The following was submitted by AAPB Social Media Intern, Rileigh Kelley.
Hello everybody! My name is Rileigh Kelley, and I’m a history student at Framingham State University. I recently completed my internship as the Social Media Intern at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, and I thought I’d take some time to review my experience and what I’ve learned with you all!
As a history student, I’ve always had an interest in the AAPB and other archives. In fact, it’s been my dream to intern at the AAPB since I started college. So, when I found out I’d be making and curating social media content for the AAPB, I was elated! I learned so many valuable skills, as well as interesting things about the archive itself.
The first project I focused on, was one about The Black Journal, a television program made by and for Black Americans. I had a lot of fun researching and looking into this program, as I learned a lot about history during the research process. However, I confronted a few hurdles in my time as an intern. Finding my footing and getting into a routine was definitely a challenge. Also, some posts didn’t do as well as I hoped they would. I put a lot of effort into The Black Journal video. I wrote a lengthy script, did a lot of editing, and I was really hoping it would take off. Sadly, however, it didn’t do nearly as well as I had hoped it would. Which was definitely a little disheartening. It didn’t do bad per say, but it wasn’t the resounding success I expected it to be.
Which brings me to my next point. It was interesting to learn how social media content curation worked. I’m very experienced with social media, but was still able to learn new things from this experience. For example, what content worked and what content didn’t I found over the course of my internship that posts centering around current events, broad themes/concepts, and popular individuals did much better than posts that centered around specific/niche ideas. Which is actually the opposite of what I had expected. I expected the niche posts to do well because they’re more educational and offered people the opportunity to learn new things. I figured the less saturated the market, the more attention a post would grab. I was surprised at how wrong I was. Our most successful post was a post about the death of Chuck Norris, which shocked me. I figured that since a lot of people would post about that, we’d fly under the radar, but instead, we stood out from the crowd. I think it’s because our clips were unique in the sense that they featured a more personable side to Norris that people hadn’t seen before.
I think that’s why I’ve grown to really like local television. It allows people to access a part of themselves that they might not usually tap into. For a famous person, it offers them a platformto express their passion for helping the community, and I will always find a deep appreciation for that. Public TV is so important, especially in this age, where reliable information is more crucial than ever.
All in all, I had a wonderful time at my internship. I completely fell in love with my work and hope to keep pursuing a similar field in my professional life. I’m incredibly grateful to have worked with such an amazing team, and I’m so happy to have had this opportunity.
