Twittering Libraries ~ http://semlstwitter.pbworks.com

A wiki created by Kathy Lussier, SEMLS.  Additional edits and updates by Scott Kehoe, NMRLS.

Creating an Account

• Go to www.twitter.com to create an account.
• After creating an account, find some people to follow.
• If you already know somebody on Twitter, follow them and see who they are following.
• On Twitter website, click on Find People, then Browse Suggestions, then choose a category.
• Google your favorite news organizations and add the word Twitter to see if they have an account.
• Find other librarians to follow on Fridays by tracking the #followalibrarian hashtag.
• Recommendations:

• ALA Tech Source - http://twitter.com/ALA_TechSource

• American Libraries - http://twitter.com/amlibraries

• LISNews - http://twitter.com/LISNews

• Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries - http://twitter.com/masslawlib

• Mass. Regional Library Systems - following every library they can find on Twitter and posting workshop notices and blog updates from staff. See the NMRLS Twitter page in action on YouTube here.

• NMRLS - http://twitter.com/NMRLS - Northeast Region

• SEMLS - http://twitter.com/semls - Southeast Regional

Libraries on Twitter

• Libraries using Twitter - from Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki
• Cleveland Public Library
• Duxbury Free Library
• Nebraska Library Commission
• Presque Isle, Maine Library
• Providence Public Library - an example of how a library can use Twitter Feed to collect the feeds of several blogs into one Twitter account.
• Thayer Public Library, Braintree
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Undergraduate Library
• Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, IL - they tweet when new books are checked out!
• Whitman Public Library

Accessing Your Twitter Account

Most people do not access use the Twitter Web Site to access their Twitter account. You can have Tweets delivered to your cell phone via text messaging, you can download a desktop application to manage your Tweets, or you can add an app to your smartphone.

Desktop Applications

• Echofon for Firefox (formerly TwitterFox) – http://twitterfox.net/ - Firefox extension to access Twitter FREE
• Echofon for Mac - http://echofon.com/twitter/mac/ - Mac only FREE (preview version)
• Seesmic Desktop – http://seesmic.com/seesmic_desktop/air/ - Windows & Mac using Adobe Air FREE

• Seesmic Look - http://seesmic.com/look/ - Windows only using .NET Framework 3.5 FREE

• Seesmic for Windows - http://seesmic.com/seesmic_desktop/windows/ - Windows only FREE
• Snitter - http://getsnitter.com/ - Windows & Mac using Adobe Air FREE
• Tweetdeck – www.tweetdeck.com - Windows, Mac & Linux using Adobe Air FREE
• Tweetie - http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/ - Mac only FREE (with ads)
• Twhirl - http://www.twhirl.org/ - Windows & Mac using Adobe Air FREE
• TwitterBar - http://www.chrisfinke.com/addons/twitterbar/ -Firefox extension, tweet from address bar FREE
• Twittergadget - http://www.twittergadget.com/ - plug-in for Google Wave, GMail, and iGoogle FREE
• Twitterrific - http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific/ - Mac only using Adobe Air

Mobile Applications

• Echofon - http://echofon.com/twitter/iphone/ - iPhone & iPod Touch FREE
• Seesmic On The Go - http://seesmic.com/seesmic_mobile/ - Android & BlackBerry
• Tweetdeck – http://www.tweetdeck.com/iphone - iPhone & iPod Touch FREE
• Tweetie2 - http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-iphone/ - iPhone & iPod Touch
• Twitterific - http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific -  iPhone & iPod Touch FREE (with ads)

Twitter Utilities

Additional applications or websites that help make Twitter even better!

URL Shorteners

If you use one of the above desktop or mobile apps URL shortening may already be built in. Otherwise, try one of these popular shorteners:

• Bit.ly - Bit.ly can keep statistics on how many people click your link.
• TinyURL - the first popular URL shortening service.

Photo sharing services

Free sites that host images for Twitter accounts

• Comparison of popular image services:  Twitpic vs. Twitgoo vs. yfrog vs. img.ly

Editing your Twitter website

• Twilk  - takes the icons/images of your followers and who you follow, and puts them on your Twitter background.

RSS feeds to your Twitter account

• twitterfeed - send your RSS feeds form blogs or EventKeepr to your Twitter account.

Archiving & Sharing

• 10 Ways to Archive Your Tweets - a very helpful post on archiving apps from the ReadWriteWeb blog.

• Amplify - a browser plug-in allows you to send clips or images from websites to Twitter.
• BirdHerd - a way for mulitple users to update a single Twitter account.
• FileTwt - upload and tweet your files.
• Tweetdoc - brings together all the tweets from a particular event allowing you to keep a record of an event.
• Twitter Widgets - display Twitter updates on your website, Facebook, or MySpace.
• TwitAlbums - your tweets plus photos, videos, music and comments only for those you invite.
• TwitDoc - share your documents via Twitter.
• Twitgether - a Twitter plug-in for other social network Google sites (Facebook, GMail, iGoogle, MySpace).
• Twitoaster - claims to do a whole bunch of things: threads, archives, searches, and provides stats & analytics.

• Twitter your books to LibraryThing - add books (with tags) to your LT account or to your LT wishlist.

Keep on Top of Trending Topics

Twitter users utilize hashtags to post Tweets on a particular topic. It makes it easier to find posts on the same topics.

• The Twitter home page highlights keywords that are popular in Twitter posts at any particular moment.
• Use Twitter search – http://search.twitter.com – and to see if anyone is talking about your library on Twitter.
• Bing has introduced Twitter search at http://www.bing.com/twitter. Google is planning to implement Twitter Search too.

Other Links of Interest

• Twitter Lingo from Twitter 101. Explanations and examples of the longo you'll need to be an expert tweeter.  Also has links to other topics that will be helpful as you start out.
• from NetLingo The Internet Dictionary
• Top 50 Most Popular Texting Terms 
• Top 50 Texting Terms Used in Business
• ReadWriteWeb blog on all things Twitter, analysis of how it's being used and apps to use with it.
• Finding People / Directory Services
• Librarians via Twellow
• Librarians via JustTweetIt
• Celebraties (not usually librarians) via CelebrityTweet
• MORE links on Twitter from Kathy Lussier's Delcious.com.
• An explantion of Twitter in just over 2 minutes on YouTube by Scott Kehoe.
• The Twitter Guide Book from Mashable.com.
• What a Tweet Looks Like. "Think a tweet is just 140 characters of text? Think again." From ReadWriteWeb.