I found doing this assignment to be very easy for me this week is that I grew up in the generation where all of these tools started. I use all five of the Web 2.0 tools I selected and feel that because I use them in my personal life that they would easily transfer into my library business life. Many of the tools I’ve chosen to use are not only tools that people have used to promote their businesses, but they’ve also used as platforms to gain popularity and fame.
Social Media
I first chose to use Instagram because it is an app that I use on my phone daily that I often find myself clicking on without even realizing what I’m doing. Instagram on a personal level is easy to use to show your followers what you’re up to whenever you feel like it, and the business accounts are just as easy to use. I recently made a business Instagram account to go along with the blog that was started for this class which I will go over later. My Instagram business account can be found under @the_tattooedlibrarian which allows my blog followers to make a connection with me already. Instagram’s business account is just as simple as a personal account but has some features that a person trying to promote a business may find success in using. One of my favorite parts about this account is being able to promote the page as a whole or promote a specific post. A business looking to promote something from their account has to select what they would like to promote, how long they want the promotion to go on and what audience they would like to reach. You then have to pay a small fee for the options you’ve chosen, and Instagram does the rest. This is great for small businesses to use because it allows them to reach broader audiences that most likely have not heard of hem and they would otherwise not reach. An Instagram account can be connected to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr for the owner to share a post. I think that the use of Instagram for the bookstore/library that I would like to have in the future would benefit from all of the features that Instagram has to offer. It would allow me as the owner to have a simple way to share things happening in the store as well as allowing followers to have easy access to the information. I use it now to promote my blog, share my reading ventures and to share what’s happening at my Barnes & Noble.
I chose to also use Facebook as a Web 2.0 option for my bookstore/library. Facebook has been around longer than Instagram, and although I did have facebook first, I prefer to use Instagram. Facebook has many of the same features as Instagram but to me offers the option for more interaction with followers. On Facebook, a person can also make a business account and promote their page much like Instagram, but I feel that because more people are used to using Facebook one can reach more people. Facebook makes it easy as well to access on a computer as well as on apps. The reason I don’t like using Facebook as much is that of how “internet vocal” other users can be. Many Facebook users comment negatively on strangers posts and cause conflict among different users. For someone like me that tries to avoid conflict, this can become very discouraging. While I have also made a facebook business page to go along with my blog and Instagram I have not found myself to use it as much because of not wanting any backlash. When it comes to a Facebook business, I think that the hardest part would be making sure on some issues the page managers stay neutral and not make a post that may cause followers to be too upset. I think the long run use of a Facebook business accounts for a library can be beneficial to the library much like the use of Instagram with little conflict.
Pinterest is another Web 2.0 option I chose to look at for my bookstore/library. In my opinion, Pinterest is much like a photo blog that allows it’s users to access ideas for whatever they may be looking for easily. You often hear people say to check Pinterest because “Pinterest has everything.” In many ways, I have found this to be true for personal and work. I’ve often used Pinterest to figure out how to pair clothes for work, find activities for my kids in school and I recently used it to find new recipes for Thanksgiving meals. I don’t have any personal business experience with Pinterest, but I recently read the self-help book, Girl Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis where she takes about how much her Pinterest account played such a significant role in making her who she is today. Because in my bookstore/library I plan on having community programs and a before/after school program I feel a Pinterest account would be a great way to help parents and guardians in the community get a good view on what we do in applications as well as some projects they can do at home. Pinterest is another program that can be accessed via the app as well as on the computer which makes it very user-friendly. Pinterest also connects to other social media platforms which makes me now want to create a Pinterest account that links to my other pages.
The use of Twitter for business has also shown to be a beneficial Web 2.0 tool. There are a countless amount of big business and people that use Twitter to reach their followers quickly. Many school districts like the one I work in uses twitter to make sure parents get last minute information that may have come up such as school closings due to weather. I find twitter to be easy to use as well; it’s very straightforward. Type in what you want to share and push send. I think twitter would be another Web 2.0 tool that would benefit my bookstore/library in the same way it helps the schools. I can reach my followers on twitter with quick reminders of events that day or if there has been an emergency. I know that there are several parents in the schools that really appreciate the use of daily twitter updates and I feel my patrons would as well. Twitter is another platform allows it’s users to connect to other media making it easy to use.
