Turning Tweets into Stories

I work in the technical services department of my library and I spend most of my time ordering and invoicing all the books for the Brandel Library at North Park University. It’s quite enjoyable (most of the time…) and most entries will be about my work and interest in the technical details of the library.

But, in addition to being the Acquisitions Coordinator, I’m also one of the library’s tweeters.

I (@ameyer24) began tweeting in 2008, but my library (@brandellibrary) started tweeting in March of 2012. I really love  tweeting for the library and am quite proud of the small following we’ve built and the conversations that we’ve entered into. In many ways, tweeting for the library is much easier than tweeting about my own life – mainly because I know the library can make big contributions to the conversations happening on twitter. It’s been great.

For this post, I wanted to share a tool I used that really encapsulated the value and importance of twitter. I used Storify to tell the story “Brandel Library, Finals Week, 2012“. Storify is a web service that “helps its users tell stories by curating social media.” I focused on just twitter, but Storify can also pull from facebook, youtube, flickr, instagram, google plus, and other websites. This flexibility and ease of use makes it an extremely valuable way to collect bits of social media and weave them into a compelling story.

I think this is especially important in an academic library setting. Storify can help libraries:

1. Demonstrate the value of social media. I hear that many libraries have a difficult time demonstrating the value of social media. I think a carefully curated story shows (to a wary director, to the administration, to the wider campus community) the value and importance of entering those conversations. I think our story provides concrete examples about how twitter can benefit the community. Our story reveals how other patrons actively answered questions about the library. It tells us something about how people use the library space. It shows the pride some people have for the library. Twitter is no longer a ‘waste of time’ – it’s a new way we can demonstrate our value to the broader campus community.
2. Thank their community. After creating and publishing the story, I sent out tweets thanking each person who contributed something to the story. Along with retweeting and responding, this was another way to show individuals how much their voices mattered to the library. Twitter is great because of the conversations it can create. I am careful not to use twitter as a place to post announcements – I want to use twitter as a way to engage patrons and communities in conversation. I want to have public conversations through twitter, not shout library announcements.

I’m surprised that I haven’t seen more academic libraries create and curate stories to Storify. It seems like a perfect way to weave discrete bits of media into a compelling story that demonstrates the value of social media and that rewards library patrons for sharing their experiences.

I’d love to hear or see how other libraries are using Storify to tell different stories. I’d also love to hear any one speak to whether/how Storify could be used to archive and preserve these digital conversations.