Twitter: Can You Really Do Anything in 140 Characters or Less? (that’s 62)
Angie ManfrediLos Alamos County Library System
www.fatgirlreading.com@misskubelik
What This Presentation Will Be
An overview and explanation of what Twitter is and the mechanics of how it works.
A look at how you can use Twitter to connect with authors and stay tuned into publishing and literature trends.
What This Presentation Will NOT Be
We will not be covering how to use Twitter with patrons, children or teen otherwise.
We will not be covering how to use Twitter in a library setting for publicity or outreach.
OK, What’s Twitter?
www.twitter.com
Launched in July 2006.
140 million active users as of 2012.
They generate 340 million tweets every day.
Who’s Using It?June 2011 Pew Internet & American Life Project
13% of online adults were using Twitter (up from 8% in November 2010).
Twitter use by internet users ages 25-34 went from 9% to 19%, users ages 35-44 went from 8% to 14%.
African-Americans and Latinos have a high rate of adoption. 25% of African-Americans use Twitter at least occasionally, 11% doing so daily.
Yes, But What IS It?
Micro-blogging.
“SMS of the Internet.”
Basically, think of it as the text-messaging equivalent of social networking.
Let’s Dig Into Vocabulary
TweetsFollowers, Following@ (reply)# RT, MTDM Trending TopicsLists
The Basics
You don’t need to have an account to follow someone’s tweets.
Anyone can lock their account: this keeps it private to anyone but people they follow.
You can block followers.
You are not required to follow back or even follow anyone.
OK, Now Let’s See It In Action
Let’s say hello!
Let’s see who says hello back!
Great. Now What Can I Do?
Twitter is social networking without the hassle.
While enjoyably addictive, it can also be less of a time commitment.
By default, it forces you to be more direct.
Stacked’s TWITTERVIEWAuthor interviews via Twitter.
www.stackedbooks.orgPitch PLAYING HURT in 140 characters or less. Two former athletes stumble onto love—and the light that can still exist in their lives, healing their long-lived heartache
in the process. Who do you think is doing groundbreaking work in the YA lit world today? I always think of L.H. Anderson as a seminal author who ushered in current contemporary YA.
(from the Twitterview with Holly Schindler:
http://www.stackedbooks.org/2011/04/twitterview-holly-schindler.html)
It’s Hard To Resist The @
Authors I’ve Connected With Over Twitter
Laurel Snyder and David Lubar
Brenna Yovanoff, Nova Ren Suma
Kathleen Peacock, Ally Condie, A.S. King, Cindy Pon, and Kathleen Duey.
Scott Westerfeld and Markus Zusak.
Joining The Conversation
#yalitchat (Wednesdays, 9PM EST)
#kidlitchat (Tuesdays at 9PM EST)
#mglitchat (Thursdays at 9PM EST)
#libchat (Wednesdays, 8PM EST)
Publishers and More
www.twitter.com/RandomBuzzers
www.twitter.com/lbschool
www.twitter.com/ScholasticTeach
www.twitter.com/HarlequinTEEN
www.twitter.com/WaldenPondPress
Down the Rabbit Hole
Hashtags make sharing easy and spreads conversations.
Publishers and authors use Twitter for promotion and publicity but it’s easy to pick through that (140 characters!) to find who and what you want.
You get to chime in on all kinds of conversations.
Why Twitter?
Twitter can whittle the Internet into workable chunks.
Saves time!
Makes connections!
Constantly updating!
Lots to explore and discover!
SAVES TIME!
