{"id":63705,"date":"2014-03-07T11:30:12","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T16:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=63705"},"modified":"2014-03-07T12:27:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-07T17:27:39","slug":"top-3-reasons-to-use-twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=63705","title":{"rendered":"Top 3 Reasons to Use Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Janvey, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Iowa<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Top 3 Reasons to Use Twitter<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"alexandra.janvey\"<\/a>Twitter<\/a> has quickly become my favorite social media outlet, but it wasn\u2019t always this\u00a0way. When I first joined the microblogging service, my attention and interest quickly\u00a0faded because I was using the technology without a true purpose or focus. I signed\u00a0up for a Twitter account after hearing the buzz about it, but didn\u2019t understand it\u2019s\u00a0true value yet. It wasn\u2019t until I started graduate school for my Library and Information\u00a0Science degree did I attempt to try Twitter for a second time as part of an assignment.\u00a0My second experience with Twitter was completely different than before. I got hooked\u00a0and haven\u2019t stopped tweeting since. This was largely due to the fact that a huge\u00a0community of librarians used Twitter to exchange ideas, converse, and support one\u00a0another.<\/strong> Now that I had an area or group to focus on, there was much more activity and\u00a0content to keep my interest and attention. It was exciting to be able to communicate\u00a0with professionals in the field from all over, learn about current trends, events, and\u00a0much more.<\/p>\n

In my new career as a librarian and archivist, I\u2019ve been able to use this social media\u00a0outlet as a free, convenient, and powerful professional development tool. When\u00a0used properly, twitter can serve as a platform for connecting with others in the field –\u00a0receiving timely news within the profession, accessing resources, sharing and discussing\u00a0ideas, following conferences, and asking for advice. It allows you to connect with others\u00a0on both a personal and professional level, and there really isn\u2019t another tool out there\u00a0quite like it.<\/p>\n

Reason #1 \u2013 Keep up with the profession<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>I believe the main reason many are captivated with Twitter is its ability to share relevant\u00a0news, trends, articles, and other resources instantly across large distances. It\u2019s a great\u00a0tool for sharing information to a wide audience, and also useful for receiving relevant\u00a0information. I can\u2019t count the number of events that I\u2019ve discovered through Twitter\u00a0that I would have never known about otherwise, or how much I\u2019ve learned from other\u00a0resources such as books recommendations and articles that have appeared in my\u00a0Twitter timeline. Not only are the shared resources useful, but there is also a lot of good\u00a0discussion happening on Twitter between library and information professionals. They\u00a0support each other, talk about changes occurring within the profession, best practices\u00a0and innovative projects, receive and exchange feedback, learn how to better advocate\u00a0for the profession, and how to do their jobs more effectively. Knowledge is power,\u00a0especially in a field such as librarianship that is rapidly changing. Twitter is a great way\u00a0to acquire and share the knowledge that is necessary to promote positive growth within\u00a0the profession.<\/p>\n

Reason #2 \u2013 Get questions answered<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another great reason to start using Twitter is that it\u2019s a great place to get questions\u00a0answered. Whether you are a recent graduate, in your first position, or seasoned\u00a0information professional, there will be times when you find yourself stuck and in need\u00a0of advice or guidance. Months ago, I found myself in such a position and turned to\u00a0Twitter for ideas.<\/p>\n

The problem involved a large amount of boxes in the archive where I work that were in\u00a0need of spacer boards to keep the records upright, prevent further bending and curving.\u00a0Ordering the large amount of spacer boards needed for this endeavor was not an option\u00a0at the time because it was too expensive, especially after we had just put in an order\u00a0of supplies for other projects. So, I asked if anyone on Twitter knew how to create\u00a0alternative homemade spacer boards instead of buying them from an archival supply\u00a0company \u2013 ones that could be just as effective. As it happens, a fellow archivist tweeted\u00a0back within a day that she used to roll up file folders and use them as spacer boards at\u00a0a former job. It was a great idea that I\u2019ve been able to use to stabilize the records in the\u00a0archive. It was a great temporary solution until my department had the funds to buy the\u00a0real spacer boards from the archival supply company.<\/p>\n

There is no limit to the questions you can thrust upon the Twitterverse and while\u00a0all may not be answered, some of them will be. I\u2019ve seen numerous inquires for\u00a0information asked through Twitter such as links to relevant resources on a specific topic,\u00a0upcoming training events, opinions about a current issue, advice for a difficult situation,\u00a0and much more. Questions don\u2019t have to be limited to the professional variety either. I\u00a0once received great advice on what dessert to serve with a meal I was cooking.<\/p>\n

Reason #3 \u2013 Follow conferences<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twitter also makes a great backchannel for discussion during (and even after)\u00a0conferences, webinars, and other events. It\u2019s a great place to comment on\u00a0presentations, a venue for further discussion, and a way to connect with fellow\u00a0attendees. There have been many times where I wouldn\u2019t have realized a friend was\u00a0attending the same conference as me if I hadn\u2019t seen them tweeting. Live tweeting\u00a0at conferences also allows those who could not make an event the chance to still\u00a0follow what\u2019s happening and learn. Even those who attend a conference can also use\u00a0the Twitter hashtag # stream to go back and follow those sessions they were unable to\u00a0attend. In all, it\u2019s a very useful tool that enhances the learning experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Editor’s note:\u00a0 And now INALJ is getting into the Tweet Chat universe with #inaljchat <\/strong><\/a>on Mondays at 9pm EST (the last Monday of the month will be at Noon EST and have an international focus).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Janvey, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Iowa Top 3 Reasons to Use Twitter Twitter has quickly become my favorite social media outlet, but it wasn\u2019t always this\u00a0way. When I first joined the microblogging service, my attention and interest quickly\u00a0faded because I was using the technology without a true purpose or focus. I signed\u00a0up for a Twitter…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":58866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[3830,69,3592,3829,6023,3552,40],"class_list":["post-63705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-alexandra-janvey","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-inalj-iowa","tag-keeping-up-with-the-profession","tag-social-media","tag-twitter"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/alexandra.janvey1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-gzv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}