Amplifying the Library's Online Presence from Lockdowns to New Normal: Content Analysis and User Engagement of Social Media Accounts of Selected Academic Libraries in Kazakhstan

With the closure of physical library doors, libraries unavoidably diverted their attention on the power of social media platforms to connect with their patrons and deliver library services even online. Although the use of social media in libraries has been implemented for quite some time (Maness 2006), its use and potential to amplify the library’s online presence aside from delivering library services have been intensified due to the pandemic. This study aims to document the use of social media platforms of selected academic libraries in Nur-Sultan and Almaty cities, including its regions in Kazakhstan to amplify their online presence during the lockdown period up to the present when the libraries are slowly opening their doors. Moreover, this study intends to conduct a content analysis of the social media posts of these selected academic libraries particularly their Instagram and Telegram accounts from March 2020 to March 2022 such as the type of their posts, the designs, images, or videos they include in their posts, as well as the captions, functions, and the hashtags they use. A simple exploration of the user engagement of their social media posts will also be analyzed using the Phlanx for Instagram accounts and Popsters.com for the Telegram channels such as the number of subscribers or followers, number of posts, views, comments, and shares to determine how engaged their users are with their posts. The results of this study will help provide some insights on how libraries amplify their online presence during the pandemic by utilizing the power of social media platforms for wider reach.