David Lee King

Social Media as Place

David Lee King — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:00:43 +0000

My last post about those billboards reminded me about the difference between a library’s normal forms of content (books, DVDs, music CDs, etc) and social media.

What’s that difference?

Content – a book, a video, etc – is something you DO. You read a book, you watch a movie.
Social Media is a place you visit in order to DO. You visit Facebook in order to share something with your mom.

Think of social media as a crowded room in a pretty social setting. A bar, a party, hanging out with friends, etc. You go there to talk, to share, to listen. It’s a place you visit so that you can do something.

There are a couple of cool intersections though. Things like this:

Go to Twitter (a place) to talk (something to do) about a book that everyone’s reading (content).
Visiting the library (a place) to use the computer to access Facebook to reconnect with a friend (something to do).

So librarians … use your mad powers of social media to connect with your customers to talk about your content. Then see what happens.

image by Bigstock

Hey Milwaukee, You’re Doing it Wrong!

David Lee King — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:00:14 +0000

Milwaukee Public Library is running an interesting billboard campaign right now. See the image above – that’s the billboard – it’s being displayed on digital billboards “throughout Milwaukee County at no cost” (from their press release).

My three thoughts upon seeing this:

Thought #1: “Yikes! They’re showing their print book bias.”

Thought #2: Looks to me like the public library is telling Milwaukee social media users that they’re doing it wrong. In essence, they’re saying “reading books is better than what you’re doing.” It’s sort of a negative message.

Thought #3 (a bit more here): Two of the three messages don’t really make sense, and one seems format-specific. Here’s what I mean:

Putyourfaceinabook and 140 characters? try millions (book vs. Facebook/Twitter): these two don’t really work for me. Twitter and Facebook are online social communication tools; books are, well … things you tend to read by yourself. It’s an apples to oranges comparison. Reading a book is great – but not if I want to chat with a friend, or do some work, or, say, run a revolution in the middle east (all things that people do via Twitter and/or Facebook).
You Could Be Reading (book vs. Youtube): To me, this message makes the claim that one form of content is better than another – i.e., books are better than video-based content. Books certainly work well for some content, but a book isn’t always the best choice! For example, books aren’t the best choice when I want to watch the new Van Halen video, figure out how to install a storm door, or watch a full-length movie (all things I can easily do via Youtube).

I get that the billboards are meant to be tongue-in-cheek, and that many online types think they’re witty and clever. And I think books are wonderful – no problems there. But I also see a lot of libraries taking wistful looks into the past, rather than actively planning to navigate our emerging digital content future. To me, these billboards are looking into the past.

Things aren’t going to go back to the way they were, no matter how many times we tell people they should be reading a book instead of watching a Youtube video or hanging out on Facebook. Is this the message you want to send to your community? I’m not convinced it is.

Then again, I could be way off my rocker. What do YOU think about these billboards?

Update – Check out Will Manley’s post for a historical perspective on a very similar issue … with the same library, no less (ok, and I’m blushing a bit, too – thanks for the kind words, Will!).

Twitter Apps for the iPhone

David Lee King — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:00:08 +0000

I have been using Twitter’s iPhone app for iPhone tweeting … but since their recent update, the app hasn’t worked well for me. I just tested it – it took 5-6 seconds to open, then when I clicked on Connect, it took about 1 minute to actually show me any tweet replies. Every page of the app has been irritating that way.

So a couple nights ago, I asked some Twitter peeps what their favorite iPhone Twitter apps were … and received some great responses, including:

Tweetbot – this is the one I settled on for now. Why? The layout works for me, and Tweetbot does one thing I’ve wanted for awhile – have the main screen default to a list (see the accompanying screenshot) instead of the full timeline. I rarely follow the timeline feed. Instead, I created a shorter list of people I want to follow (ok – actually a few different lists), then follow that list. Makes twitter much easier to handle.
Echofon – I have used this early on. It’s still a really nice Twitter app.
Hootsuite for iPhone – I have this, but haven’t used it much. As far as I can tell, there is no Push setting. So, to see new Twitter replies using Hootsuite, you would need to open up Hootsuite and refresh to see if you received anything new (rather than just letting the Twitter app handle this via a Push). Not useful to me!
Osfoora – heard of it, never used it.
Twitter – the app made by Twitter that I just complained about…
Seesmic – never used the iPhone app.
Tweetdeck – I have it, but it’s been pretty buggy for me so I rarely use the iPhone version.
Tweetings – never heard of it.
… and the Twitter app for android, with a smiley face attached. I’m sure it’s dandy for all you Android users

Is your Twitter app working for you? If not, try out one of these, and share what you like/don’t like about them!

