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  The concept of “liking” a post on social media is something that exists across the majority of social media platforms. Whether it be a like, a thumbs up, a heart, or an upvote, this concept is almost always present. But does it really designate a post's success? To some extent it feels as if it is unquestionably an indicator of at least some level of interest in a post. However, this is just a surface-level indicator; the number of likes on a post is only part of a story. What is the ratio of people who saw a post and decided to like it? If this is a high ratio, it is a better indicator that the post can be considered successful. If the post has a low ratio, meaning many more views than likes, then this may not be such a great indicator. Both view count and number of likes help to tell the full story. In addition, the concept of a dislike button may offer further insight into a post's success. Platforms like Reddit do have this function, the downvote button. YouTube also has ...

  The rise of generative artificial intelligence across various industries is leading to less authentic human interaction on social media trends that may be less obvious to younger individuals or those not active online. The issue is especially apparent in AI-generated videos and images, which often appear convincing on the surface—featuring realistic voices or likenesses—but lack true authenticity or proper verification. The term "AI slope" refers to content that seems authentic but does not meet trustworthy or accurate standards. For long-time internet users like me (online since the late 1990s), nothing about AI-produced material feels unique; it lacks the intricacies and honesty that come from human touch. Instead, these works carry perceived biases and implied truths rather than undisputed facts. For example, I recently saw a YouTube video showing Oprah Winfrey defending Sean "Diddy" Combs during his criminal trial—a testimony that never actually occurred. Th...

  Beyond Citations: Why Altmetrics Matter in a Social Media World Zoe Manalo, Post #8     What we think about measuring research impact, most of us immediately picture citations. Those little numbers that tell us how often a paper has been referenced. But in today's world of tweets, threads, and trending topics, that old-school approach only tells part of the story. Enter altmetrics, short for alternative metrics which look at how research is shared and discussed outside traditional academia. Altmetrics track things like social media mentions, new coverage, and online discussions to show how scholarships connects with the public in real time. In their article Towards a Second Generation of "Social Media Metrics," Diaz-Faes, Bowman, and Costas (2019) dig into how Twitter communities form around science. They argue that it's not just about counting likes or retweets, it's about who is paying attention and how they're engaging. Instead of treating social media as...

  (Image above shows what the original hashtag looked like compared to todays from Britannica) In today's society, the hashtag is slowly dying down. We do not see much of this symbol anymore unless it is on a big following account or X. The purpose of the hashtag was to group together images or posts by certain users in one place. You can simply look up #library and many posts will pop up by users who have used this specific hashtag. So what happened? Algorithms and peoples watch times changed. This means that platforms like Facebook or Instagram can see what you are specifically looking for and change your feeds. If you are looking up libraries, they will pop up as suggested accounts to follow. In this case lets just say they would not be suggesting music accounts to follow. Hashtags used to fun, everyone used them to attract larger audiences and more followers. Now? People rarely use them. Instead of searching up certain words by hashtags you now can look up posts by words. Where...

[ image source ]   The spread of conspiracy theories online is a fascinating problem, and one that is indicative of a larger phenomenon: post-truth. Researchers Anatoliy Gruzd and Philip Mai published a paper in mid 2020 where they examined how the conspiracy theory tied to the hashtag #FilmYourHospital went viral. This social campaign encouraged users to break quarantine in the early days of the pandemic to film empty parking lots and waiting rooms in their local hospitals to prove that COVID-19 was a hoax. Of course there are many reasons why hospital parking lots and waiting rooms would be empty during a global pandemic—namely because they had closed their doors to visitors and non-emergency appointments to prevent the spread of the virus—but in a post-truth world, this was not a good enough explanation.  I learned about post-truth recently and I think it’s something that should be more on the radar of libraries. Post-truth is the rising phenomenon of people deciding not t...

As someone who grew up with YouTube, I was drenched in YouTube culture from a very young age. Due to this I have always been aware, to some extent, of analytics on the site. Stemming from a long obsession, which is still held, with numbers and statistics. As a child this came across as an obsession with following popular YouTubers' subscriber count and view numbers. I would frequent the website SocialBlade to see how my favorite YouTubers were doing and anxiously watch them climb up (as well as drop down) the list of most subscribed channels. This era of YouTube, for the most part, is over. Not to say analytics no longer matter on the site; if anything, they have become more important than ever on YouTube. They dictate what is being created on the site every day. Analytics significantly influence the type of videos produced on the site, surpassing even the influence of traditional YouTube. No longer are the most subscribed to channels independent creators, but instead are large org...

