Social media engagement in developing countries

Abstract

The progressiveness of social media in academic libraries is the gear to achieve the libraries’ objectives, particularly in term of facilities and services. In addition, academic librarians have been using social media as a key medium for marketing, communication, and collaboration. However, social media use in academic libraries, especially in developing countries, is not without controversy. Studies indicate that social networking by academic librarians is ineffective use of librarians’ time and effort. The usefulness of and the hindrances in social media engagement for academic libraries in developing countries have yet to be established. For this reason, this review aims to identify the boons and the banes of social media engagement for academic libraries in developing countries in two continents, Asia and Africa. A structured literature review was conducted using methods promulgated by the Center for Reviews and Disseminations but adapted to the particular needs of this review. Various online databases were used for the review. The keywords/phrases used for the search were: social media, web 2.0, social media engagement, academic libraries, and developing countries; and after a profound scrutiny, 50 articles were found useful for the review. The result shows that there is a continued increase of published literature on social media in academic libraries in the developing countries. A substantial amount of literature emphasises the benefits of social media usefulness in academic libraries under five major themes – marketing and promotion of library services; professional/self-development;, social interaction; media sharing; and communication. A few articles express the distress in implementing social media in academic library services. The usefulness of and the hindrances in social media engagement reported in the literature should inform practicing librarians contemplating implementation of social media and guide formal social media application in library services. More so, this study will shape Library and Information Science (LIS) researchers to scope out areas of needs for future research.