1c. Microblogging – Twitter

The What

Twitter is a relatively new (2006) free social networking tool that allows users to send and receive short (140 character limit) messages known as tweets. Users can use the Twitter website, mobile devices or other applications to send the tweets.

The Why

Tweets are another method to communicate with your audience and share information about upcoming activities and to learn what others are doing. You can follow friends, family, organizations you support, celebrities and, of course, libraries. Many libraries are setting up accounts and attempting to reach the over 6 million people using Twitter on a monthly basis. Here are just a few libraries that are tweeting:

The How

Discovery Exercise

  1. Go to www.twitter.com and set up an account.
  2. Use the Find People link to find friends and colleagues to follow.
  3. Once you find someone, note that you can see who they are following and you can then easily add those same people to your following list.

More for the Curious

There are many separate applications that have been developed for Twitter. Some may require a download. Check out:

 

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About the Author

Ross Callender

Ross Callender

Ross Callender works as the Western Colorado Regional Consultant for the Colorado Library Consortium and is based in Grand Junction but travels all over the Western Slope, visiting libraries and providing continuing education opportunities. You can communicate with him via: