Facebooking Local History

On another blog, I recently posted an article discussing local history posting to Facebook as a means of expanding libraries' (in particular, Mooresville Public Library's) "reach" to patrons.  Since more people follow the library's Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube feeds than read this blog, it seemed like an excellent vehicle to promote the history of Mooresville and vicinity.

Results have been excellent.  MPL's Facebook "reach" for April and May, 2018 was considerably higher than previous months.  (Click on the graphic below to enlarge.)

MPL 2018 Facebook "Reach" Statistics

The only content change on MPL's Facebook feed during April and May has been the addition of daily local history quizzes, so the jump in readership may safely be attributed to that material.

MPL's Twitter and YouTube statistics are relatively consistent; the local history quizzes have not been featured on these social media (although both offer other local history content).

Local historians (particularly those employed by libraries) may find non-blogging social media to be an important tool to reach their patrons.  Our experience has been that blogs (such as this one) are declining in readership due to the increasing popularity of other social media platforms (Facebook Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.).  Consequently, I don't post as much to blogs as I once did.  However, I still believe blogs serve a useful informational purpose and so will continue to occasionally use them.

UPDATE (JUNE 27, 2018):  Anthony Woodside wrote a nice article in the Mooresville-Decatur Times (Wednesday, June 27, 2018, pages A1-A2) about the library's local history quizzes on Facebook and Twitter.