DESCRIPTION
University at Buffalo Libraries Staff Training and Development Committee Workshop: Twitter 10/14/2009TRANSCRIPT
Dean HendrixStaff Development and Training Committee
October 14, 2009
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
IN A 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS
What is Twitter?
• Privately held startup based in San Francisco, California (Est. March 2006).
• Real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices– Microblogging– News service– Advertising– Social network– Voyeurism
Local news
Advertising & product support
Leveraging your personal and professional networks
RT
• Retweet• Sharing and crediting– Twitter’s bibliography– Provenance
@ Messages
• Tweets with @username means it’s a PUBLIC• reply to a specific user.• @username also now in the middle of tweets
as a way to simply reference another account
DM
• Direct Message – This is a private message between two users. (Think email!)
# (hashtags)
• A way to aggregate all users’ tweets around some particular topic
• Twitter’s uncontrolled vocabulary/metadata• Examples:– #buffalobills– #mla09
Twitter Search
• Search realtime tweets• Archiving non-existent• Search unreliable
Trending topics
Trending Topics
Twitter Apps
• Tweetdeck• Seesmic• Twhirl• Twitpic• Twtpoll
Tweetdeck
Seesmic
Twitpic
Twtpoll
Twitter on your mobile• Go to the "Settings" link on the top of the page.• Select the "Phone & IM" link on this page• Enter in your cell phone number, including your area code, in the "Mobile
Phone Number" text box and hit the "Save" button. If you wish to receive updates on your cell phone from Twitter, check the box next to "It’s okay for Twitter to send txt messages to my phone. Std. rates apply.“
• Wait for Twitter to send you a text message saying "That worked! What are you doing now?"
• Update Twitter by sending text messages from your cell phone when you're on the road, riding mass transit, waiting at the doctor's office, or whenever you're away from the computer. If you opted to receive updates, you'll get text messages from Twitter whenever your friends send their updates.
Spam
Spam
• Suspicious culprits have tons of people they follow, but no one follows them
• Users with big followings have been approached by companies to tweet “advertisements”
• TwitBlock - http://www.twitblock.org/
How to use Twitter Effectively
• Focus on quality (not quantity)• Interact with other users (most important)– Ask Questions– Retweet other people’s interesting tweets– Share links to articles & blog posts
• Don’t spam people• Don’t share too much mundane personal information
(i.e., avoid tweeting what you had for breakfast, etc.)
Applications: Education
• Open communication tool – closures, events• Parents/stakeholders can see if homework is
assigned• An online chat where ideas can be discussed &
analyzed• An outreach/promotion tool
Applications: Conference Tool
• Track conferences via the users you follow or by hashtags
• Conference backchannel
A hypothetical backchannel
Applications: Personal branding
• Make connections with people in your field• Show off your professional and personal
expertise• Gives you an online presence• Facilitates F2F meetings • Must balance “weisure”– Personal & professional accounts?
Applications: Recommendations
Which online photo-hosting site do you prefer?
What’s the last good book you’ve read?
I’m visiting LA, where can I get free wi-fi in the Silverlake area?
Who’s the easiest World Civ prof?
Applications: Emergency Alert System
• Research reported in New Scientist in May 2008 found that blogs, maps, photo sites and instant messaging systems like Twitter did a better job of getting information out during emergencies than either the traditional news media or government emergency services.
Application: Revolution(?)
• Controversy: Is Twitter a useful tool for political dissent? Or a tool for “slacktivism”?
• 221,744 “Iran” Tweets in One Hour (June 16, 2009)
• Much coordinated in America
UB Twitter Accounts
http://crowdstatus.com/UB%20on%20Twittercrowd.aspx
Criticisms
"Why would you subject your friends to your daily minutiae? And conversely, how much of their trivia can you absorb? The growth of ambient intimacy can seem like modern narcissism taken to a new, supermetabolic extreme — the ultimate expression of a generation of celebrity-addled youths who believe their every utterance is fascinating and ought to be shared with the world.
Criticisms
• Twitter search and archiving are notoriously short-lived
Criticisms
• Twitter lets people broadcast to as many people as are willing to listen. What it doesn’t do is allow the tweeter to send messages about the Bills to a subgroup that only cares about the Bills.
ME: Did you know you were designing a toy for bored celebrities and high-school girls?
BIZ: We definitely didn’t design it for that. If they want to use it for that, it’s great.
ME: I heard about a woman who tweeted her father’s funeral. Whatever happened to private pain?
EVAN: I have private pain every day. ME: Do you ever think “I don’t care that my friend is having a hamburger?”BIZ: If I said I was eating a hamburger, Evan would be surprised because I’m a
vegan.
ME: Would Shakespeare have tweeted?BIZ: Brevity’s the soul of wit, right?
ME: What’s your favorite book?BIZ: I loved Sherlock Holmes when I was a kid.ME: But you’ve helped destroy mystery.BIZ: When you put more information out there, sometimes you can just put a little bit
of it out, which just makes the mystery even broader.
ME: I would rather be tied up to stakes in the Kalahari Desert, have honey poured over me and red ants eat out my eyes than open a Twitter account. Is there anything you can say to change my mind?
BIZ: Well, when you do find yourself in that position, you’re gonna want Twitter. You might want to type out the message “Help.”
FIN