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Effective Use of the Social Web in Organisations: Beyond Blogs: the Role of Twitter

Brian Kelly & Ann Chapman

UKOLN

University of Bath

Bath, UK

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/events/ili-2010-workshop/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/events/ili-2010-workshop/

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

Resources bookmarked using ‘ili2010-workshop' tag Resources bookmarked using ‘ili2010-workshop' tag

About This TalkThis talk will introduce Twitter, describe how it can be used and illustrate examples of effective use.

About This TalkThis talk will introduce Twitter, describe how it can be used and illustrate examples of effective use.

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ContentsIntroduction

Case Studies: Use of Blogs

Beyond Blogs – the Role of Twitter

Reasons For a Library Blog or Twitter Account

Beyond Blogs: Social Networks

What are the Barriers?

Addressing the Barriers

Making a Business Case

Conclusions

Intr

od

uct

ion

Twitter

Twitter:• Exciting new communications tool• Provides engagement with peers and/or

simple but effective dissemination channel• Challenging effectiveness of blogs

or:• Time-wasting application• Full of trivia• Rightly blocked by organisation’s firewall

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What’s your view?What’s your view?

What is Twitter?

Twitter has many aspects:• A status update cf Facebook status:

“Brian is giving a talk at ILI 2010”• A micro-blogging tool• A communications tool• An alerting tool• A marketing tool• A feedback mechanism• A tool for community building • “A bar where everyone knows your name”

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Virtual Twitter

For those who aren´t Twitter usersTwitter Memo

Community(#) #ili2010

Comments (#) e.g. #what

To (@)

About (@)

Message (140 characters)

Suggested for this session

Virtual Twitter

For those who aren´t Twitter usersTwitter Memo

Community(#) #ili2010

Comments (#)To (@)

About (@)

Message (140 characters) In London for the #ili2010 workshop on Social Web. Wonder if there any other Estonian Law librarians here? 32

A way of developing your professional network (especially useful at events)

Virtual Twitter

For those who aren´t Twitter usersTwitter Memo

Community(#) #ili2010

Comments (#) #what

To (@) briankelly

About (@)

Message (140 characters) @briankelly I didn’t understand what you meant about hashtags in #ili2010 session. #what

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Queries can be answered by your community – who may understand the context

Virtual Twitter

For those who aren´t Twitter usersTwitter Memo

Community(#) #ili2010

Comments (#)

To (@)

About (@) @briankelly

Message (140 characters) I wonder how many Twitter followers @briankelly has? #ili2010

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Now 1,243 & 3,504

Twitter - Dissemination

1010

Twitter and EventsValuable opportunity for using Twitter is at events

Attending events (e.g. #ILI2010)• Opportunity to join in discussions and extend

your professional network

Participating remotely (e.g. #Libdebate / #CILIP2)• Opportunity to join in discussions and extend

your professional network • View streaming video/audio of speakers• View speakers slides hosted on Slideshare• Support institutional greening strategy

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Note: Ability for on-the-fly participation at remote events helped by use of Twitter. Also help professional development at a time of cuts

Summarizr Developments•Summarizr:

• 3rd party development

• Developed by Andy Powell, Eduserv, Bath

• Makes use of Twapper Keeper APIs

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Longer session but also controversial

Summarizr Developments•Summarizr:

• Processes geo-location Twitter data provided in Twapper Keeper RSS feed

• May provide trend analysis

• May provide evidence of remote participation

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Note use of geo-location in Twitter low due to (a) privacy concerns; (b) UI complexity; (c) patchy support; …

Twitter Captioning•Twitter captioning service:

• Developed by Martin Hawksey, RSC Scotland

• Synchronises video and Twitter stream (via TK)

• Search of Twitter stream•Benefits:

• Speakers (“why did they tweet that during my talk?”)

• Accessibility• Non-native English

speakers?

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Twitter ConversationsEncouraging Learning Through Discussions

• “Learning begins with a conversation”

• Lecture theatres inhibit conversation

• Amplification brings back the conversation

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Engaging With The Twitter Wall

Using a Twitter Wall rather than PowerPoint provides a means of encouraging discussions e.g. “Good cop, bad cop” routine used in IWMW 10 conclusions to encourage debate about talks

Conclusions

Twitter is:• Here to stay (for some time)• Growing rapidly for use at ‘amplified

events’

Twitter can be valuable for: • Developing and cultivating professional

networks• Viral marketing purposes

Can you afford to ignore Twitter?

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Questions