Leveraging the Power of a Twitter Network for Library Promotion

The Twitter network of two academic libraries was analyzed to determine the influential accounts that connect to them. Such information can be exploited by libraries to create tailored social media outreach and information dissemination programs. Three network metrics, measuring different definitions of importance, were calculated for each account in the network. This allowed for the quantification and ranking of the accounts by influence/importance, normally considered to be qualitative and subjective. By all measures, accounts associated with the institutions, and not faculty, staff, or students, were found to be the most influential players in the networks of both libraries, suggesting that this is a general feature of academic library Twitter networks. Furthermore, the library, as an institutional account itself, is also influential to the broader Twitter community of its home institution. This demonstrates that the library is in a key position to propagate information from sister accounts at the institution. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.