twitter

Creating an Account

 * Go to [|www.twitter.com] to create an account.
 * After creating an account, find some people to follow.
 * If you already know somebody on Twitter, follow them and see who they are following.
 * On Twitter website, //click// on **Find People**, //then// **Browse Suggestions**, //then// choose a category.
 * Google your favorite news organizations and add the word Twitter to see if they have an account.
 * Find other librarians to follow on Fridays by tracking the **#followalibrarian** //hashtag//.
 * Recommendations:
 * //ALA Tech Source -// []
 * //American Libraries// - []
 * //LISNews// - []
 * //Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries// //-// []
 * Mass. Library Systems - //following every library they can find on Twitter and posting workshop notices and blog updates from staff.// //See the a library Twitter page in action on YouTube here.//

Libraries on Twitter

 * Libraries using Twitter //from// Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki
 * Twittering Libraries Wiki //from// Florida State Univ., Fall 2008. A class project with case studies.
 * Cleveland Public Library
 * [|Duxbury Free Library]
 * Nebraska Library Commission
 * Presque Isle, Maine Library
 * [|Providence Public Library] - //an example of how a library can use Twitter Feed to collect the feeds of several blogs into one Twitter account.//
 * [|Thayer Public Library, Braintree]
 * University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Undergraduate Library
 * Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, IL - //they tweet when new books are checked out!//
 * [|Whitman Public Library]

Accessing Your Twitter Account
Most people do not use the Twitter Web Site to access their Twitter account. You can have Tweets delivered to your cell phone via text messaging, you can download a desktop application to manage your Tweets, or you can add an app to your smartphone.

Desktop Applications

 * **Echofon for Firefox** (//formerly TwitterFox//) – [] - //Firefox extension to access Twitter// **FREE**
 * **Echofon for Mac** - @http://echofon.com/twitter/mac/ - //Mac only// **FREE** (preview version)
 * **Seesmic Desktop** – [|http://seesmic.com/seesmic_desktop/air/] - //Windows & Mac using// //Adobe Air// **FREE**
 * **Seesmic Look** - @http://seesmic.com/look/ - //Windows only// using .NET Framework 3.5 **FREE**
 * **Seesmic for Windows** - @http://seesmic.com/seesmic_desktop/windows/ - //Windows only// **FREE**
 * **Snitter** - @http://getsnitter.com/ - //Windows & Mac using// //Adobe Air// **FREE**
 * **Tweetdeck** – [|www.tweetdeck.com] - //Windows, Mac & Linux using// //Adobe Air// **FREE**
 * **Tweetie** - @http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/ - //Mac only// **FREE** (with ads)
 * **Twhirl** - [] - //Windows & Mac using// //Adobe Air// **FREE**
 * **TwitterBar** - @http://www.chrisfinke.com/addons/twitterbar/ -//Firefox extension, tweet from address bar// **FREE**
 * **Twittergadget** - @http://www.twittergadget.com/ - //plug-in for Google Wave, GMail, and iGoogle// **FREE**
 * **Twitterrific** - @http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific/ - //Mac only using Adobe Air//

Mobile Applications

 * **Echofon** - @http://echofon.com/twitter/iphone/ - //iPhone & iPod Touch// **FREE**
 * **Seesmic On The Go** - @http://seesmic.com/seesmic_mobile/ - Android & BlackBerry
 * **Tweetdeck** – @http://www.tweetdeck.com/iphone - //iPhone & iPod Touch// **FREE**
 * **Tweetie2** - [] - //iPhone & iPod Touch//
 * **Twitterific** - [] - //iPhone & iPod Touch// **FREE** (with ads)
 * **Twitter for iPhone** - http://itunes.apple.com/app/twitter/- //the OFFICIAL Twitter app// **FREE**

Twitter Utilities

 * Additional applications or websites that help make Twitter even better!**

URL Shorteners

 * If you use one of the above desktop or mobile apps URL shortening may already be built in.**
 * Otherwise, try one of these popular shorteners:**
 * [|Bit.ly] - Bit.ly can keep statistics on how many people click your link.
 * [|TinyURL] - the first popular URL shortening service.

Photo sharing services
Free sites that host images for Twitter accounts > [|Twitpic vs. Twitgoo vs. yfrog vs. img.ly]
 * img.ly
 * posterous
 * Twitgoo
 * TwitPic
 * yfrog
 * Comparison of popular image services:

Editing your Twitter website

 * Twilk - takes the icons/images of your followers and who you follow, and puts them on your Twitter background.

RSS feeds to your Twitter account

 * twitterfeed - send your RSS feeds form blogs or EventKeepr to your Twitter account.

Archiving & Sharing

 * 10 Ways to Archive Your Tweets - a very helpful post on archiving apps from the ReadWriteWeb blog.
 * Amplify - a browser plug-in allows you to send clips or images from websites to Twitter.
 * BirdHerd - a way for mulitple users to update a single Twitter account.
 * FileTwt - upload and tweet your files.
 * Tweetdoc - brings together all the tweets from a particular event allowing you to keep a record of an event.
 * Twitter Widgets - display Twitter updates on your website, Facebook, or MySpace.
 * TwitAlbums - your tweets plus photos, videos, music and comments only for those you invite.
 * TwitDoc - share your documents via Twitter.
 * Twitgether - a Twitter plug-in for other social network Google sites (Facebook, GMail, iGoogle, MySpace).
 * Twitoaster - claims to do a whole bunch of things: threads, archives, searches, and provides stats & analytics.
 * Twitter your books to LibraryThing - add books (with tags) to your LT account or to your LT wishlist.

Keep on Top of Trending Topics
Twitter users utilize hashtags to post Tweets on a particular topic. It makes it easier to find posts on the same topics.
 * The Twitter home page highlights keywords that are popular in Twitter posts at any particular moment.
 * Use Twitter search – [|http://search.twitter.com] – and to see if anyone is talking about your library on Twitter.
 * Bing has introduced Twitter search at []. Google is planning to implement Twitter Search too.

Other Links of Interest

 * [|Twitter Lingo] from Twitter 101. Explanations and examples of the longo you'll need to be an expert tweeter. Also has links to other topics that will be helpful as you start out.
 * //from// NetLingo The Internet Dictionary
 * [|Top 50 Most Popular Texting Terms]
 * [|Top 50 Texting Terms Used in Business]
 * ReadWriteWeb blog on all things Twitter, analysis of how it's being used and apps to use with it.
 * **Finding People / Directory Services**
 * Librarians via Twellow
 * Librarians via JustTweetIt
 * Celebraties (not usually librarians) via CelebrityTweet
 * **MORE links on Twitter** from Kathy Lussier's Delcious.com.
 * **An explantion of Twitter in just over 2 minutes** on YouTube by Scott Kehoe.
 * The Twitter Guide Book //from// Mashable.com.
 * **What a Tweet Looks Like.** "**Think a tweet is just 140 characters of text? Think again.**" //From// ReadWriteWeb.

//This site originated as a wiki created by Kathy Lussier, SEMLS.// //Additional edits, updates and porting to WordPress by Scott Kehoe, MLS.//