Comments on: 4 out of 5 Library Gardeners Recommend Twitter to their Readers who Chew Social Media

By: Akearns

Akearns — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:11:37 +0000

Thanks for all the additions to this conversation guys and for the additional links – I am planning to write a follow-up post on my personal Twitter-use suggestions/recommendations. Thanks!

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:31:02 +0000

Nielsen has done an update to their report, that includes the use of feeder platforms. You can find that article here:

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/update-return-of-the-twitter-quitters/

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:31:16 +0000

Very interesting article! I agree with many of the points raised, especially the fact that Twitter is "What you make it" - You have to put something in to get something back. The phone simile was spot on!

It also became part of my routine pretty quickly. I like to think that people enjoy what I have to Tweet. Maybe they do, maybe they don't but I try and post what I find interesting. If you choose your followers carefully, it can very interesting for you too!

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:33:37 +0000

Time Magazine's cover artile–How Twitter Will Change the way We Live http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604,00.html

Some interesting related items as well….

By: Lisa Coats

Lisa Coats — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:40:55 +0000

Ok, I finally joined Twitter. But after reading this post by Amy, I can tell that I'm going to have to really give it a fair try before ditching it. I'll download Tweet Deck (whatever the heck that is! today. I'll build up my network. I'll check it at least once a day…for awhile. Hey, but for us newbies, Cynthia, what are the "baby names" and "lingo" you mention?

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:34:35 +0000

I have an account. I tweet from time to time--mostly job related. However, I am far from sold on the service.

I am pretty sick of posts about lunch menus and beer choices. I recently 'tweeted' at a conference and promptly missed much of what was being said! Multitasking, for most people, means doing more than one thing less than well--that pretty much sums up my tweet the conference experience.

The on-the-spot reporting in places like Iran is remarkable. Let's face it--the revolution will be streamed. This is a huge shift in how news can be gathered and disseminated from closed societies.

The ability to update without the use of the website makes government shut-down of it very difficult. Unless they want to shut-down cell phone service, which can be a problem for far more than the protesters, people will be able to use Twitter.

As always, evaluation of source is hard and can be fraught with peril. They are finally 'verifying' accounts--helpful for celebs, but what about folks with ordinary names and no lawyers?

The only other good use I see is advertising events. I follow Princeton Scoop so that I know what is happening in town and can share with patrons. I post when I want to get word out about an event. Beyond this, I don't have much use for it right now.

Finally, is anyone else sick of the lingo?! It is typing. The damn things are typed. They are blog posts or text messages--no need for the cute little baby names...

By: Janie L. Hermann

Janie L. Hermann — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:27:04 +0000

Count me in as one of the LG team that feels Twitter is useful -- even though I did not "get it" when it first came out. I don't use it daily for my personal life (although I do go in spurts where I do tweet daily), but it is very valuable when I need it -- esp. at conferences.

I am the staff person who started and maintains MPOW's Twitter stream and I try to make sure we tweet daily or close to it. Our library's twitter stream has regularly pulled in people to library programs that would not have otherwise come or known about them.