Social Media Analysis 1

Kimberly Curran
LIS 631
Assignment #1
September 8, 2016

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions:

Social Media Analysis

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, or IFLA, is an

international, independent, non-profit organization headquartered in The Hague, The

Netherlands. Considered the global voice of the library and information profession, IFLA is

dedicated to representing the interests of library and information services and those that use them

(IFLA, 2015). The organization’s annual conference, the World Library and Information

Congress, promotes professional development and facilitates networking between library and

informational professional from all over the world. IFLA was founded on the values of

intellectual freedom and equity of access to information, and works to educate, raise awareness,

and advocate for change and progress worldwide through initiatives, special interest groups,

publications, and social media.

Social media “provides libraries with an innovative and effective way of connecting with

their users” (Chen, Chu, & Xu, 2012, p. 1). While IFLA has a broader scope than the average

library or information institution and serves a much broader range of users, given their

international presence, the idea of social media use providing unique opportunities to engage

with their members still holds true. There are many different social networking sites available to

individuals and organizations, allowing them to choose the services best suited to their needs.

IFLA maintains accounts for Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Vimeo, and Youtube. This analysis will

focus on IFLA’s use of the two most common social media accounts, Facebook and Twitter

(Wanucha & Hofschire, 2013).

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A review of the IFLA website shows it to be well-maintained and user-friendly, the RSS

feed embedded in the homepage regularly updated with news of their annual WLIC conference,

publications, or other items relevant to their mission. Links to their social media accounts can be

easily located on this front page. Using Simply Measured, foller.me, Quintly, and Followerwonk,

reports were generated that allow someone to more accurately assess IFLA’s engagement with

the platform. While these reports were not able to generate any detailed demographic data, the

basic information provided combined with knowledge of IFLA’s target demographic should

allow some conclusions to be drawn.

IFLA has 26,473 followers on Facebook, 530 of whom began following within the last

thirty days, marking an increase of approximately 2.0%. According to the Quintly report, the

largest spikes in new followers occurred between August 16 and August 22. This directly

coincides with IFLA’s 2016 World Library and Information Congress in Columbus, Ohio,

indicating that this rate of increase is not the norm, but is likely due to a special circumstance. In

the month of August, IFLA made 13 new posts to their Facebook page and saw 2,628 total

engagements (likes, comments, shares). However, this same timeframe saw 0 responses from

IFLA to any interaction initiated by a follower. The majority of posts were made on Tuesdays,

followed by Thursdays and Sundays. 75% of posts contained links, 16% video, and 8% pictures.

IFLA’s twitter account was created in 2009, and since then has accrued 15,323 followers.

IFLA follows only 65 people, creating an average of 235 followers to people followed. They

have made 1,463 posts since their account was created. According to the Followerwonk report,

the most active time of day for IFLA is between 8:00 am and 9:00 am Eastern time, or between

2:00 pm and 3:00 pm local time, as their Twitter account is run from their headquarters in The

Hague, The Netherlands. Much like their Facebook account, IFLA’s twitter account report
 Social Media Analysis 3

showed spikes of activity in mid-August which can most likely be attributed to WLIC, rather

than any normal pattern.

As an organization, IFLA’s target demographics are library and information

professionals, those considering the library profession, such as students, library and information

services or organizations, and other interested adults around the world. While detailed

demographic data was not available for IFLA’s Twitter followers, the Followerwonk report did

return some interesting information. According to the report, 9,110 of IFLA’s followers, or

59.5%, post in English. 16.9% post in Spanish, with the next largest percentage being French, at

7.5%. This concurs with the available geographic data, which places the largest concentrations of

followers in Western Europe and North and South America. The data also indicates a smaller

follower presence in most parts of the world, even in areas as remote as Madagascar. This is

congruent with IFLA’s international status and focus on outreach. 47.3% of the organization’s

followers have maintained their accounts for five years or more, while a further 29.2% had

maintained their accounts for 3-5 years. This would seem to support the idea that the majority of

IFLA’s followers fit their target demographic – adults, likely in the library and information

profession. No demographic data was available for the Facebook followers, but studies have

suggested that of the two platforms, Facebook is likely to attract a younger, nonprofessional

audience (Chen, Chu, & Xu, 2012). It is likely that if there is any significant difference in

followers’ demographics between the two, it is along those lines.

To have an effective social media presence, an organization must have clear and defined

goals for their social media (Solomon, 2013). One of IFLA’s core values is the belief in every

person’s right to “universal and equitable access to information, ideas, and works of

imagination” (IFLA, 2015). The content of their Facebook and Twitter posts reflects this belief,
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including links to publications and articles, information about their current projects, and relevant

news stories. Their Twitter account is also used to raise awareness about current issues affecting

intellectual freedom and advocate for change using hashtags such as #netneutrality or

#MarrakeshTreaty. As Dankowski notes Twitter’s ability to take people from “awareness to

engagement to advocacy,” this would seem to be a sound strategy for building support (2013).

One area where this analysis has indicated IFLA might be able to improve in their social

media use is in building relationships and engaging with their followers. Their current approach

focuses largely on promoting their efforts and raising awareness. While “information

dissemination is the primary goal of any Twitter program run by the library,” a not-for-profit

organization like IFLA could benefit from doing more to engage their followers and draw them

in (Shulman, Yep, & Tome, 2015). As mentioned, although their Facebook page is updated with

new content regularly, the reports indicated that IFLA did not respond to any of 2,628

engagements made by their followers in the month of August. The reports further indicated that

at their peak Twitter posting times, 93.8% of their content was original posts rather than retweets

or interactions with their followers. Solomon states that “social media, when done well, is much

more about relationship building than it is about promoting anything” (2013, p. vii). Without that

connection, IFLA could risk losing their followers interest, which could negatively impact their

mission.
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References

Analysis of IFLA's Twitter followers. (2016, September 5). Retrieved from Followerwonk:

https://moz.com/followerwonk/analyze

Chen, D. Y.-T., Chu, S. K.-W., & Xu, S.-Q. (2012). How do libraries use social networking sites

to interact with users. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and

Technology, 49(1), 1-10.

Dankowski, T. (2013). How libraries are using social media: expanding online toolkits to

promote advocacy. American Libraries, 44, (5).

IFLA. (2015, March 17). More about IFLA. Retrieved from IFLA:

http://www.ifla.org/about/more

IFLA Account Tracking Preview. (2016, September 5). Retrieved from Keyhole:

http://keyhole.co/account-tracking/preview

IFLA Overview. (2016, September 5). Retrieved from foller.me: https://foller.me/ifla

Overview. (2016, September 5). Retrieved from Quintly:

https://app.quintly.com/dashboard/facebook-overview?from=2016-08-07&to=2016-09-

07&interval=daily&groupId=0

Shulman, J., Yep, J., & Tome, D. (2015). Leveraging the Power of a Twitter Network for Library

Promotion. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(2), 178-185.

Solomon, L. (2013). Foreword. In Harmon, C., & Messina, M. (Eds.). Using social media in

libraries: Best practices. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Wanucha, M., & Hofschire, L. (2013). U.S. public libraries and the use of web technologies,

2012 (Closer Look Report). Denver, CO: Colorado State Library, Library Research

Service.