 When posting on a social media platform, an individual is required to follow the ethical guidelines that are laid out in the terms and conditions of the social media platform. It is not often that one person is following the guidelines to the last detail, as we have seen in apps such as Twitter or Facebook in which increasingly negativity in words and media are shown. In that regard, you and I as just any ordinary person usually does not have to pay fines or have our accounts locked on the overall.  It is, however, an entirely different outcome when it is the official accounts of an organization or corporation whose reputations precede them. In the recent Social Media Ethics policy paper for my LIS 558 course, I sought to look at the policies and guidelines that the publishing company Penguin Random House has initiated. In short, the policies are put into three sections: influencers, employees and distributors/suppliers. Each section has to follow strict guidelines related to...

  Making Sense of Social Media Metrics, Especially on Instagram  Zoe Manalo, Post #7     If you've ever managed a social media page, you know how easy it is to get lost in the numbers from likes to followers, shares, and views. But not all numbers mean the same thing, and understanding your metrics is the key to knowing what is working.      On Instagram, for example, there a few big ones to pay attention to. Engagement metrics show that people care about your content. Reach and impressions tell you how many people saw your post and how often it appeared in feeds. Profile visits, link clicks, and story interactions help you see if followers are spending more time on your content, if they're checking out your website or other pages. But the catch is that high numbers don't always mean success. A post can get a ton of likes, but still miss the goal if no one takes action afterward. That's why it's better to focus on metrics that match your purpose. For e...

[ image source ] I just listened to what may have been one of the most profound podcasts I’ve ever heard. The podcast is called Your Undivided Attention and the episode I’m referring to is " People are Lonelier than Ever. Enter AI. " You should, of course, go listen to it, but one of the points the episode touches on is the fact that we do not currently have the language to meaningfully discuss the way that companion AI is impacting human relationships: “In the aughts, we were still talking about what cable television and sound bites did to erode our public discourse, but we should have been talking about filter bubbles. In the twenty-teens, we were still discussing filter bubbles, when we should have been discussing attention economy, and right now, we’re finally, finally able to discuss what the attention economy has done to all of us. But what we should be doing is building the capacity and vocabulary to talk about the next technological wave that’s about to hit us. And t...

  When a library develops a social media policy, many aspects need to be considered to align with best practices. Many of our weekly readings this week go into detail about what the policies should contain in order to meet best practices. However, there were a few aspects not directly touched on that I think should be highlighted in regard to a library's social media policy. One very important aspect is for a library's social media page to be completely nonpartisan. A library should never align itself with any political affiliation. But why? What exactly does this mean, and what should it include? And perhaps just as important, what does it not include? As for why, it is largely due to two factors. One, political polarization, especially now, is a large issue. Politics can be an incredibly divisive topic, and libraries should avoid taking a side so as not to make patrons and the public uncomfortable. Two, it is simply unethical. Public libraries are government entities, and gov...

 Social Media has become a major part of everyone's lives. It has become an everyday moment in all of our lives. With the help of cellphones, it has become easier to access whenever we choose to. Now for certain organizations, social media is a great tool to reach certain audiences. When it comes to libraries, social media engages users to come and visit the library or hear about great books to read. Without guidance, things can be posted that should not be. This "form of electronic communication" should be monitored as anyone can post anything that does not follow the guidelines for libraries. The missions of libraries follow very important steps to adhere to rules. Without rules, there can be chaos. Libraries do not need to be part of social media platforms, however, it can increase the number of patrons coming into the library. There are many pros for libraries to have social media platforms. The first is it can gain more patrons in the library, the second is to promot...

 Celebrity these days can be obtained fairly easily. Do you have a social media account? If yes, do you have a webcam? If yes, do you have a verified account? Well, then you are somewhat halfway there. Now, are you thinking about being the star of your own account? If yes, do you post at least on a weekly basis? If yes, are you posing for consumer products now and then? Have you got any endorsement deals? Are these companies known to most or just your online subscription members? Are you charging for content? If yes to any of that, you may well be a social media celebrity. With that said, do I know you? More often than not, I may not be familiar with the person that is given the title of a social media influencer. Maybe this is due to my age and my interests being more established and worldly. Perhaps it is because I am not much of a gamer these days, or back when I was younger people like me were called squares. And probably it seems that there is a pathway upon becoming an influe...

 Having an employee social media policy is very important for library reputation and brand consistency. And for those who manage and create content for social media, it’s also important for work/life balance. “Librarian” is one of those careers that easily becomes part of a person’s personality outside of work. It may be in part because of all the stereotypes, but I also think that folks who are passionate about their work love to talk about it outside of business hours. I think we can reasonably assume that most librarians have some passion for the field (they’re certainly not in it for the money). Therefore we might see some activity on their personal social media accounts related to libraries; perhaps it’s library memes, advocacy campaigns, or just a funny story of something that happened at work that day. Librarians are still librarians when we leave the library! It’s in our blood. So having policies that make it clear when staff are and are not representing the library is defi...

