Links for Nora's Web Tour: How Microblogging Can Enhance Your Blogging Professional Life

Twitter can seem intimidating, even inane. And there's no doubt that, as with any form of communication, there's a lot of noise out there in the Twit-o-sphere. So here are some useful links that will help you cut through the noise and make twitter a more useful part of your professional life.

WeFollow is a useful site that allows users to "tag" themselves with various terms, and then indexes those terms, ranking users by popularity and influence. Here are two examples of WeFollow lists that can be of use to librarians:

WeFollow: Librarians

WeFollow: Libraries

I like to use these kinds of directories to get a lay of the land -- click through to a few profiles, and see what's being said. Find someone whose voice and perspective you like, or who is posting links that are useful to you. Then, see who they follow. Find out what they're reading. Or look to see what lists they're on or what lists they've made for themselves.

You can also use lists. Lists are relatively new on twitter. Basically, anyone with a twitter account can create a list, using any criteria, from "Media Leaders" to "Men with Mustaches." The user can place any other Twitter user on that list, which can then be accessed by anyone from the listmaker's profile, from the profile of anyone listed, or from the profile of people who follow the list. It's a great way of organizing types information into one place.

Here's a list a user called MarianLiberryan put together of library professionals: http://twitter.com/MarianLiberryan/libraryfolk

And with lists, rather than following all the individuals listed, you can opt to just follow the list. This means that you can easily access the list from your twitter page, but that the tweets coming through on the list aren't fed into your main twitter feed. Creating a list is a great way to organize the kinds of information coming through your twitter feed and to keep yourself organized.

Here are a few of the libraries and librarians that I follow on Twitter:

Libraries and Organizations:

LIS News

ALA Library

PrivacyALA

ALA Techsource

LibGig (Library job listings!)

Librarians and Information Professionals:

David Lee King (Digital Branch and Services Manager at a library in KS)

Justin Librarian (a Teen Services Librarian in NJ)

Type A Librarian (Jennifer Hrusch, a Library Manager in OH)

ALALibraryVal (Valerie Hawkins, Library Reference Specialist at the ALA)

But what about you? How can you, as a library professional or LIS student, join in on the ongoing discussion?

Here are some of the ways that Twitter can be used to augment your online presence:

Promote:

Promote your latest blog posting.

Promote upcoming events

Tweet about events-in-progress

Connect:

Promote others' writing.

Ask questions!

Provide a sense of library work

But be careful to respect user privacy!

And here are some tips.

• As with blogging, don't spam. Reply to other's posts, but don't engage at random. Try to contribute.
• Re-tweet! Pass along information that you think is useful, interesting, or funny. You don't have to comment, but make sure you cite who you got it from.
• Know when to self-censor -- try not to get caught up in petty arguments or compromise patron confidentiality.
• Engage with the wider world. Is True Blood a trending topic? Recommend readers check out "Dead Until Dawn."
• Be yourself! Tweet about what interests you, and try to convey enthusiasm through your posts.

Further Reading:

Brown, L. (Fall 2008) "Twittering Libraries" LIS 5313 Wiki.

Cole, S. (June 15, 2009) "20 Ways For Librarians to Use Twitter" Library Journal. Vol, 134, Issue 11. p 25.

Kroski, E. (July, 1, 2008) "All A Twitter" School Library Journal

McManus, R. (November 10, 2009) "40% of People 'Friend' Brands on Facebook" Read Write Web.

Thompson, C. (September 5, 2009), "The Brave New World of Digital Intimacy" New York Times Magazine.

100 Best Twitter Feeds for Librarians of the Future OnlineCourses.org

LibSuccess.org: Twitter

O'Reilly Webcast: Twitter for Business

Some Quick Twitter Links

Hi guys, here are some quick starting points for exploring Twitter:

We Follow: Librarians
We Follow is an index of Twitter users. Users can add themselves, along with up to five keywords that sum up their interests. Other users can then search for those keywords and see a listing of Twitter accounts, ranked by either "most influential" or "most followers."

Some folks I follow:

At Your Library: The ALA's public awareness account centers around promoting "the value of libraries and librarians." Good for news & links to recent articles & other resources.

ALA Library: The ALA's Library account, which works as sort of a reference desk for questions on libraries and librarianship. Another great source of interesting essays and articles, as well as librarian blogs.

Geek the Library: A good source for articles and essays looking at specific libraries & the issues they face, as well as challenges facing libraries in general.

One thing you might notice looking through these links is how much blogs and twitter have become intertwined, and how all sorts of social media enable ideas and information to be shared quickly throughout the profession.

- Nora

School Library Journal Asks: Should Your Library Have a Social Media Policy?

I ran across an interesting article today (in fact, I ran across it in on Justin The Librarian's Twitter feed): Should Your Library Have a Social Media Policy? More and more, it seems like the answer is an unequivocal "Absolutely." As Ellyssa Kroski notes,

The benefits of establishing a social media presence are becoming increasingly apparent as companies such as Dell share their success stories, but we’ve also heard tales of embarrassing Facebook mishaps, hothead Twitterers, and outspoken bloggers. In a time when the distinction between personal and professional realms is fading and seemingly everyone has a Facebook or Twitter profile, a social media policy is a useful way to set some ground rules for employees with regard to their online activities. It’s also a reminder that the content that they post isn’t private and may ultimately reflect on the organization.

A social media policy can help establish clear guidelines for staff members who are posting on behalf of the organization as well as employees with personal social media accounts. There are also standards being created for users, letting them know what’s acceptable to post to an organization’s blog and community pages.

So what sorts of things should a social media policy take into account? Kroski's list of suggested policies (which cover employees personal online activities as well as work-related blogs and tweeting) includes posting disclaimers with personal opinions, showing respect for copyright laws and other bloggers, maintaining transparency and preserving confidentiality. These all may seem like no-brainers, but in a world where personal and professional lives are both increasingly spent online, having these sorts of rules in place has become necessary.

Personally, I try to never mention my work life on my personal blog. This was especially true when I was teaching -- talking about how my life intersected with my students' seemed too personal and potentially inflammatory for the internet. But this article has me wondering: now that so many of us live in public, how can we keep our personal lives seperate from our professional ones? As I move towards librarian-hood, should I be more circumspect about posting my little real-life worries and adventures online? On the internet, where does the person end, and the job begin?

- Nora Sawyer