Comments on: Why should we care about Twitter?

By: davidrothman.net » Blog Archive » Still baffled about Twitter

davidrothman.net » Blog Archive » Still baffled about Twitter — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 04:36:32 +0000

[...] A couple of days ago, I asked why libraryfolk should care about Twitter. Iris asked a very similar question. [...]

By: Hope Leman

Hope Leman — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 04:14:26 +0000

David and all. Okay, I have now read some very thoughtful commentary on Twitter and agree that it is something we need to know about. David Lee King’s Twitter Explained for Librarians or 10 ways to use Twitter is an excellent analysis, for instance. But I don’t need yet another way to monitor the self-promoting ephemera of the Michael, Meredith, Steven and Steven, Jenny crowd. Like we care. And Joshua, yes, much of what is on the Internet is trivial. That is why we need to apply our powers of discrimination and employ time wisely. There is a good essay in the latest issue of The Atlantic about the vapidity of much of Web 2.0. As librarians, we do want to be able to assist patrons to use the latest technologies and we can’t afford to come across as fuddy-duddies. But often I get much more out of the non-librarian blogs such as those of the computer magazines than I do by the librarian blogs. The business periodicals often feature more substantive analyses of the new tools than do the Library 2.0 blogs, the writers of which seem childishly concerned with appearing cool and being referred to by one another. Twitter can be a useful tool. But instant messaging can eat up time better spent reading the latest issue of PC Magazine.

Thank you, David, for providing a forum for such discussions as these.

By: joshua m. neff

joshua m. neff — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 22:44:16 +0000

As someone who is avoiding Twitter (for reasons I’ve mentioned elsewhere)…

“…an inane plaything for narcissistic airheads who blithely assume that their banal doings are of intense interest to everyone in the world.”

Doesn’t that also describe blogs? MySpace? Facebook? And, well, most of the internet?

“Let us act like adults, group.”

Not until I’m dead in the ground. Maybe not even then.

By: Christina Pikas

Christina Pikas — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:47:42 +0000

I don’t plan to use Twitter, but it did get me thinking, again, about the limitations of my organization’s enterprise IM — there are only about 5 pre-set status settings but there is a “note” field. So I’m going to try it in a twitter-like fashion to explain that I’m online but on the desk so will wander away or whatever people have been doing with their status in AIM for years

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:46:58 +0000

GMTA, Iris.

By: Iris

Iris — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:29:49 +0000

Oh, Jinx again. We have to stop doing this.

By: Iris

Iris — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:28:31 +0000

So, I wouldn’t go so far as to say anyone who Twitters is narcissistic or an airhead. In fact, I can see how people might find this fun. And if my family were ever online or interested in such things, I could see keeping them updated with pithy little comments on what I was doing. But they aren’t. So I won’t. Yet.

Although it looks like I could keep up with what Steve’s doing… so that might be fun. I like spying on people.

Oh, and David, all I can say is: JINX!

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:24:30 +0000

Hope-

I tried Twitter and didn’t see the value in it, but a whole bunch of people who I don’t think are narcissistic airheads are writing about it- that’s why I’m puzzled and was hoping others might help me understand why it seems so popular among bibliobloggers.

By: Hope Leman

Hope Leman — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 18:52:34 +0000

I am with you, David. Twitter is an inane plaything for narcissistic airheads who blithely assume that their banal doings are of intense interest to everyone in the world. What we need are serious blogs that endow us with tools and techniques that enable us to serve our patrons well. I could not care less about who has seen whom at such and such a conference or what so and so had for breakfast. Bother all such mind-numbing, self-absorbed twaddle. Let us act like adults, group. Not everything Web 2.0 is for us. We may need to know about Twitter as patrons may ask us about it. But we let us not go gaga over everything that is Web 2.0.

By: joshua m. neff

joshua m. neff — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 13:32:42 +0000

Right now, I’m not sure what practical library applications Twitter has. But maybe if enough of us library types try it out and experiment with it, we’ll think of some. Isn’t that how many new tech toys get applied?