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"Social Media Engagement of National Libraries." J. Hamilton. D. M. R. Pennington. Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Strathclyde. 2015. Download PDF (BibTeX)

Abstract:
Social media metrics and analyses are becoming increasingly more common as an information source for measuring the impact of libraries, and creating engagement is seen as a key method of facilitating this. However, to date very little literature exists on the social media presence and practises of national libraries.

Statistical analyses were performed on the Twitter and Facebook posts of five national libraries (the British Library, Library and Archives Canada, Library of Congress, the National Library of Australia and the National Library of Scotland) collected during a nine week period to see if correlations existed between common and easily adjusted factors and the numbers of responses that form the metrics used to measure engagement. The data was also analysed to see if it was possible to compare the engagement of the national libraries and the study offers reasons for the differing levels.

The study shows that multiple factors such as the presence of a link or photograph, the time of day posted, all influence social media engagement of the national libraries studied though at varying level, and recommends courses of actions based on the results of the analyses of the different factors.