Research Article

When We Went Online: Library Conference Twitter in the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Abstract

Introduction: For over a decade, Twitter (now known as X) provided a platform for invisible colleges of professional and academic networks to form, allowing conference attendees to share information with their wider communities of practice. With the move to virtual conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors examined how library conference-related Twitter use changed.

Method: Tweet data from five major library conferences over the course of 10 years were collected, cleaned, and analyzed to look for statistically significant differences in the volume of original tweets and retweets during in-person (2011 to 2019) and online conferences (2020 and 2021).

Results: Original tweets, retweets, and unique authors using library conference hashtags on Twitter decreased when conferences met virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discussion: The decrease in informal library conference communication does not correlate with conference attendance or overall Twitter use. The dramatic reduction in retweets signifies that librarians were engaging less with tweets by their colleagues during virtual conferences.

Conclusion: Twitter served as a central public place for library professionals to find and engage in topical conversations, but use of Twitter shrank during the COVID-19 pandemic, diminishing the reach of professional library discourse.

Keywords: Invisible colleges, library conferences, virtual conferences, Twitter, social media, professional communication, scholarly communication

How to Cite:

Hanson, M., Hennesy, C. & Adams, A. L. (2024). When We Went Online: Library Conference Twitter in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 12(1), eP16990. https://doi.org/ 10.31274/jlsc.16990

Rights:

© 2024 The Author(s). License: CC BY 4.0