So, Twitter. I actually can't wait to read people's reactions to this "assignment" (rather, to this professional development opportunity). The tweets thus far have been interesting, informative, and some of them, kind of funny.
I joined Twitter circa 2009, started tweeting a bit about ed tech, and then stopped once my job didn't require me to read article after article after article on education. Before class on Monday, I rejoined the Twitter world and started following some professional library people but also news and tech sites, really trying to get a feel for Twitter before this week's assignment (rather, this week's professional development opportunity). I tried using TweetDeck and then found that HootSuite might be a better fit for making "streams" and fully utilizing Twitter. I actually tweeted and retweeted my five #si643 hash tags all week (instead of once an hour on Sunday) so I've been engaging with this social media tool now for a couple of weeks. I must say, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Its SO MUCH INFORMATION (talk about info overload, fellow si500-ers) so short it almost makes my head hurt. I also got the HootSuite app for my android phone, so I'm fully plugged in. It's been fun seeing what others have posted with the si643 hashtag and I must admit it is fun when someone starts following me and when I get a RT. I'm even thinking (kinda sorta not really) about changing my name on twitter because it has nothing to do with libraries. But, we'll wait and see cuz I'm getting a follower-base and don't want to lose that.
As for the part about starting to follow professional people based on the blogger's we followed followers (say that 10 times fast)... I couldn't find two of them on Twitter (Librarian is In, Information Wants to be free - though her blog is down right now and has been for the last 2 hours), one must approve my request (Not so Distant Future), and the other doesn't follow many professional folk (Gypsy Librarian). I searched the two I couldn't find by name, by blog name, and searched their blogs if I could. Not so Distant Future actually listed her witter name on her blog (what a concept! ;), and Gypsy Librarian took a minute to find because his twitter name is gyplib and doesn't come up when I searched Gypsy Librarian or his name. So, needless to say, I had to step outside of the box to find my network of 25 (I can't see Not so Distant Future's followers yet because she hadn't approved me). So, I defaulted to Bobbi Newman and Buffy J Hamilton - tweeters I know are big time in the Twitter world. They both have HUNDREDS of followers and follow many tweeters, so I was able to build a solid network of professionals. One thing that was slightly annoying was that I had to scroll through all of their followers and browse instead of searching for terms within the followers (like library). I could have used ctrl+F but didn't, so I did a lot of scrolling. It was interesting to build the network; I tried to find a variety of academic librarians, organizations like ACRL and ALA, and those interested in ed tech.
I think I'll continue to use Twitter, to get my name out there, and get information, but I might have to spend sometime setting up my HootSuite so I'm not feeling so overwhelmed. It makes me wonder though, do people always see everything on Twitter? Do people enjoy getting this much info all the time? There is always something to miss on Twitter, so how can I keep up with it all? Another question is, on Hoot Suite, is there a way to remove tweeters from the Home Feed once I put them into a list? That would be more helpful...
Again, interested to read other's Twitter reactions and maybe get some feedback on my experiences. I must say though, ultimately, this assignment is great. If you couldn't tell already, I'm really viewing this as a professional development opportunity - a chance to build a professional network AND get credit for it. Pretty awesome...
Yeah, I was one of those "once an hour on Sunday" tweeters. I tried to get the ball rolling early, but then my procrastinatorial nature took over. I also ran into the problem with people's twitter names being different from their real names. When I went looking for Neil Gaiman, I didn't know whether to go with whoever had set up a NeilGaiman account or the one that said "NeilHimself" (It turns out that the latter is the author and the former is just a dummy account redirecting people to NeilHimself. So confusing...)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are enjoying Twitter. I almost forgot about the assignment altogether. So I did end up doing my tweets over a two day period. I think for me it is just a lot of information I'm not interested in. I like blogs better, because I can get more details, but I'm not great at following blogs, either. It's just a lot of effort for information that I don't really need, so I don't invest the time.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's a lot of information all at once. I've given up on trying to keep up with everything and just check bunches of tweets each time I log in. I really enjoy twitter, especially when there are links to interesting articles. Of course, that's a lot of information to take in as well! The more I play around with it, the more I really enjoy it for a professional learning network. It's a great way to get information quickly.
ReplyDelete