I had never even fathomed that creating a Twitter account would be part of my uni course content, however, despite my initial concerns I have really enjoyed this experience.
Though I am still struggling to understand the Twitter jargon such as hash tags, I found that setting up my account was a very easy task and was able to tweet straight away. I have enjoyed following some brilliant Twitter accounts by archivists, librarians and different museums and libraries around the world such as, The National Archives of Australia, Smithsonian Archives, Library of Congress and, my personal favourite, Evil Archivist. Each of these accounts and the many more that I am following have enabled me to gain a valuable insight into the archivist's 'world' and obtain current news and information about this profession and events associated with it. Twitter has also made me feel like part of the international community of archivists (a whole new world that I never even imagined existed!) and will enable me to network with others in my field as I gain more confidence using social media.
As for myself, finding something worth Tweeting about has been fairly difficult. Tweeting about everyday tasks seems to be fairly mundane unless you are a celebrity. I have taken to re-Tweeting a fair few Tweets that I have found either hilarious or close to my heart. On that note, one great aspect of Twitter is the ability to access up-to-date news, especially foreign news. I myself am closely following the crisis in Ukraine at the moment and its implications for the surrounding countries such as Belarus as I am of Ukrainian-Belarusian descent and have family in these countries. Twitter has enabled me to uncover far more information than simply reading a newspaper or watching the news as the Tweets I have subscribed to actually come from the countries themselves.
Follow me @christinatheowl.
Keep on Tweeting! :)
Hi Christina, I too found using Twitter surprisingly fun! I relate to what you say about it being a really good tool for news and information. My partner and I found it really helpful after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis when we were living in Japan, as the official information was limited and not always translated quickly to English. I hope your family in Belarus and the Ukraine are all safe.
ReplyDeleteI am particularly found of the microblogging aspect of Twitter. I have a seriously short attention span so 140 characters is perfect for me. It's a great professional tool both in terms of networking and keeping up to date with all the latest information in the GLAM/information management industry. I also love using it to keep up with current affairs, which is always helpful when I'm stuck for something to talk about ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Christina, good job for create Twitter account. Interestingly, we found using Twitter and learning their vocabulary were easy and fun. I agree with you I had not imagine we will come up to Twitter in our course, it is interesting to learn this through our study.
ReplyDeleteHey Christina and Nouf, I was also surprised that the course would include using Twitter, but I suppose it really is out there as a social media 'medium' - so that's okay. Christina, I forgot to follow the smithsonians, excellent idea, and now I'm following you too. I've also shared quite a few other library and GLAM focussed global twitter ideas to follow in my post on this subject, so please share. Also, I find that retweeting also links me up with an even broader network of library contacts, so that's good. See you soon, Susanne
ReplyDelete