4Cs at ASU

Arizona State University provides an impressive amount of information to its students through social media. On top of maintaining their website they also provide Twitter updates, Facebook posts and create YouTube videos (also posted on Vimeo). So, are these networks being used effectively? Are they achieving the 4Cs of Web 2.0: collaboration, conversation, community and content creation.

In terms of collaboration there is not a massive amount going on between the library and students/faculty staff online, but the videos push the message that the librarians are there to work with you, and articulate clearly how they are contactable and how they can help with resources, or simply providing group collaborative spaces to work in.

Conversation is certainly encouraged by the ASU library. Their Facebook page actively elicits comments from users. However, having said that, although a few users ‘like’ things on the page, written feedback is minimal. The real conversations presumably take place face to face or on IM.

This isn’t entirely surprising. Although what I think the library does best is to provide a sense of community through its regular updates and the lively information videos, ultimately they are still a part of the organisation and the majority of students are unlikely to want to contribute on their Facebook page even if they have viewed it. Possibly their most useful conversation is on Twitter, where they have over 2000 followers. While the Facebook page is used mainly to review things that have already happened, the Twitter feed keeps students up to date with current and upcoming news, as well as occasionally reminding them about library resources. I would certainly have found this useful when I was an Undergraduate. I’m sure that 90% of what was going on  passed me by unnoticed.

Overall I would give this library a big thumbs up for its use of web 2.0, but it does perhaps fall down on content creation. Yes, it creates an awful lot of excellent material of its own to keep visitors interested and coming back, and although feedback is encouraged, I did not actually see much contribution from those visitors, although obviously I am judging based on the most recent communications. Possibly, due to the constantly changing nature of web 2.0, in a month’s time I would be given a slightly different impression.