I haven't posted a blog for a long time - in fact it's been so long that I've gotten married and I have two boys - one of whom is 5-years-old. That sort of long time. So what's worthy of a post now?
I WENT VIRAL!
On Sept. 27, 2016, I created a graphic celebrating Banned Books Week. I made a point to include authors on an ALA banned list that were popular – either for the classics they have written or their contemporary appeal. I hoped that it would catch people’s attention and provide some education surrounding challenged and banned books.
The image went viral.
Not viral like I wipe my nose on my sleeve, my kid takes a booger to
school, and 20 others catch a cold, viral as in close to three and a half
million people have seen the post.
Here are the statistics: Since Sept. 27:
3,480,319 people have seen the post.
There are 3.3 thousand “likes” on the post.
Eight hundred people have commented on it.
Thirty thousand people have shared the post.
The number of people who have “liked” the FTRF Facebook page
has gone up 3,831 to reach over 11,000
What does this mean?
It does not mean that I’ve cracked the Facebook algorithm (at least I
doubt it – we’ll see) and it doesn’t mean I’ll have this much response every
time I post on behalf of FTRF. It does
give me and our staff and board members a better sense of what engages people, it
tells us that there is a huge information gap when it comes to people
understanding that books are still challenged and removed from library shelves,
and it means that we have work to do.
What’s the plan now?
We have the attention (even if it’s a momentary blip in their FB feed)
of 3,831 new people. We have an opportunity to
educate. We have an opportunity to share
information through posts, webinars, promotion of FTRF grants and programs.
I’m excited about this opportunity!
