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Twitter for libraries (and librarians).

Article Excerpt
For many people, the word "twitter" brings to mind birds rather than humans. But information professionals know that Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a fast-growing, free messaging service for people, and it's one that libraries (and librarians) can make good use of--without spending much time or effort.

Twitter lets people send and receive short messages (called Tweets) via the web or via SMS using a mobile phone. Messages on Twitter are limited to a maximum of 140 characters, including spaces, and they're generally public. Because each message is just a sentence or two, a carefully crafted post can convey a good deal of information without taking a lot of time to read or write. In addition, because Twitter has millions of users, it's a good place to find and connect with people interested in your institution and your areas of expertise.

To automatically see what someone else is saying, you "follow" them. Those who regularly receive your posts are your "followers." You don't need to give each other permission to follow, and you can view Tweets without signing into Twitter, but you must sign in to follow someone.

Thanks to the brevity of messages on Twitter, people often refer to the medium as "microblogging." Like full-sized blogging, the pint-sized version is useful for exchanging many different kinds of information. Although Twitter users initially shared just personal updates ("Eating kale for lunch" or "Watching the Giants game on our new TV"), it's become common for people and organizations...

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