New York Public Library using web 2.0...
The New York Public Library (NYPL) consists of 4 Research libraries and 85 branch libraries, with over 2.21 million card holders and a collection of over 50 million items. The library has incorporated a host of web 2.0 tools in their website to facilitate information sharing and foster collaboration and contact with the online community. NYPL website offers link to Facebook, Twitter and their blog, along with links to Flickr photos and YouTube to share photos and videos of various library events and programs.
Facebook- The library system successfully uses Facebook to market the events, programs and library materials, especially the new items as and when added in their collection. NYPL seems to have a pretty consistent presence in Facebook with few entries everyday. However, as of March, 2011, there are only 29, 851 people who follow the library system in Facebook, which is definitely not a very significant number given its total number of cardholders.
Twitter- NYPL's twitter page has 109, 484 followers and 4046 tweet as of March, 2011. But most of the postings are written by the librarians and staff, interaction with the followers are not that visible.
NYPL Blog- New York Public Library's blog is located under a section named Blogs, Videos and Publication and is organized by Channels, which offers RSS feeds on various topics, programs and services across the library system, and posts by Subjects. It is created following the same design pattern as of all other pages in their website. The header and footer offer links to library's home page, hours and location, online catalog and some other useful sites. The blog posts are in the middle with one graphic relevant to the subject per entry.The blog appears to be pretty current, with at least 2 posts each day from librarians from different departments from all over the library system. Again, no reader comments were seen on the posts, although there is an option to add a comment.
The NYPL system is moving into the right direction in their branding efforts, by choosing the popular social software platforms like Facebook, twitter and a blog to market their programs and services to the internet community. These social networking sites allow free flowing interaction with the patrons, which, if effectively utilized, can immensely boost the library's online presence and increase user participation while building a consistent organizational brand.
Suggestion - As it is evident from the statistics, the library has over 2.21 million card holders, whereas only 29, 851 follow the library system in Facebook. Same is true with their twitter account. The library system definitely needs to improve on their marketing and outreach strategies to attract more followers to join their online existence. I would suggest adding more interesting features, like Book Discussion in the library blog, where patrons can share their ideas and comments, postings on the Facebook and twitter that encourages patron interactions as well as adding pictures of library's events on the Facebook wall more often to tell people about programs and services the library offers. Although the library has an online presence through the most popular social networking platforms, it still needs to review the online marketing strategies more carefully to identify the reasons why they are unable to draw more traffic into their social networking sites.
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