The Illinois Libraries Matter post on Are you Talking to Yourself made me re-think what I’ve been telling libraries about social media.  I use to say, what a great way to remind people “storytime begins in 10 minutes” or “join us tomorrow for our gigantic book sale,” and so on, but the post suggests such a message “is easy to post, but it’s not compelling, it’s not a conversation starter. It is simply pushing an advertising message.” Instead, “it’s time to refocus. It’s not about talking AT your community; it’s about talking TO your community.”

So OK, if like me you are asking “and just how do we do that?” go read the full post! But here’s a preview (and where the chocolate comes in):  The Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District promoted their One Book title via a YouTube video. When the author of the book saw a tweet about the video she quipped that she would give one M&M to everyone who checked out a copy of the book from the library.  Thus was born the campaign Check Out for Chocolate, shared via social media.  More than just passive messages, “The online conversation generated buzz and became something for customers and staff to talk about offline!”

English: A pile of plain M&M’s candies. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)