- One of the primary reasons to join Twitter is to reach your target audience: students of your university. According to the Pew Research Internet Project, one-third of all internet users between the ages of 8-24 are on Twitter. Twitter is a great way to to reach out to students and engage them with what is going on at the library.
- According to research, students are likely to follow academic libraries on Twitter. In 2012, researcher Kim Sewell analyzed 432 followers of the Texas A&M university library to ascertain who, exactly was following academic libraries Twitter accounts. She found that students accounted for almost a quarter of the library followers. Although the majority of Texas A&M students did not have a Twitter account at the time, the growing popularity of Twitter means that Twitter has become a more relevant way to reach out to students since even 2012, when Sewell’s study took place. The Texas A&M libraries account has more than doubled since the study. (Sewell)
- Another study that focused on Twitter and academic libraries was conducted by Hae Min Kim, Eileen Abels, and Christopher Yang. The authors focused on following the dissemination of academic libraries information on Twitter. The study looked at who was retweeting the Tweets sent out by the library. The authors compiled the following chart to show who was disseminating the Tweets.
Twitter and Academic Libraries 