TY - GEN A1 - Jurczyk, Eva T1 - #Academic Libraries : Social Media Strategies from Ontario University Libraries N2 - The library as a gateway to knowledge is threatened by an inability to excite users about new information sources and services. To continue as relevant information institutions, libraries must enthusiastically embrace technologies like Twitter that have shown success in improving influence and user engagement (Cha, Haddadi, Benevenuto & Gummadi, 2010). Users of tools like Twitter self- identify as stakeholders in the organizations they “follow” by providing informal publicity (Jansen, Zhang, Sobel & Chowdury, 2009), by more actively participating as a member of the organization, (Junco, Heiberger & Loken, 2011) and by enhancing the social presence of an organization outside of its four walls (Dunlap & Lowenthal, 2009). Some academic and public library systems have invested in social media librarians to make effective use of tools like Twitter, but the addition of a staff member in this role is not an economic reality for many libraries. This talk discusses new research examining the Twitter feeds of university libraries in Ontario. The success of each Twitter feed is determined by comparing the number of Twitter followers with the size of community the library serves. 365 days worth of tweets for each library are analyzed to highlight the differences between successful and unsuccessful Tweeters. The talk discusses how successful feeds form their content; the subjects of their tweets, the frequency, and the way they utilize the functions of Twitter; such as hashtags and tiny urls. The strategies identified in the successful feeds have application in libraries of all sizes and allow librarians to participate in social media without expertise in social media conventions. This talk encourages librarians to capture each other’s knowledge and celebrate each other’s successes so that they may better connect users with library resources and services. KW - Web 2.0 KW - Social media KW - academic library KW - Twitter KW - best practices Y1 - 2012 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bib-info/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1091 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0290-opus-11924 ER -