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.

Thanks a Million!

The MPL YouTube Channel reached a million views this morning.

Click Images to Enlarge

Thanks for watching!  You've helped us reach our goal.  Next stop--two million!

We hope you've enjoyed our videos during the past seven years.  If you haven't yet watched, we might have something to interest you.  We have book trailers, promo/program trailers, music videos, children's readalouds, children's songs, nursery rhymes, video blogs (vblogs), book reviews, early literacy videos, local history videos, and more.  Over 750 videos uploaded thus far, with plenty more to come.  There's always something interesting happening at the library, and videos are a fun way to learn more about it all.  Browse our video playlists to see what's available.

Many thanks to all of our current and former staff who helped make our videos: Suzanne Walker, Michelle Peltier, Casey O'Leary, Jaymi Edwards Guy, Rachel Montgomery, Meghan Adams, Kate Meador, Sandra Osborn, Janet Buckley (a volunteer, not staff), Cauli Le Chat, and everyone who has appeared in our videos. Thanks, too, to our executive director, Diane Huerkamp, and the library board of trustees for supporting our efforts.  We especially appreciate the original music composed by Daniel E. Buckley that we use for our video soundtracks.

Update (March 25, 2017):  How do we compare to some of the largest public libraries (nationally and in Indiana) for YouTube video popularity? Here's a summary of YouTube statistics for various public libraries with popular YouTube channels [e.g., New York Public Library, Boston Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, Seattle Public Library, Indianapolis Public Library, Allen County (Indiana) Public Library, and the Indiana State Library, although ISL is not a public library].  All of these libraries serve large populations and have enormous resources and collections.  We serve a population of about 15,000 with around 65,000 items. We're definitely hanging with some impressive company on the video frontier.