  Why Social Media Policy and Governance Matter in Libraries Zoe Manalo, Post #6     Social media has become one of the best ways for libraries to connect with their communities. It's where libraries share events, promote resources, and engage people far beyond their walls, but with openness comes responsibility. How can libraries encourage creativity and conversation while still protecting and maintaining professionalism? Which is where social media policy and governance come in. A social media policy sets clear expectations for how staff communicate online. It turns ideas like openness, inclusion, and respect into guidelines. Governance takes it a step further by defining who manages accounts, who approves content, and how issues are handled. Together they help libraries stay creative while maintaining accountability and trust.  Libraries face unique challenges online. They must protect patron privacy, uphold intellectual freedom, and manage publish comments in a s...

  In the early days of the internet anonymity was easy to achieve almost anywhere you go. Not only was this kind of internet anonymity common, it felt as if it was the norm as well. Users could join online forums, post on online message boards, and engage in discussions across the internet without having to reveal their real names or personal details. But in today's internet of 2025 this idea no longer rings very true. Today’s mainstream internet is largely dominated by social media  platforms that require at least some minimum level of identification. Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, often have policies where users are often encouraged, or even required to link their digital presence to their real world selves. At the same time, some corners of the web continue to offer spaces where anonymity still plays a central role. Most prominently for this discussion 4Chan. Since its founding in 2003, 4Chan has functioned as an anonymous imageboard, allowing user...

 I do, like many people these days, go on a number of social media sites and applications. In order to look at content, one must set up an account. And for some reason or another, a fair amount of people is willing to pay for exclusive content on platforms such as Twitter. Even so, I have not posted anything on Twitter in the nearly 12 years I have logged on to the site. These reasons are both personal and obvious.  I have, though, posted and continue to post at times on Facebook. In a few instances, I even posted YouTube videos of myself commenting on social political matters. Not a lot of people viewed them. More people have viewed and commented on my Facebook account. Just to let it be known, it is not a public account since I limit the access to people who I have as friends on Facebook. Yet, over the past 11 years, I have written and/or did a video on a number of matters both in the personal field and in the observations of the world in which we live in. Recently though, m...

Apps and Ethics  Zoe Manalo, Post #5     Lately, I've been thinking about the privacy side of social media. It seems like apps like Instagram and TikTok seem to "listen" to what we say or search.  While I understand social media is catered to our liking sometimes it gets a little eerie. A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend mentioning wanting to buy a new pair of shoes. I haven't searched anything or typed anything related to shoes or shopping on my phone. Some time passed and I went to doom scroll on Instagram and all of a sudden I'm getting multiple ads for new shoes. Ads from DSW, New Balance, Steve Madden, etc. I even went to YouTube and started getting ads. This really made me questions how much of my data is being tracked and are they really listening to me. This raises an ethical and privacy concern about data collection and surveillance. While social media companies say they don't listen through our microphones, the specific targeted ads makes it f...

  The Anonymous Member on the social media app, Facebook, has become a new feature that many like but others do not. With this feature, members of Facebook can comment or post into a group anything under 'anonymous member'. Is this privacy setting too much or is it a good thing. One thing to remember is to never believe everything you read on the internet. What is a puzzle in itself is whether or not that person with a cute profile is actually the real person. What I mean by that is anyone can create a profile on Facebook, how do you know that all of their information is correct? You simply do not. Privacy has become a little too common in my opinion. There are not enough steps to verify your real information. That is why I do not like the anonymous feature on Facebook. What if someone says something hurtful or a threat and they are listed as a anonymous member? Yeah it can trace back to their normal profile but what if that person does not exist. Being invisible is all over so...

Image pulled from  Wijetunga This week I’m thinking about ethics and consent when it comes to social media. Last semester, I took an Introduction to Research Methods course where I had to draft a letter of informed consent for my hypothetical research proposal, and I got a good sense of the hoops that researchers have to jump through to get their human-subject research approved by an IRB. Perfect informed consent involves sitting down with a participant and verbally walking them through each section of the consent form and emphasizing numerous times that they can choose to stop participation at any time before holding a place in the conversation for questions, and finally having them sign the form.  Compare that to the page that pops up when you create an account on a social media platform which requires you to agree to the platform’s Terms and Conditions before you can move on. Studies have repeatedly shown that users rarely read through the Terms and Conditions before agreei...