I signed up to Twitter in 2013 but I was a passive user until about a year later when I started to write a monthly blog for the Irish Film Institute (IFI) in Temple Bar. The blog promotes the document collections of the IFI's Tiernan MacBride Library, the film collections of the Irish Film Archive and events happening in the IFI. The IFI's marketing team publish the blog on the website and tweet about it on the @IFI_Dub which has a very impressive following of over 38,000 twitter users.
I loved the immediacy of reactions to the blog on Twitter and I decided to tweet about it on my own @mise_eilis account which I mainly use to find and share library-related information. Firstly, I got some great advice from a friend from the UCD MLIS course about the finer points of Twitter including Twitter etiquette, tone and content, use of hashtags and abbreviations and prime Twitter accounts to follow. She has done great things with the @HurdyGurdyRadio and @NPDIreland accounts and is a fountain of Twitter knowledge.
From there I started to tweet about the blogs and the reaction to them is heartening - it's nice to know there are people out there enjoying the blogs and sharing them with others. I decided to tweet actors, directors and writers involved in the various productions and I still get a thrill when they engage with my tweets about the blog.
From there I started to tweet about the blogs and the reaction to them is heartening - it's nice to know there are people out there enjoying the blogs and sharing them with others. I decided to tweet actors, directors and writers involved in the various productions and I still get a thrill when they engage with my tweets about the blog. Following today's session, I see how much more I could do with Twitter professionally. I added to the list of librarians I follow from Matt Anderson's '200 librarians to follow on Twitter' list and I subscribed to Irish lists by @martinoconnor3 @michellebreenUL and @libfocus as well as the @Rudai23 group.
I have used #hashtags to share presentations and ideas from library conferences and events and again I love the immediacy of this transfer of information to the vast network of tweeting librarians following events locally and internationally. I haven't as yet tried a twitter chat so I look forward to the upcoming #rudai23twitter chat mentioned in this week's Rudaí 23 #thing5 post.
Great to hear you've had such a positive reaction on Twitter, Eilis.
ReplyDeleteYes Caroline, the interaction on Twitter is great, the blog is a great motivation to actively post on Twitter rather than remaining a passive user - it's nice to have something concrete to Tweet about each month.
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