Social Media Internship at the Sojourner Truth Library from August 2022 – May 2023.
@sunynplibrary
The Sojourner Truth Library is the on-campus library at SUNY New Paltz. Their instagram page, @sunynplibrary, is used to promote events taking place both on and off campus and in the library, student work, and more. A large goal of this project is to promote the library and its resources and encourage students to utilize all that the library has to offer. My mentor, Jen Rutner, is a Senior Assistant Librarian at the Sojourner Truth Library. She has been overseeing the social media internship for many years and encourages the interns to be as creative and resourceful as possible.
Throughout this internship, I learned a lot about accessibility, algorithms, engagement, and other aspects of social media. Accessibility is extremely important when you are sharing information with an audience, and it is crucial to understand how to make your posts and content accessible to as many people as possible. I learned how to use alt-text on Instagram to be able to describe posts to people who use screen readers. I also saw how screen readers work and emit information that they are given which helped me be able to write alt-text that was clear, concise, and accurate. I also used Instagram's closed captions feature and clear sounds when making "reels" to ensure that everyone can know what the video was about.
Algorithms are another essential part of social media. I studied articles, videos, and podcasts, on algorithms to understand how they work. Most algorithms are curated for individual users, which means to reach a large, diverse group of people, you need to know your audience. For example, using hashtags and key-words can increase engagement and views without changing the content of the post itself. Knowledge in both accessibility and algorithms can contribute largely to success in social media and sharing information.