Confessions of a Twitter addict ...
I was very pleased to see that one of the online networks we are encouraged to use for Rudai 23 Thing 5 was Twitter...
I have not taken to Facebook as this has been actively discouraged by my SLT. I assure you this is not because they think I have anything to hide, but more as a preemptive strike against potential lax privacy settings of younger members of the school's workforce, whose lives maybe of far more interest than of this particular School Librarian!
But I ...
Am a true convert to Twitter... and have been for quite a few years...
Happily I will reflect on what has gone well that day, what I'm reading, what pupils are reading, what new worlds from favourite authors await us via the publishers and their marketeers.
I try to to use the power of Twitter for 'good' purposes and not swim down to its depths, being sucked into the myriad worlds that await us , sucking our time and reserves...
However I ...
have met some amazing new people, had 'direct' contact with favourite authors and fellow librarians, won quite a few goodies, made such useful connections with professional networks ... Mmm that was Freudian that I mentioned winning goodies...
Perhaps...
But after all, isn't it true that we all need to be motivated? We do this all the time at work, offering shiny new books for our avid readers, creating competitions to capture the imagination of our time poor students and staff.
In addition, the restrictive 140 characters of a tweet has boosted my productivity and reined in my natural loquacious tendencies & #what's not to love about the hashtag?
However I also use Twitter as my first 'go to' whenever I want insider news...
This is where as a librarian I'm aware that Twitter is not always reliable and must always consider the focus of any narrative account ... Subjective or Objective? Whose News makes the news? For instance during Hurricane Sandy I followed Reuters news agency and local area news Twitter feeds & hashtags searches delivered content more effectively than the BBC. My motivation was enhanced as I had family there that were affected in that particular disaster, not as a voyeur.
So I confess I am a Twitterholic and must restrict my time online.
It is a useful tool but also a double edged sword. When one's tweets are read and retweeted it is gratifying and I could easily expend valuable time with no tangible result. Perhaps the best things about online networks is we know we are not alone in the fight to keep our students reading and to keep Libraries at the heart of our communities.
... If you are also a #Twitterholic please share your top tips on time management - which is my Achilles heel.... Thanks for reading the ramblings from my particular reading lens....
