Social media profiles at MIT Libraries
The Marketing and Communications Officer oversees all use of social media for the MIT Libraries.
Tool | Profile | Who updates? |
|---|---|---|
Brigham Fay, Anna Boutin, Melissa Feiden, Jeremiah Graves | ||
| Katharine Dunn in the Scholarly Publishing Office | |
Brigham Fay, Anna Boutin, Melissa Feiden, Jeremiah Graves | ||
| Cate Gallivan | |
| MIT Libraries | Brigham Fay, Anna Boutin, Melissa Feiden, Jeremiah Graves
|
Policies and best practices
When we post to social media outlets on behalf of the MIT Libraries, our postings represent the Libraries’ brand/identity, as well as the larger MIT brand. With this in mind, we follow MIT's social media guides for MIT communicators.
We also use the following best practices in our social media posts and interactions. We strive to:
...
Be friendly and approachable, informative and entertaining
- Use a tone that is upbeat ,
- and personable. See below for more information about the Libraries’ voice on social media.
- Use the first person plural “We”
- “we” when talking about the Libraries (i.e. “We’re excited about this new service…”)
- speaking for the Libraries
- Avoid using library jargon . Use Libraries shortcut URLs where applicable: libraries.mit.edu/shortcuts
Be entertaining and informative
- Post content that is useful to our
- the MIT community and beyond .
- Use the 80/20 rule—entertain and inform 80% of the time, promote ourselves 20%. When sharing outside content, make a library or MIT connection to give it context.
- In general, using animated gifs is encouraged; as always, make sure it is tone-appropriate and consider the original source (feel free to use MIT’s giphy page)
Be a good neighbor
- Follow
Re-tweet, re-
tweetgram, and like posts by fellow MIT
departments (especially posts with a library, research, or literary connection).accounts
Be an active participant in the MIT community—stay aware of current MIT events and initiatives, and find ways to join the conversation.
Be an active participant in the greater academic library community.
Give credit to ideas and content from others.
Be helpful, responsive, and transparent
- Respond promptly and thoughtfully to any questions (that are not spam).
- Let people know we do not answer reference questions via social media and refer MIT community members to Ask Us.
- If we get questions that aren’t quickly answerable, say ,
- “thanks for your question ,
- ; we’ll check on it and get right back to you…” and check with the
- an appropriate Libraries contact (Ask Us, Archives, web team, etc. If we get negative comments–address
- )
- Acknowledge legitimate criticisms by acknowledging and addressing in a positive way.
- and provide clarification, admit responsibility, or express regret as necessary. Make sure you know all the facts before responding.
- Don’t engage if the
- a comment is harsh or threatening.
Be timely
...
- threatening, harassing, or obscene. On FB, you can hide comments if necessary. If you are truly concerned that someone poses a threat, alert Libraries leadership and MIT Police.
Be timely
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Experiment with posting at different times of day, other than
during 9-5 on weekdays
Cover weekends and holidays with at least
1 one scheduled tweet/post a day.
Post In most cases, promote events a week or
so two before the event, and remind again
on the day-of.- Post breaking news, such campus weather closings, or other alerts ASAP.
Be visually engaging
- Use photos as much as possible (especially on Facebook), but be mindful of copyright
- Use our own image collections, and Archives images
- Take informal smart phone pics and video at library locations, share “behind the scenes” shots
...
one or two days before. Keep in mind that events requiring registration (such as IAP sessions) may fill up. Check the registration page before promoting an event that is full.
Be thoughtful and judicious with potentially sensitive content
Be mindful of the diversity of our audience
, and sensitive to a wide
-range of views
Engage with topics around diversity, inclusion, and social justice, but do so thoughtfully. Make sure our
language or tone does not offend anyoneSteer clear of posting about controversial topics in the news, and political viewsmessages are in keeping with the Libraries’ mission/vision/values and general tone of all official communications from the Libraries.
When responding to controversial topics or current events, it is good practice to look to communications from the President’s Office or the MIT News Office.
Feel free to use quotes from President Reif or the Libraries’ mission/vision/values when speaking to these topics.
Be conscious of previously scheduled posts when news breaks or tragic events happen -- the tone or content might not be appropriate in light of what’s happening.
Photo Tips
How to contribute: send your ideas!
The social media team encourages creative input from all Libraries’ departments and staff. If you'd like to have something posted through any of the social media platforms, email the team at socialmedia-lib@mit.edu. Submitting an idea does not guarantee it will be shared. Photos must be in focus.
If you have already submitted a marketing request form to promote an event or service and checked the "social media posts" box, please do not submit an additional request via email to the social media team.
We encourage submissions such as:
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