Twitter

Twitter seems to have appeared out of nowhere. I had not even heard of it, then all of a sudden that's all that I heard people talking about.

Twitter is a messaging service that allows users to write short messages from several different platforms. Users can then read and respond to other users' messages (about twitter).

Twitter searches allow users to search twitter for messages on a certain subject area. This commoncraft video shows how this feature can be useful to twitter users.



Setting up my own twitter account was very easy. In just a few steps I had my own account. One thing that I didn't like is that people would follow me and then try to send me spam. This is one aspect of twitter that I really don't like. What I found the most difficult was finding people I knew on twitter. No matter how I went about trying to find friends of mine that I knew were on twitter, I could not find them. Apparently a year of library school has not given me the skills to search twitter. While searching for my friends was very difficult, searching for celebrities was really easy.

I find that that is my main use for twitter, to follow celebrities and friends. I don't really enjoy updating my status since I never feel like I have anything worth updating, but I find it interesting to follow friends and celebrities. I think that libraries need to capitalize on the fact that people are willing and interested in following others. Many libraries have twitter pages they use to reach out to users of the library. Circulation blog provides a comprehensive list of American libraries that use twitter. Edmonton public library has a twitter page, which they use to update people about events, and communicate with users.

Libraries can use twitter to promote events, or to make people aware of new books and resources at their library. The great thing about twitter is that libraries do not have to work alone, they can work together to promote mutual events. Libraries' use of twitter does not have to be limited to communicating with library users, it can also be used for librarians' professional development. Librarians could benefit from following other libraries/librarians, book sellers and publishers or other members of the community. Twitter allows for new ideas to spread easily and quick communication between members (Page, Benedicte).

Sonja Cole provides 20 ways for a library to use twitter:

1. Ask for recommended books, products, or services.
2. Ask for help or advice about a topic of professional interest.
3. Recommend a book, product, or service other librarians would be interested in.
4. Write a book list one tweet at a time, or link to a book list on the web.
5. Tweet about a useful resource on the web, a particular blog post, video, or web site.
6. Provide a daily tip like a word of the day, book of the day, random trivia, useful fact, or helpful resource.
7. Share new studies of interest to other professionals.
8. Celebrate timely events. Recognize author birthdays, Banned Books Week, and other events that affect your patrons.
9. Tweet about your library's web site, blog, and/or podcast. Add a new tweet to let your followers know when you make updates.
10. Link to a book trailer or video booktalk you create.
11. Start a Twitter book club, and tweet your reactions to the book as you read.
12. Invite followers to an event (online or offline). Events can include library programs, book signings, talks, meetings, your online book club, webchat, etc.
13. Link to photos of your library and events.
14. Retweet someone else's post that you found interesting.
15. Say thanks when someone retweets you or mentions you in their tweets.
16. Participate in #FollowFriday by recommending others people might want to follow.
17. Answer someone else's general question, and reply to those who ask you a direct question @your_Library.
18. Schedule to meet fellow librarians at a conference, or organize a professional tweet-up in your area.
19. Make a personal connection with other librarians by sharing your favorite new book, video of the day, quote of the day, blog post, etc.
20. Ask others for their favorite posts, and reply with comments on their picks.

Schools can use twitter in much the same way as libraries, they can communicate to parents, students and community members about the school. School librarians can use twitter to update students about new books, or make recommendations for books to read (Summers, Laura L.). Twitter can also function as a staffroom, linking staff together and allowing them to collaborate. It also allows them to share ideas and get feedback quickly. Since twitter is global teachers can look outside their region and see what others are doing in and out of their country. Choose people to follow that you can really learn from, twitter allows you to follow people that can help with professional development. Though twitter can be a great aid to teaching and professional development of staff in schools there may be problems with Internet filters so not all people can take advantage of the benefits twitter offers (Nine reasons to twitter in schools). One way to benefit from twitter without having to navigate around an Internet blocker and without some of the potential risks it poses to young students is by using youth twitter instead. Like twitter students can post 140 character messages, however, it is done in a permission only environment (Richardson, pg. 88). Youth twitter is definitely not as user friendly as twitter. I find the advertisements really distracting. I don't know if this is the main site or if you search and it brings you to a site more similar to twitter. When I tried searching it just brought up more sponsored sites. I think in theory this site is good, but twitter is much more user friendly.


Libraries enter the Twitterverse. By: Page, Benedicte. Bookseller, 6/19/2009, Issue 5387, p6-6, 1/3p.

20 Ways for Librarians To Use Twitter. By: Cole, Sonja. Library Journal, 6/15/2009, Vol. 134 Issue 11, p25-25, 1/3p.

THE VALUE 0F SOCIAL SOFTWARE IN SCHOOL LIBRARY. By: Summers, Laura L. Knowledge Quest, Mar/Apr2009, Vol. 37 Issue 4, p48-50, 3p.

Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Will Richardson.