Twitter:anintroductionBillHelman@thinkpol

Keiyac:http://www.flickr.com/photos/keiya/3255575238/

• Areallyshorthistory• Whatisit,really?• Gettingstarted• Basicjargon• Searchingandfollowing• Somethirdpartyapplications

Twitterareallyveryshorthistory.

• StartedinMarchof2006

• Aneasywaytoshareupdates

• JackDorsey,BizStoneandEvanWilliams

• SXSW07(atippingpoint)

jackdorsey:www.flickr.com/photos/jackdorsey/182613360/

Phenomenalgrowth

• TwitterRaises$35Million

• …butstillnorevenuestream

cambodia4kidsorg: flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/2659954245/

“Active users have increased 900 percentin the last year”

–Biz Stone

Ok,butwhatisit?

“It’sablog!No,it’samicroblog!No,wait,it’sacocktailparty!No,it’ssomethingforyoutobewittyorinterestingonsoyougainfollowers!Wait,no,it’sthelightinfantry!Butnotforconferences!Andnotformundanecrap!”

‐AndyW.,ofAgnostic,Maybe

Whatisthis“microblogging”?

“Thecontentofamicroblogdiffersfromatraditionalbloginthatitistypicallysmallerinactualsizeandaggregatefilesize.Asingleentrycouldconsistofasinglesentenceorfragmentoranimageorabrief,tensecondvideo.”

‐Wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microblogging)

(Theworld’sshortestinstructionmanual)

Thingstoconsider…

• Professionalorpersonal?– Mixthemcarefully

– ThetroublesofaFedExexec

• Doesyourlibraryneedasocialnetworkpolicy?

@cdharrison: flickr.com/photos/84018923@N00/2509609034/

Ok,nowlet’sgetstarted!

• Choosingascreenname

• Realpeoplehavebios/profiles

• PrivateorPublicupdates?

noii's: flickr.com/photos/17306001@N00/1337101391

BasicJargon

• Tweetingv.Twiteering?

• RTand(via)

• Whatisthis@?

• #hashtag

• FailWhale

Or,hownottolooklikean00b

AbrahamEstrada:http://www.flickr.com/photos/abe_estrada/3930499380/

Findingsomeonetofollow

• WeFollow

• LibrariesonTwitter

• Theoldfashionedway

• Somepeople&resources– @LISNews

– @jessamyn

– @simmonsgslis

– @libraryfuture

Szlea:http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnzlea/2384656420/

Realtimesearch“Authoritychangesslowlyonthe“old”Web.Butreal‐timesearchenginesdeliverdifferent,updatedresultsalmosteverytime.”

‐CliveThompson,WiredMagazine

“[R]ealpeoplethroughsocialmediacanhelpyoufindwhatyou’relookingforwhen[search]enginesfail.

‐CarlaBorsoi,SESSanJose,2009

Keepingtrackofitall:desktopclients

URL’s:reallyshort

• WhyareshortURL’sabigthing?

• Popularservices– tinyurl

– isgd

• Thingstoconsider

Nutloaf:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nutloaf/1501407755/

¿Questions?

http://delicious.com/hobnail/twitter

BillHelman@thinkpol

More than 60 Twitter related articles and resources