I wanted to discuss the use of blogs as a Web 2.0 tool. From what we have already learned in this class blogs are a great way to have companies reach out to like-minded people. To me, I feel like I have gone into a new world since I have been doing the blog for this class. I chose to use WordPress as my platform because I found it to be the easiest for me to use and it allows connection to other media. I’ve been able to make connections with people all over the world with my blog in such a short amount of time that I would have never connected to without the blog.
Finally, I wanted to discuss tagging because it has become such a big thing on every platform. Tagging for some platforms uses a hashtag (#) followed by words for phrases that relate to the post, and other platforms have to drop down boxes where you can type in tags to use for the post. Tags give people a way to search for different materials based on the words or phrases they type in. For instance, on my Instagram account, I often use the tag #bookblog, the people that are looking for book blogs will be able to search book blog and find my page. People also use different tags to tag wedding or event pictures so that when they all use the same tag, they can see photos from the same event. Tagging is also a way to make a term or phrase become popular potentially making yours well known. I foresee using tagging for my bookstore/library for events and for merely using the name of my store making it a common thing.
As far as my use of technology I feel that I have a great handle on using it for personal and for business. I think I am lucky to have grown up in a generation that started not having the internet accessible to everyone to then having it available to all. I also think it is beneficial that my age has invented many of the popular Web 2.0 tools that are being used today; therefore, they seem to be tailor-made for us. While I feel like I do have a good grip on what I currently need to use the tools for I could always use more knowledge. There are people out there doing better than I am with this and since that’s the case, I feel like why not learn from the best.
Other Tools:
Apper.in is another Web 2.0 tool that I can see myself using for my programs. Being able to creat a chat room where I can invite students an other patrons to come together to share ideas is a great idea. I think being able to post it on my blog about some controversial topic and get people to work together to discuss I would be able to make even better connections with people. It would be good to have with my bookstore/library patrons as well. The program seems like it is very easy to use and I have it bookmarked for future use.
Poll Junkie is another Web 2.0 tool I feel I could use for my bookstore/library programs online. This tool reminds me much of the poll tools that used to be available on MySpace back in the day. I like being able to have polls on my pages because that would be able to promote conversation among my followers as well. I would actually like to post a poll to be able to see what my followers are reading and if there are things that they would like me to post for their interest. This one seems to be an easy program to use as well and as far as for my bookstore/library it would be a good one to use for finding out what programs patrons like or want to use.
I chose to go with Grab Tube as another form of web tools to use because it is something that I have used in the past. Grab Tube is easy to use for embedding videos from YouTube onto blog post allowing your followers to see exactly what it is you want them to see. You’re given the option on how you want the file you’re trying to display to look which makes it a good tool to use to make sure your page looks the way you want it. Another good thing about this tool is that it is free which makes it nice for small business that are on low budgets. I think this could also benefit my library because I would be able to potentially use it for a homework club and post on the blog videos of math tutorials (obviously thinking about my students right now).
Because I talked about using Pinterest as a social media Web 2.0 tool I thought using Discovery Puzzle Maker would be a great tool for me to use. Using this tool to make puzzles for my students’ parents to access outside of my program can help parents to be more involved in their children’s activities. It can also give the child and parent a way to learn things together in a fun way. Kids these days seem to be on break for everything so having a puzzle-maker available would also be helpful for them to use when they are at home bored with nothing to do but get in trouble.
Free GifMaker is another Web 2.0 tool I think would be beneficial to use in my programs since I would like to have a lot of teen interest. Teens I currently have in my programs love talking about memes and gifs that they’ve seen on their social media pages. I think using the Free GifMaker in my programs would spark a big interest and get the teens more engaged in actives if they knew making their own gifs would be the outcome. The gifs they make (after parent permission has been given) can even be posted on the bookstore/library media pages which would potentially get more kids involved which is my ultimate goal.
The Tattooed Librarian 