(screen-captured from Weather.com)
Or, at least, I was sure. Until I realized that I don't actually really read my Twitter feed these days, because that takes time. And time is in short supply lately. In some ways, Twitter is a good thing for people with no time--140 characters can't take more than a few seconds to read, no matter what they say. Unfortunately, when you're following 270-odd people, many of whom seem to spend all of their time reading fun things and re-posting them to Twitter... you get a full book's worth of reading every day.
So now I'm trying to consume enough librarian tweeting to have something to talk about in this blog post, but a lot of it is the same stuff we've been talking about in class and other blog posts. And the things my classmates are posting are seriously interesting, but mostly I have to save them to read later. Maybe I should've written about Twitter for my SI 500 case study. Hopefully I'll spend tomorrow's procrastination time reading all these articles and find something more interesting to say here...
As far as people I've started following (besides classmates), I've found myself drawn to people who have some sort of gimmick (for lack of a better word) to their librarianship--they're into gaming, or knitting, or bondage, or whatever. Or they're fake accounts dedicated to mocking the enemies of libraries. These people seem to have more attitude than the people who tweet seriously--and I've always used Twitter as much for my amusement as for actual information (especially lately), so I'd rather read their snark than add yet more fascinating-but-time-consuming articles to my list. It's not that Twitter can't be a serious medium, it's just that it doesn't currently benefit me to use it that way. Maybe that'll change once my inner self stops sobbing and shaking and pulling at her hair from finals-time-stress, but that remains to be seen.
Bonus fact: The best way to get me to follow you is to put "PRAGMATISM IS MY SUPERPOWER" in your description.
Never having really tried out Twitter until this week, I was so focused on the (essentially) serious nature of using it in a semi-professional, si643-assignment-worthy manner. Your post just reminds me that it could also provide hours and hours of entertainment. I liked your mention of the time factor, because even in the very limited manner of my Twitter engagement this week, I can see how this could be yet another really overwhelming timesink (not meant completely negatively, but just something to be aware of).
ReplyDeleteI agree. Twitter is really problematic because unlike other resources like LibGuides or catalogs, it needs constant activity at a steady pace. It seems like a small thing at first, but that is actually really hard to fit into librarian's already busy and project-centered schedules which focus on deadlines and deliverable-pushes.
ReplyDeleteI really like your comment about the all-consuming nature of twitter. I definitely don't follow 270 people, but even in smaller numbers, I still find myself skimming over the tweets. It's a really strange feeling, especially since the comments are so small. But with all the re-tweeting that occurs, it definitely becomes really involved.
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