Comments on: [insert pun on "Twitter" here]

By: John Bickar

John Bickar — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 15:43:58 +0000

Thoroughly unimpressed. I’ve been using it for a few days, and even if the functionality worked as advertised (it doesn’t), I don’t need this degree of banality in my life.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 20:33:56 +0000

I won’t begrudge anyone who wants to use Twitter, as long as they don’t force me to use it. Personally, it doesn’t sound very useful for my lifestyle. If I’m away from work anytime between 9 AM and 6 PM Monday thru Friday, it’s indicated on the sign-out board in the lounge. If my wife, friends, or relatives want to find out where I’m at, they can contact me. If something bad has happened, Twitter ain’t gonna do me no good. Besides, it sounds like too much fuss for regular usage (as Steve says, no more than once or twice per day seems sufficient) Besides, sometimes it’s nice just to totally “disconnect,” and not to feel obliged to report on yet something else.

By: Jenny Levine

Jenny Levine — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 03:25:32 +0000

I think it depends which angle of Twitter you’re looking at when thinking about how libraries might use this service. For example, at my previous job, we ran a consortial catalog for 77 libraries. Sometimes that catalog went down, and when it did, we were lucky to send out a fax to the libraries with a status report. If it wasn’t a network issue, we would send email, too.

But if we could also have used the SMS feature of Twitter to send out notices, including updating a one-line status on an external blog or website, that might have some value. Sometimes the value in these tools can be to help staff as much as patrons.

I think Liz hit the nail on the head, too, with her theory about “presence” gaining emphasis, and I think that will have implications for libraries down the road so it’s a good trend to track.

By: walt crawford

walt crawford — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 01:29:35 +0000

I think that’s an excellent summary–not only as to why some libloggers are all a-twitter (or maybe just twittering as a trial), but also the same answer I had for David’s question: That is, people blogging about this find it interesting, not necessarily something libraries need to be involved in.

Nothing wrong with that–either twitter being interesting (if you’re the right personality type and always or almost always connected) or blogging about it even though it may have no real use in library practice.

By: Library Stuff » Blog Archives » Twitter at Conferences and More.

Library Stuff » Blog Archives » Twitter at Conferences and More. — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 01:23:41 +0000

[...] Steve Lawson blogs: [...]

By: Meredith

Meredith — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 01:10:53 +0000

“I can see this at a conference like Internet Librarian, where attendees could just Twitter where they are going for dinner or their present location if they want company, or are looking to meet up with friends.”

Yeah, except that would mean we’d actually need to have reliable (and perhaps free?) wireless at one of these conferences. Sadly, that has rarely been the case. ;-)