Do Audubon birds twitter, I wonder (or is that tweet?).
I must confess that I have to date actively decided not to sign up for Twitter - or Facebook, which I believe is coming up later in the Things programme. I don't like having to sign up to all of these different sites, and give out certain personal details, even if I don't use my real name. I still have to give a working email address, which I don't like doing, even if I uncheck every box that I can find to stop getting "newsletters", updates - or whatever. From a personal point of view, I don't want to be part of the social networking revolution. I don't like instant communciation. I think that it does little for depth of communication in general usage, though maybe it could be used to better effect in a professional context, in the dissemination of a piece of factual information. Having 140 characters to "play" with does not inspire me to think that tweeting will do much to really say anything. Perhaps the limit focusses the mind, in some circumstances. Essentially, I don't really have any desire to broadcast the mundanities of my life to others in this way. I've posted a Tweet, to say that I've just joined Twitter. Who cares? I searched for #cam23 messages, but didn't really see anything that seemed to need a reply from me. I don't really want to have to log into it regularly to see if anyone has tweeted back. I've decided to follow just one Twerson (how awful, if that is the correct term) for the moment - the CILIP one - to see how useful it is from a CPD point of view, how much I may learn compared to how much junk it generates. It's too soon to tell.
I have no way of finding out at the moment how many of my library clientele are signed up for Twitter (it's the Long Vacation), or how many of them would actually choose to follow a library Twitter feed (is that the correct terminology? I get lost in all the different lingos) if I set one up. I could easily imagine that they have dozens of friends tweeting, and that anything that I created would be passed over in the queue in search of something more interesting/personal from a real friend (do you have Friends on Twitter? Or Followers, like on blogger.com?). I email. They all have a University email account. Whether they use it or not is another unknown. And if they do, whether they hit delete as soon as they see the subject heading or sender. I sometimes think that texts to mobile phones (always on - even in the library ...) would be the most reliable way of sending out notices.
Hmm ... Not a very positive post, but it is getting late, and I need to get home (I'm in the office late in an attempt to catch up with this programme - I'm on Thing 7, and it is on ... Thing 16???)
I must confess that I have to date actively decided not to sign up for Twitter - or Facebook, which I believe is coming up later in the Things programme. I don't like having to sign up to all of these different sites, and give out certain personal details, even if I don't use my real name. I still have to give a working email address, which I don't like doing, even if I uncheck every box that I can find to stop getting "newsletters", updates - or whatever. From a personal point of view, I don't want to be part of the social networking revolution. I don't like instant communciation. I think that it does little for depth of communication in general usage, though maybe it could be used to better effect in a professional context, in the dissemination of a piece of factual information. Having 140 characters to "play" with does not inspire me to think that tweeting will do much to really say anything. Perhaps the limit focusses the mind, in some circumstances. Essentially, I don't really have any desire to broadcast the mundanities of my life to others in this way. I've posted a Tweet, to say that I've just joined Twitter. Who cares? I searched for #cam23 messages, but didn't really see anything that seemed to need a reply from me. I don't really want to have to log into it regularly to see if anyone has tweeted back. I've decided to follow just one Twerson (how awful, if that is the correct term) for the moment - the CILIP one - to see how useful it is from a CPD point of view, how much I may learn compared to how much junk it generates. It's too soon to tell.
I have no way of finding out at the moment how many of my library clientele are signed up for Twitter (it's the Long Vacation), or how many of them would actually choose to follow a library Twitter feed (is that the correct terminology? I get lost in all the different lingos) if I set one up. I could easily imagine that they have dozens of friends tweeting, and that anything that I created would be passed over in the queue in search of something more interesting/personal from a real friend (do you have Friends on Twitter? Or Followers, like on blogger.com?). I email. They all have a University email account. Whether they use it or not is another unknown. And if they do, whether they hit delete as soon as they see the subject heading or sender. I sometimes think that texts to mobile phones (always on - even in the library ...) would be the most reliable way of sending out notices.
Hmm ... Not a very positive post, but it is getting late, and I need to get home (I'm in the office late in an attempt to catch up with this programme - I'm on Thing 7, and it is on ... Thing 16???)
One use of Twitter is to set up an advanced search http://search.twitter.com/advanced . I have a standing one to notify me every time certain keywords (inc. 'Haddon' and 'archaeology') are tweeted by anyone who states their location as within 15 miles of Cambridge. But it's fair to say that I haven't harvested a great deal this way.
ReplyDeleteThe Haddon Library now has a Twitter presence of its own, in addition to my personal tweeting. Perhaps it will get more followers when I get round to announcing the fact by email....