Does Public Libraries’ Facebook Following Correlate with Library Usage?

Abstract

Social media like Facebook are widely believed to be a useful marketing tool for organizations, likely to include public libraries. However, there has as of yet been little research to examine whether Facebook followership actually correlates to increased use of the library. This study utilizes library usage data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and data describing the Facebook followings of 3,884 public libraries in the United States to statistically evaluate whether any significant relationships exist. Results indicate that Facebook followership per capita in a library’s service area is moderately-to-strongly correlated with both library visits per capita and event attendance per capita.