Re-thinking about being a twit...

So having been using facebook for a few months now as a birthday present to myself, I've been trying to wrap my head around using social networking sites to the advantage of the library. This really came to the fore of my mind when we had a combined issue with our computers and phone system. I thought to myself 'hey, this would be a great time to tell our visitors about what's going on via twitter!', which has of course made me rethink about its uses as a communication medium. it could be used to remind patrons of events, provide quick reference pointers, even renew items. Whilst browsing through some blogs I follow there was a good one on some tools to enhance the twitter experience. The tools it mentions would go a long way in making twitter an effective and manageable tool in the library world;

bit.ly
Tweetdeck
Friendfeed
Twitter Search
Twitter Sheep

So if you are already using twitter, check them out and see what you think.

Twitter and the Victorian Bushfires

I read an article today on how Twitter helped with getting information out about the recent Victorian bushfires. As usual, there were pros and cons associated with this new method of information delivery.

The pros concentrated on the speed at which information was spread versus industrial-age media… “Fast and flexible, Twitter spread information through people’s overlapping social circles…”. Another pro was the use of fairly reliable sources such as @cfa_updates, @sbsnews and ABC’s @774melbourne.

The cons concentrated on the darker side of information overload as the rising death toll was reported at 20…25…30…35 as well as the links to every new photo and every new report in all its horrendous details. The overloading of websites such as CFA ended up with the authors pleading with people to stop visiting their website unless they were in genuine need. On the other hand, the lack of Twitter updates from @KevinRuddPM was disappointing but one also needs to remember that there are only 1 in 5000 people currently using Twitter.

Food for thought for us as Technovisionaires isn’t it!

To view the full article click on the following link http://www.crikey.com.au/Media-Arts-and-Sports/20090211-Twitter-enabling-the-new-global-rubberneckers.html

Tiny URL

TinyURL.com - shorten that long URL into a Tiny URL232010
Originally uploaded by Shellingfordinjugem

Leading on from sending tweets you don't have enough characters to send a long website address so the answer is Tiny URLs. A website that converts all web addresses to a small and easy to access Tiny URL.

You can send the Tiny URL in an email, a tweet and instant message and the link will send you to the correct website address each time. The tinyurl is unique to each website address and never expires.

Try this one for size Turn this URL turning the long website address below into a tinyURL
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?ovi=1&mqmap.x=300&mqmap.y=75&mapdata=%252bKZmeiIh6N%252bIgpXRP3bylMaN0O4z8OOUkZWYe7NRH6ldDN96YFTIUmSH3Q6OzE5XVqcuc5zb%252fY5wy1MZwTnT2pu%252bNMjOjsHjvNlygTRMzqazPStrN%252f1YzA0oWEWLwkHdhVHeG9sG6cMrfXNJKHY6fML4o6Nb0SeQm75ET9jAjKelrmqBCNta%252bsKC9n8jslz%252fo188N4g3BvAJYuzx8J8r%252f1fPFWkPYg%252bT9Su5KoQ9YpNSj%252bmo0h0aEK%252bofj3f6vCP

into this tinyURL:
http://tinyurl.com/6

Twittering

My extended Twitter page
Originally uploaded by wboswell

Twitter, the social networking website that allows people to communicate with friends, family etc in short text messages answering the question 'What are you doing?'. You can send tweets via your mobile phone, instant messaging tools and using the simple but effective website.

Evan Williams the founder of Blogger has found this simple yet effective website for family and friends to keep in touch.

Not only are family and friends using this service but politicians are now using Social Networking tools to attract the younger generation. It was used widely in the American US Presidental campaign along with other Social Networking tools. Our own Prime Minister and Leader of the Oppposition have their own twitter accounts.

Out of interest Lance Armstrong is a regular user of the service and fans of him knew when approximately he would arrive in Australia as he had not sent a Tweet in severeal hours.

How you could adapt this to a Library I am not entirely sure, but it looks to be the way of the future in the current atmosphere.

Can We Be Friends?

Sorry can't resist another post, but was reading up on yet another blog and its a nice follow up to one I mentioned earlier. I was particularly interested as it involved just how can a library, which is often an extended branch of a council body, be your friend? Good 'ol Mr King has thrown up some good suggestions and thrown out some old preconceptions with how a library can interact with the public online, with his posts Attracting Friends parts one and two. Well worth the read if you have the time.

Keith.