Do you tweet?

I recently joined Twitter, basically because the librarian side of me was curious about the new technology and wanted to know what all the buzz was about. TV comedians (especially the more "mature" ones) have been getting a lot of mileage out of jokes about being too old to "get" Twitter. As a fan of analogous learning,let me say that, if you have a Facebook account, it's a great deal like updating your status on that social networking site. If you're not on Facebook, it's a little like IMing. It's also been called microblogging, if that's any help.

Limited to 140 characters, tweets ( a Twitter message) must be short. Some people post tweets with URLs for new blog posts or interesting articles. You can send and receive Twitter messages on your mobile phone as well. Twitter more or less earned it's stripes during the terrorist attacks in Mumbai when it was used to provide instantaneous location information on the attackers and updates on victims. In my limited experience so far, I would say that Twitter should not be used 24/7 to update your every activity. I really don't care if you are feeding the dog or thinking about what to have for lunch.

Now for some great information from real experts:
Ron Jones writing for Search Engine Watch has an article on Twitter that's an excellent step by step tutorial.
http://searchenginewatch.com/3633223

From the Tech Crunch site, guest author Kevin Rose (founder of Digg) writes about how to increase your Twitter following. His article also explains things like "retweeting" and #hash tagging.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/25/kevin-rose-10-ways-to-increase-your-twitter-followers/

For additional information consult these sources:
John C. Dvorak's article, "Nine Ways to Use Twitter" in PC Magazine.
Mitch Wagner's article "How to Succeed at Twitter" in Information Week.
Gopal Shenoy's post "Twitter 101-8 tips to get started on Twitter" on his Product Management Tips blog.
And finally, from the Online College Degree blog, a virtual portal page of additional links about Twitter, "100 Tips, Apps, and Resources for Teachers on Twitter."If you're curious, too, hop over to Twitter and sign up. If you'd like to follow me, I'm at http://twitter.com/quiltedlibrary