Week 9 - Twitter

Thing 15 - Exploring Twitter - Tweet!



Twitter, according to the website, "is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called "tweets" of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search". The frequently asked questions about Twitter explain the process in more detail. Basically it is an easy way to follow people and for you to let people know what you are doing without having to read an entire blog. The short messages are 140 characters or shorter and are called tweets. Twitter is also called micro blogging where each tweet is considered a micro or mini blog post. As a School Librarian (ha!) you can use Twitter to send tweets about library events to keep your users in the loop and make them feel connected. Check out this list of twittering librarians and libraries.

There is a way in Twitter to add tags (keywords) to your tweets by using the hash # sign which makes it easier to track certain topics. This tag feature is used in the TwHistory project which uses twitter to teach history. The idea is to create twitter accounts for key figures in an historical event and create time line tweets for each character so you can watch the events unfold. The people behind this project are at Utah State University.

Thing 15 Learning2.0 Tasks
1. Read the newbies guide to twitter to get yourself up to speed on this micro blogging phenomenon.
2. Go to Twitter and see what people are saying about library or libraries.
3. Read about twitter for libraries and librarians.
3. Create a free Twitter account and find some people and libraries you want to follow.
4. Integrate your tweets into your blog (see bottom right of this blog) by adding a twitter gadget that posts your tweets.
5. Blog about your Twitter experience and whether you can see a use for it in your current or future school library.