Social Media Content

    We are all living in what I call the Information Age. Our lives, and the lives of everyone around the globe for that matter, are reigned by information and their ability to access it online. This is due in no small part to the dominance of social media and its ability to influence peoples' ways of thinking. Easing this share of information is the fact that most people have social media accounts, such as Twitter or Facebook, and rely on those accounts to keep in contact with friends of receive news. Major institutions specializing in all areas often use social media to gather an audience and promote in-person support for their physical locations. For instance, a major metropolitan library may make a Facebook page and use it to encourage patrons to visit the library in-person. Regardless of how one feels about social media, any information institution seeking a sizable patron and donor base must establish an online presence using social media. Gone are the days when newspaper ads or flyers on billboards reigned supreme; now everyone is looking at their 'smart' devices with an online connection, and it is through an online medium that large groups of people can be influenced. Information institutions, especially libraries and educators, must take advantage of this, and quickly, before technological progress leaves them behind.

    Recently, I was informed by my supervisor that my help is needed in creating social media content. I was only too happy to help and made recommendations. My key one is that a digital ad should be shared on social media in the form of a image created by me. Digital images are great because they can be attached or, more accurately, embedded into social media posts, such as blog posts on WordPress or Google Blogger. Free software, such as GIMP or in-browser applications, allows for any web user to create digital images in timely manner. One does not even have to be an artist. As I've learned in a previous class, the internet is populated with websites that provide royalty free, public domain images. My favorite online repositories are Wikimedia Commons, which provides images and audio, and PublicDomainPictures.Net, which provides exactly what its title implies. Different public images can be taken, edited, and put together to create an entirely new digital image which can then be released without the poster worrying about copyright infringement. Still, just to be safe, it is always good to list the resources you used somewhere and include their attribution. A list of 'credits' is the best way to describe this practice. Given enough time, I am confident I can create a simple, yet engaging image, for the LRCE's benefit. My supervisor informed me that the LRCE will soon be having a summer sale for educators. I'd be more than happy to employ my skills in creating a digital ad or flyer advertising this, so it can be posted on a social media profile and shared with the LRCE's online followers.

    Social media, as influential as it is, is not the key aspect of the internet, however. In the future, I hope to discuss how the world wide web is incorporated in the classroom and how educators engage students K-12 through digital technologies.