Academic Librarians’ Activities in Creating Social-Media Authority in Three Selected Nigerian University Libraries

Abstract

The proliferation of mass data on the internet is currently witnessing spoof of different websites and fake content in some of the social media platforms. This development prompted academic libraries/librarians not to trust completely, some of the information (contents) in the social media arena. In order to avoid errors, rumours, and misinformation which can easily spread through social media channels, librarians as information professionals become duty-bound to check the validity and reliability of the contents so as to maintain trust, credibility, and authority in the social media units of the libraries. Therefore, this study is set (a) to investigate how academic libraries/librarians create users' trust, build a reputation and maintain social authority; and,(b) to explore the constraints of academic libraries/librarians in maintaining social media authority in Nigerian academic libraries. It is a qualitative research approach, using Rogers's 2010 Diffusion of Innovation theory, based on the Innovation Decision Process. The results indicated that academic libraries/librarians have been in the vanguard of establishing credible content on their social media platforms. Libraries and librarians are shifting focus from the traditional method of checking the authority and validity of information (content) to a new way of assessing the authority of content in academic libraries. Also, it was found that academic librarians' behavioral attitudes towards social media content such as inappropriate content, lack of teamwork, lack of management support, and lack of social media policies, among other issues are impediments to the flow of establishing credible social media authority in the academic libraries. Notwithstanding, the researchers offer suggestions for social media libraries/librarians to brace up and work-hand-glove to strategize and know more about the contents the customers may have passion therein, in order to earn trust, maintain online reputation and gain social authority in the academic libraries.