Twitter and Facebook – the new communication tools
There is an interesting article in the most recent edition of Public Libraries Magazine (January/February 2009, find it on Library Literature and Information Science Full Text, from WilsonWeb or Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) from EBSCOhost), titled “What are you doing now? And do your patrons care?”, by Michael Porter and David Lee King. This is a great introductory article for anyone that wonders what Twitter is, or who doesn’t know what they might possibly have to say that would be of interest via Facebook status updates.
The authors make the point that these micro-blogging tools can be important for libraries looking to stay in contact with their users, although some people may dismiss these sorts of communication tools as frivolous and a waste of time. Libraries could post things like updates about their collection, promote events and activities, and just generally use it as a way to stay active in their community.
One of the authors talked about how he enjoys using a particular software program and has mentioned this on Twitter. Employees of that company have begun following him, and he was able to directly voice his suggestions to people who he knew could make the changes and improvements he was requesting. This is certainly something that Credo, and I’m sure many other companies that provide products to libraries, are looking to do. Has anyone had any luck tweeting about a company or product, and getting a response from the people at that company? We’d love to hear any comments about your experiences!
If you haven’t already signed up to follow us on Twitter, please do! You can also follow Anne Kail, our Sales Director in the UK. And if you have questions or comment about Credo Reference, please tweet about it.
