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Assessing the success of social networking tools in the library

Submitted by jasminabad on Sat, 11/29/2008 - 11:51pm

Jeremiah Owyang points out in Web Strategy some key points in assessing the success of a library's implementation of a social media program.  A key factor is setting a goal.  When setting up a social networking tool as part of a program, it is important to set a goal.  This goal can be an effective measuring tool.  It may be impossible to measure everything, so it is important to choose an aspect to measure.  Web analytics can be used such as technorati rankings and Google Analytics when measuring the popularity of a blog or how many times it has been accessed.  On the otherhand, customer satisifaction surveys can be used in trying to determine the effectiveness of podcasts, vodcasts, and screencasts.  The same can be used to virtual reference services.

I think a combination of

meredithfarkas's picture
Submitted by meredithfarkas on Sun, 11/30/2008 - 1:21pm.

I think a combination of approaches is the best idea, because neither surveys nor stats always tell the whole story. People may not be entirely truthful in surveys about how much they use the technology, and web stats don't tell us whether or not the person visiting the page found it useful. 

I agree with Prof. Farkas;

mciocia's picture
Submitted by mciocia on Sun, 11/30/2008 - 3:46pm.

I agree with Prof. Farkas; combining quantitative and qualitative studies is the most efficient approach, otherwise you risk having a one-dimensional evaluation. Yet, I think user satisfaction is the most difficult aspect to measure because it relates to perceived benefits by users.

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