Monday, November 24, 2008

Thing 24: Itty Bitty Blogging

Twitter. Pownce. Jaiku. Tumblr. Sounds more like Pokemon characters than social computing tools!

What do those funny-named tools do? Twitter and the crew are microblogging platforms, which feel like the instant messaging of the blog world. Short updates of text, photos, audio or video are pushed out to anyone following your feed on the web, through email, or via their cell phone or PDA.

Microblogging lets you quickly update and coordinate with many followers using a single post. You can schedule dinner plans at a conference, announce the cancellation of a library program, and share the first lines of new books. For a personal feed, you can just let your friends know what you're up to at the moment and share snippets of your life.

Libraries are largely using microblogging for publicity: promoting events, updating information, and answering quick questions. For example, the Kansas City PL's Twitter feed includes both announcements and some responses to questions and feedback (any post that starts with an "@" is a response).

Discovery Activity
Beyond program updates, what other uses might microblogging have in a library? For some inspiration, check out Ellyssa Kroski's SLJ article on Twitter, then explore your own thoughts in a post.

If you're up to an Extra Mile, try putting one of your ideas into practice and share with the group!

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm a little focused on the upcoming holiday. Let's try and find some last-minute Thanksgiving dinner ideas in Thing 25: Food....Glorious Food!

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