Resource Review #8

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=107&sid=3102d7a6-8d1a-45da-8a26-a52f4a7ff88d%40sessionmgr110&bdata=JmxvZ2lucGFnZT1Mb2dpbi5hc3Amc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#db=lxh&AN=44668680

This resource is the Library Journal article"Power Tweeting: Next Steps" by Melissa Rethlefsen. The article describes a number of applications that can enhance one's Twitter use, including photo and screencast sharing, Twitter-linked chat, Twitter-to-Facebook integration, and tweet scheduling and tracking services.

This article is a collections of tips and tools for Twitter use, like many of the other resources I've found. But this article focuses on not on the basics but on more advanced ways to use the site. It's quite a recent article, from the issue published on October 15 of this year. I like Rethlefsen's mention of the fact that Library Journal first covered Twitter in July 2007, the site was still little known and very few libraries were using it. This article really brings home for me how rapidly Twitter has achieved it current popularity. Rethlefsen notes, "from its early beginnings as a microblogging application, Twitter morphed into a communications platform, a customer service portal, an answer engine, and a marketing haven."

Many of the tools mentioned here are fairly simple, and I think tweet scheduling in particular could be very helpful for staff managing a library's feed. But still, I would not particularly recommend this article as a resource for Twitter beginners. Certainly, there are still many librarians who haven't yet taken the first steps in the world of Twitter and other Web 2.0 tools, and who clearly aren't ready for the "next steps." Like Jeff Scott's blog post (discussed below), I could see this article also being quite intimidating for librarians who are not yet extremely comfortable with Web 2.0 phenomena. The focus on "Power Tweeting" certainly creates the rather depressing impression that plain "old" regular tweeting is no longer adequate.