Digital Music Sales tops Physical Music Sales

David Lee King — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:00:40 +0000

Did you catch this article last week on CNN? Digital Music tops Physical Music Sales. Here’s a couple of quotes from the article:

“According to a Nielsen and Billboard report, digital music purchases accounted for 50.3% of music sales in 2011. Digital sales were up 8.4% from the previous year, while physical album sales declined 5%.”

“While services like Napster blazed the trail for online music consumption, offerings like Apple’s 99-cents-a-song iTunes catalog as well as those from a host of startups have broken down traditional music-purchasing barriers. Most customers now prefer shopping online to buying in a store.”

For that matter, you don’t even have to buy music to enjoy it anymore. We finally took down our Christmas decorations last weekend. While doing that, we listened to some classic jazz via Pandora. Obviously, a radio would work here too … but not for the type of music I was listening to!

So … libraries and music. My public library has a pretty large CD collection. We also subscribe to Freegal (a library-oriented service that basically gives patrons 3 free music downloads a week). We have also seen a demo for the library version of Rdio (not impressed yet).

In five year’s time, what will we be doing? How will we be collecting music? Will music still be listed for checkout in our library catalogs? Or will we point patrons to Spotify/Pandora/Rdio/etc?

I’m not sure … what do you think?

guitar pic by Bigstock

Photojojo Lenses on an iPhone

David Lee King — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:00:52 +0000

I recently purchased some iPhone photo/video lenses from Photojojo, and wanted to show you what they do to iPhone video.

I bought the 3 lens bundle, which includes a wide angle/macro lens, a telephoto lens, and a fisheye lens. They actually work pretty well. Watch my video to see the three lenses in action (along with my trusty iMicrophone).

Do you use your smart phone to take videos or photos? Check the lenses out.

Update those Library Policy pages!

David Lee King — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:06:27 +0000

This morning, I’ve been watching a small PR fiasco unfold. According to CBS Boston, Charlton Public Library sent a police officer to collect overdue books from a 5-year-old. The story also made the Drudge Report and the UK’s Daily Mail – gotta love that international media attention!

OK – there’s obviously a LOT more to the story that was left out. For example, there’s no mention in the article of the reporter actually talking to library staff, who could have filled in the details (they DID talk to the library – it’s mentioned in the video version of the story).

Via Facebook, the library filled in some pertinent details (i.e., what actually happened) after getting some nasty Facebook comments:

“Library materials are purchased using taxpayer dollars. We feel as library staff that it is our duty to safeguard those tax dollars. We have asked the Charlton Police Dept. to help recover items from those patrons who have been delinquent in returning materials for more than 6 months and who have at least $100 worth of unreturned materials at their homes. We follow our standard procedure of phonecalls and/or emails to remind patrons to return their materials. A bill is sent out once an item is overdue for a month. Sending out the police is a last resort effort to get back some of our most valuable items. The police visited 13 families whose outstanding balance totaled $2634.00 in library materials.” (from Charlton Public Library’s Facebook Page - also just added to the main page of the library’s website).

So good for them for using Facebook and their website to quickly respond to the story.

After I read the article, I first visited the library’s website and tried to find their fines and fees policy. Here’s all I found (until they updated the site and their Facebook Page):

Print and audio materials accrue a 10 cent daily overdue fine with a $3.00 maximum fine per item.
Dvd and video items accrue a $1.00 daily overdue fine with a maximum fine of $5.00 per item.
Patrons are responsible for the repair or replacement of lost or damaged items. Failure to pay fines or damages will result in the loss of borrowing privileges at C/WMARS libraries.
from their Library Services page

What’s missing here? Any information about the process, what happens if you don’t pay your late fees, etc – other than the “loss of borrowing privileges” info. That sounds VERY different than explanation from the library quoted above, doesn’t it?

How can this be improved? Simple – if you have a policy, a guideline, a process for fines and fees (or for anything else, for that matter) – put it on your website. Probably in a Library Policies section, or a link to appropriate places on your site. For example, the late fee policy/process could be added to your “get a library card” page.

Then, when the media calls asking why you’re sending police to a poor 5 year old child, you can explain … but you can also email them a link to the appropriate policy and process.

Question – if one of your library customers had a policy-type question, could that question be answered using your website?

Update button by Bigstock

Editing Myself – a new song from me

David Lee King — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:00:19 +0000

As long-time readers of my blog know, I like to write and share music every once in a blue moon. I don’t know when the next blue moon might be, but it’s the end of the year, so here’s a song!

I’ve been working on a book for much of 2011, and will be doing more writing in 2012 … and I’ve been editing myself a lot … so I thought I’d write a song about editing myself.

