Download - How not to be all a flutter about Twitter
How to not be all a-flutter aboutin your library
OLA Tech Petting Zoo November2009Tualatin, OR
Margaret Hazel, Technology ManagerEugene Public Library
The skinny• Twitter is a “microblogging” tool, limited to 140 characters• Can be accessed on the web and on cell phones
• “Follow” – to subscribe to get someone’s tweets• “Hash-tag” – Use a # to create a searchable keyword in your
tweet that will associate your tweet with the subject• “RT” – re-tweeting is copying an interesting tweet and sending it
to all of your own followers ; include commentary for added value• “@username” - used at the beginning of a tweet to send a
message publically to another user• “DM – Direct message someone, privately
Eugene Public Library’s page
Other OR libraries on Twitter
• MultCoLib• TualatinLibrary• WCCLS• ?
libraryfuture Become a Mobile Library: Join us @ Lakeville Public Lib 1/14 full day tech prgrm abt mobile libs http://bit.ly/4i1tir RT @semls
about 3 hours ago from Tweetie
What goals does this tech meet?
• Institutionally:– EPL uses mainly to market events – Reference: Google, Microsoft have announced will start including tweets in
search results– Add a hashtag widget to your webpage keep patrons abreast of current hot
topics – To get feedback, solicited and un-– To connect with additional groups of users, such as teens
• Professionally:– Networking with peers in a specialized field, including many links to relevant
articles– Enhanced conference experience– LinkedIn just announced a partnership
wccls New in large-print: Shop class as soulcraft : an inquiry into the value of work by Matthew Crawford - http://bit.ly/10M6of #largeprint about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck Reply
General Social Media considerations:
• Social media policy - for staff and for the public http://mashable.com/2009/09/20/social-media-policies/
• What is the“Voice” of your library?• Single institution acct or individuals; formal/informal• Use a “character” as a persona? Sports teams, etc.• Legal implications: archiving, union rules• How interactive will you be?• Respond to critical/hostile comments?• Respond to inaccurate comments?
Additional Twitter considerations:• Will you RT (reTweet, or forward a message you have seen to
your own followers)• Who will you “follow”? Following others is both useful and
important, as Twitter might think you are trying to sell something, if you don’t use it as an interactive medium.
• Will you block some folks from following you? I’d recommend not accepting all followers blindly. Porn and spam are here, too.
• Will you track local and hashtag mentions?• Proactive interaction, or mainly passive ?• Twitter interface or other 3rd party app?
gretchenhams awesome site 2 teach PreKs letters & keyboard @ the same time! http://bit.ly/r1yio
Eugene’s use
• Posting - about 15-20 minutes each week, 2-3 posts a week of events for which we’ve already written press releases, etc.
• Scanning for local tweets relating to us – a couple of times a day, while on hold on the phone, while something is printing, etc.
• Future – exploring more interaction with our followers
hclib RT @ExperienceLife Three cheers for @hclib. Librarians are an invaluable resource, especially when your deadline is looming!
Many Additional Tools, such as…• Twitterific http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific/ (Mac) • Google Gadget http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/twitter.html?hl=en • PocketTweets for iPhone/iPods• http://www.ubertwitter.com/ for Blackberry• Itweet, http://twidroid.com/ for Android OS• Tweed and TweeFree for Palm Pre • TwitPic to share pictures on Twitter http://twitpic.com/ • Various tools to update several sites, such as Facebook, at the same time
– Disgsby http://www.digsby.com/?utm_campaign=vid&utm_source=vid&utm_medium=vid&utm_content=vid
– Tweetdeck, http://www.twhirl.org/– Seesmic http://seesmic.com/
Visible Tweets for public display
“Check out the Canadian library”
from our blog: Making Content Shine http://influx.us/948
Analytics
• Tweetstats http://tweetstats.com/ (mashup)• TwitterAnalyzer
http://www.twitteranalyzer.com/
Archiving
• Twapperkeeper http://twapperkeeper.com/ • Tweetscan
https://www.tweetscan.com/data.php
Some enterprise level archiving solutions also expanding to cover Twitter
MVPublicLibrary "Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the library. The only entrance requirement is interest." Lady Bird Johnson
“a central real-time hub that serves to enhance every other content platform on the web... a central place where people can post or link to any and all content of their choosing…”– Soren Gordhamer
www.twitter.com/Libtechlady