Courting the Casuals

In Henry Jenkins's Convergence Culture he discusses the difference between different types of television viewers, putting them into three categories: zappers, casuals, and loyals. He then explains how reality television (American Idol specifically) has been specifically designed to "support and sustain multiple levels of engagement" (77). He discusses the way that Idol reaches out to these viewers. One way that it reaches out to the in-betweeners or casuals is to provide recaps of the show's previous airings. He notes that "as they move into their final weeks and more casuals are drawn [in], [...] shows may devote an entire episode to the season's highlights, designed to provide an easy entry point" (77).

This entry point  idea is something that I would like to carry over into the library's use of social media. From what Micki said when she visited the class, there is already a good amount of social networking and blogging available for the library. What she wants, though, is both an increased numbers of interactive users and a higher level of interaction. She wants people to go to the library's social media to find out information and to ask questions/provide feedback concerning current library practices and research. She mentioned that the library already has a fair number of followers on Twitter and several friends on Facebook. What I don't know whether has happened yet or not is whether she/someone has determined the type of users present among the site. My guess would be that most of them would be casual users rather than loyals.

If the students who are already following/friends of the library via social media, then what Micki is likely looking to do is increase both the volume and quality of the social media interactions.  If, though, these users are casual users, they are going to need entry points in order to have these interactions. Jenkins points out that one thing Idol did was to have a full show devoted completely to highlights and recaps. I think something like this might work well for the library - depending on what exactly they wish to get across to viewers. For example, they could highlight past effective Twitter "conversations" wherein users received positive retribution from interacting with the library. Having this sort of "highlighting" occur regularly - perhaps every other Friday - would provide entry points for casual users to understand how to become more involved.