I became a social media enthusiast starting with these principles I collated from all the lectures and discussions:
Focus on goal and not on technology. The strategies you deploy will depend greatly on how you define your purpose. The purpose must be clear i.e. you create to build a community and not to duplicate your official website. Be identified with your institution. Never put anything personal. Always go back to what it is created. Flag you institution rather than get overwhelmed on announcing about library associations or other fact which you personally find interesting but may not be of interest to your audience.
One size does not fit all. There is no specific category for the gargantuan emerging media tools in the web. It grows in light speed. There is no hard and fast rule that if one tool e.g. social networking site, is effective to most institutions it automatically goes well for you. Thus, evaluate your own resources, see clearly what you need and what is feasible in your organizational culture.
Go where your audiences are. No longer are the days when libraries just wait for people to come and ask for information. Libraries and information centers nowadays must be more dynamic and proactive in order to compete with the ever increasing and unstoppable flow of information. Thus, we need to give the information they need before they ask for it. In order to be able to deliver the information accurately, and not just a wild guess, we need to know our audiences.
No lone-ranger rule. With the never-ending things-to-do, it is important that everybody is involved to make the work lighter. Division of labor is the answer to our primary issue of time-constraint. It is also important to prepare a plan on how much time is going to be spent by your staff, make sure they do not get addicted. Let the policy be known.
Moreover, by implementing strategies internally, you educate them and at the same time gather insights. Consequently, as you learn together, comfort and sophistication level grows. A committee to study and evaluate the new strategies could also be helpful in the first few months of exploration. Moreover, higher administrators must know what you are doing in order to get support. Policy and guidelines must also be established; thus, consultation with various stakeholders is important. Lastly, as you spell out collaboration, teamwork is important to attain sustainability of the project.
When we become interested, this is where it starts.Well, when you are involved, you can never stop anyway. You get feeds of information every few minutes so you it’s a whole lot easier. See for yourself if we have the same experience. There is wisdom in Sam's (Looney Tunes) words: "if you cannot beat them, join 'em".
