Basics of twitter
- 1. Basics of Twitter Presented by Professional Activities Committee
- 2. Why use twitter? Networking Promotion of the library and your work Follow news Raise issues Communicate with vendors Keep up with the university and your peers
- 3. Private vs. Public Private If you want to use it like Facebook, go private You approve of those that want to follow you Great for connecting with a group of people you already know and trust Public Capability for building a larger network Tweets are public – so watch what you say
- 4. DM (direct message) DM allows you to hold a private conversation with another Twitter user, but you can only DM people who are already following you It is the closest thing to e-mail in Twitter Check yours by clicking on the envelope icon
- 5. @ (reply or chat) Use to reply to or simply chat with another user @donnalanclos thanks! @donnalanclos found this article and thought of you http://www.anthrolib.com
- 6. Composing tweets No more than 140 characters The shorter the better Best to use 120 characters for re-tweeting Shorten links with URL shorteners bi.tly (https://bitly.com/) ow.ly (http://ow.ly/url/shorten-url) goo.gl (http://goo.gl/)
- 7. RT (re-tweet) Re-tweet to say… “I like or am interested in what you’re tweeting – I want to promote it or share it with others”
- 8. RT examples Original tweet: Maureen Sullivan: President Obama’s budget gives libraries funding boost http://dlvr.it/3CfTLx Modifications: RT @amlibraries: Maureen Sullivan: President Obama’s budget gives libraries funding boost http://dlvr.it/3CfTLx MT @amlibraries: President Obama’s budget gives libraries funding boost http://dlvr.it/3CfTLx President Obama’s budget gives libraries funding boost dlvr.it/3CfTLx via @amlibraries Must read RT @amlibraries: Maureen Sullivan: President Obama’s budget gives libraries funding boost http://dlvr.it/3CfTLx
- 9. Best Practices Follow people that interest you Be prepared for people to respond to your tweets – decide how you want to deal with it Promote your work and the work of your colleagues and friends Congratulate people on their accomplishments Twitter persona: How personal do you want to get?
- 10. Following These are people/institutions you follow It is not creepy to follow people that you do not personally know – that is part of the networking opportunity that is unique to Twitter Start with some of your colleagues or other people/institutions that interest you. Who do they follow? Follow people that you meet If you try to follow people that have private accounts, you will need to wait for their approval (like FB)
- 11. Followers These are people who follow you! After you follow some people, they may automatically follow you You do not need to follow your followers Build your following with peers and hash tags
- 12. # (hash-tag) Use in tweets to connect people to your thoughts or findings on an idea/subject/trend Broadens your reach beyond your followers Search hash tags to follow certain trends/ideas/conferences #highered #ebooks #libraries #edtech #infolit #DH #UNCC #ClubAtkins #UNCCproblems #ala13
- 13. Favorites & Lists Favorites serve as bookmarks Create lists or subscribe to lists to follow certain groups or institutions Lists can be private or public People may add you to lists Subscribing to lists can be used as a substitute for following people/institutions
- 14. Campus/Library Tweeters Find your faculty or other units to follow: http://mediamine.uncc.edu/twitter Jim Hathaway also started a list of UNCC faculty and staff: https://twitter.com/jbhathaw/uncc that you can subscribe to or ask to be added to Library Staff on Twitter: Heather McCullough, Stanley Wilder, Lareese Hall, Donna Lanclos See http://atkinslibraryprodev.wordpress.com
- 15. Try it out! Activities: o Search for and “follow” the other Twitter team o RT something o DM the other Twitter team o Respond to the other team’s DM o Reply to (@) a tweet from the other team o Compose tweet using hash tag #atkinstest
- 16. Next week… Twitter communities – chat via Twitter Tweet-ups Using #hashtags at conferences Following conferences via #hashtags Advanced Twitter management tools Drafting and scheduling tweets
- 17. Questions? Amanda Binder @ahbinder Atkins Library UNC Charlotte