Library Advocacy Through Twitter: A Social Media Analysis of #savelibraries and #getESEAright

Abstract

Advocacy groups of all types use social media to reach their constituents. However, are messages of library advocacy disseminated through social media reaching those who can become allies in the quest to save libraries? How far reaching are library advocacy messages? This study addresses the use of Twitter for library advocacy. A review of the literature outlining social network analysis and the use of Twitter for advocacy, procedures for using NodeXL (a software package for social media analysis), and a taxonomy of Twitter conversations are provided.