Zbigniew Gruszka
The area of interest of the science of information architecture includes, among others, the issues of design, communication and evaluation. Using the method of literature analysis and criticism, the author intends to focus on the communicological aspect of information architecture and to list and discuss the most important ways of researching the content of libraries’ social media profiles.
Research covering the use of social media by libraries has been conducted for many years and usually focuses on the analysis of the most popular platforms Facebook and Twitter. The set of platforms is evolving. As demonstrated in 2019 by Yuhiro Mizunuma, Kazuki Sato, Fumiaki Miyazaki and Keita Tsuji, research into the use of Youtube in library settings is growing in popularity, but is still undertaken less frequently than the Facebook or Twitter platforms.
The paper formulates the following research questions: (1) What research methods were used to study the content of libraries’ profiles in the different social media? (2) What criteria were used to evaluate the content of the profiles on the different social media? Numerous guides are available on publishing content on social media, including – conducting activities in a strategic manner. In articles about the content of library profiles, the authors most often discuss the issues of effective profile management, focus on evaluating the effectiveness of activities, characterise the profiles quantitatively analysed. Qualitative studies are conducted less frequently.
The conducted attempt to systematize the research on the content of libraries’ social media profiles can be applied in the decision-making by the administrators of library profiles concerning the published content and the measurement of the effectiveness and reception of this content in the digital community.