of the library that they have created on social media.
MUL may have garnered more suggestions or library related comments if they had created more conversation type posts. A suggestion type comment can be classified as a higher type of engagement where students feel that they can relate to the library (Gerolimos, 2011). It is possible that MUL receives suggestions through private messages from students as they are available for chat. Chen et al. (2012) noted that conversations seem to have more leverage on engaging students on academic libraries social media posts.
Education: MUL has recognized that Instagram can be a fun learning and teaching tool for them and their students. This is evident from the Kupu O Te Wiki (Word of the Week) posts which were focused on teaching Te Reo Maori (see Table C.5). One of the suggestion type comments on an educational post was that they should continuously do this, to which MUL replied that they have been doing it for years. Educational posts also got these comments on it: complimentary/thankful, general information of library services, and general
comment category. Educational advantages of social media platforms have been reported by many researchers (Alshuaibi et al., 2018; Chatten & Roughley, 2016; Crumpton & White, 2016; Jahan & Ahmed, 2012; Salomon, 2013). UCLA Powell Library goes beyond the
occasional photo on Instagram and incorporate content that emerges from the curriculum (Salomon, 2013). And it can also be seen through the variety of engagement they garnered for MUL. MUL did not create any educational posts on Facebook despite it being reported that Facebook is also one of the ways for students to seek information (Saw, Abbott, Donaghey, & McDonald, 2013).
AUTL had no educational posts on either Facebook or Instagram. This is because their preferred method for educating students is YouTube and this might be a research-based decision because it has been reported that YouTube is well used by students for learning (Kruse & Veblen, 2012; Saw et al., 2013).
Promotion/Education: Both AUTL and MUL created one promotion/education post each.
AUTL created it to promote an event (Table B.1, sample no. 25 and C.5 sample no. 44). For AUTL it garnered three likes but no comments. MUL had neither type of engagement. AUTL used a fact to promote an event, whereas MUL promoted their choir but also used the word waiata for Kupu O Te Wiki. It cannot be concluded judging from only two posts whether it’s a good strategy to create these kinds of posts. Educational posts got lower number of likes and comments compared to promotion and promotion/connection type posts. Perhaps the libraries were combining promotion and education to see whether it increases engagement in terms of the number of likes and comments.
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44 The educational/promotional post by MUL was also on Facebook but as they don’t create educational posts on Facebook, the post was altered to be promotion/connection post. This is significant because it shows that MUL is aware of the specifics of their audience on both platforms. However, this was the only post that was posted differently on the platforms, all other posts that were counted once were identical in nature.
The data analysis identified differences among both academic libraries’ usage of Facebook and Instagram. These differences were conspicuous between the academic libraries which aligns with the previously reported research for overseas academic libraries by Ayu and Abrizah (2011). The main differences were in the average frequency of posting and in likes and comments. These differences were expected, as AUTL and MUL are affected by different factors.