Feel free to take a listen (song is embedded above)! I’m playing with Bandcamp too – here’s my Bandcamp page. If you REALLY enjoy the song, feel free to buy it for a whopping $.99 (plus tax, I think). Bandcamp is cool!

OK – the song…

Editing Myself (by David Lee King)

Drinkin lots of coffee, got my writer’s hat on
inkin lines on my laptop, typin into dawn
if it doesn’t measure up, if my copy don’t fly
I’m gonna click and drag it right into my trashcan pile

I am editing myself
I am editing myself
pullin my thesaurus off the shelf
cause I am editing myself

I don’t always scribble everything exactly right
all my words don’t rhyme and my letters seem to fight
I can highlight copy paste to my heart’s content
rewrite what i don’t like until my brain is spent

now i got a rhyming dictionary and I’m lookin up a word
I need three syllables that rhyme with bird
not sure how it’ll fit, it is probably absurd
but if you’ve listened this far, well, you might have overheard

Enjoy, and here’s for a wonderful 2012!

Most Popular Posts and Videos of 2011

David Lee King — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:46:31 +0000

Here’s a list of some of my most popular content from 2011, including blog posts, videos, photos, and presentations. I hope you enjoy poking through this list, and more importantly, following along – reading, watching, viewing, etc – in 2012!

Most Popular Blog Posts of 2011:

Most Popular Videos of 2011:

i-microphone for the iphone – the Edutige EIM-001 (embedded below) – me testing out an iPhone microphone. Viewed 5574 times and counting, mainly because the US distributor put a link to my video on their website.
Testing out my RØDE VideoMic Pro – me testing out another microphone. Viewed 2617 times – proper use of keywords put my video in the first page of hits for “RØDE VideoMic Pro.”
Morphwiz – an iPad Music Creation App – me playing with an iPad synthesizer. Viewed 2134 times. Proper use of keywords and tags is the culprit again – this video appears in the first page of hits for “Morphwiz.”
OK, and my most popular video ever – Learning Blues Harp – viewed 63,469 times since 2007. Embarrassingly enough, I’m pretty certain it gets hit so much (and then gets some nasty comments) is because of my poor use of keywords! When I titled the video “Learning Blues harp,” I really meant “I’m just starting to learn blues harp.” Everyone else apparently clicks on the video, thinking “I’m going to learn HOW TO PLAY blues harp from an expert!” Oops.

Most Popular Presentation of 2011:

Seriously Social – Leveraging Social Media: Focus on Facebook – viewed 4686 times on Slideshare (and well attended a couple of times, too).

Most popular photos of 2011:

From Flickr: viewed 289 times…

… and my personal favorite from 2011 in Flickr – my family. Viewed only 16 times, which is actually sorta amazing:

And my most popular pic in Instagram from 2011 (I’m davidleeking on instagram – Instagram is VERY COOL):

Here’s to a great 2011, and to an even better 2012!

Five P’s of Preparation

David Lee King — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:00:34 +0000

I’m reading The Secrets of Facilitation: The S.M.A.R.T. Guide to Getting Results with Groups by Michael Wilkinson (all us managers at the library are reading it right now).

I just read about the 5 P’s of Preparation – talking about planning for a meeting (on page 53). But I realized as I was reading the 5 P’s that they also work pretty well for planning and discussing a technology project.

So – here are my modified 5 P’s of Techie Project Planning:

Purpose – what are the key objectives, why are we building/redesigning this?
Product – what’s the goal? What’s the end result? How will we know we were successful?
Participants – who needs to be involved? Who are we building this for?
Probable issues – are there any concerns? Any roadblocks or challenges in our way? How can we prevent those?
Process – What steps do we need to take to meet our goals?

What steps do you use when planning a technology or web project? Do they look similar to this? Let us know in the comments!

Photo by Bigstock

Writing for American Libraries

David Lee King — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:00:40 +0000

Head’s up – remember that Public Libraries Magazine column that I have been writing with Michael Porter for about five years (wow – 5 years. Really?)?

Well – starting in January, Michael Porter and I will have a new column … and we have moved from Public Libraries Magazine to American Libraries.

Our new column is called Outside/In, and here’s what we plan to write about:

“The Outside/In column will bring information about what’s happening in the larger world of tech trends (outside) to see how they apply to libraries (in). Readers can expect practical information, news and tips about emerging Web and technology trends” (from American Libraries’ press release).

We plan to stuff those columns with great, useful content … and stuff even more into the online version of those columns! So – read it in the magazine, but make sure to visit the online version too. There, you’ll find links and extra online-only content. And you’ll also be able to leave comments there (which we’d really appreciate!).

Here’s the online version of our first article - Calls to action online.

Enjoy!

Photo by way cool cindiann

David Lee King

Social Media as Place

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