Optional Exploration: Twitter, Badges and Widgets - Oh My!

Will Require: Browsing websites, optional creation of account and adding account to Blog
Time: @ 45 minutes

Twitter (http://twitter.com//) is a micro-blogging site that combines the ease of instant messaging with social networking. Users have up to 140 characters to express themselves. The message is then posted to your Twitter page, sent to a Twitter RSS, and also sent to mobile devices registered to receive updates from your Twitter.

From Web Junction’s Twitter: A Beginner’s Guide:

Rather than a replacement for blogs as a publishing medium, Twitter offers an addition to the options available to you. While blog posts tend to be longer in form, Twitter posts are ideal for making single points or sharing a single piece of information, like a link, instantaneously. Think of the difference between an email and a SMS [form of text messaging on mobile phones] message, and you are in the right ballpark.

LibraryJournal mentioned Twitter in an article in July 2007:

Though it seems simple, Twitter's possibilities are limitless. Twitter is a micro-blogging tool, an alerting system, a type of IM, a social network, a status updating tool like IM away messages, a conversation, and more. For librarians, it appears destined to be an essential conference tool as well as a personal productivity tool that can be used for creating to-do lists, tracking bug fixes, brainstorming with colleagues, and generally keeping in touch with friends.

The Missouri River Regional Library was one of the first libraries to experiment with Twitter. You can read about their venture here. MRRL uses their Twitter account to send out notices for when they update their system blog.

Several other libraries have followed suit and created Twitter accounts. Take a look:
Cleveland Public Library on Twitter
YALSA on Twitter
Ada Community Library on Twitter

One of the nice things about Twitter is the Twitter Badge, which allows your most current Twitter update to be displayed on another website. Tools like this, commonly referred to as widgets (short for “Window Gadget”), are popular features in Web 2.0 sites. Like RSS feeds and Feed Readers, widgets allow users to share information from another site on their web page. And, again, there is no fancy coding involved, the HTML is usually provided by the site so all a user must do is copy and paste. [EDIT: As of 7/15/08, Twitter has removed this feature while some updates are being made. Not sure when it will be back up. Ask fellow Explorers about other options for displaying Twitter]

When we looked at LibraryThing in one of our earlier explorations, we saw a few widgets in action. LibraryThing lets you display a booklist on your blog or webpage.

Flickr has a photo-sharing badge that you can build from your photos, contact’s photos, or group’s photos.

Optional Activity:
Create a widget or badge from LibraryThing, Flickr, Twitter (or another site) and insert it into your blog.

Log into your blog and post your thoughts on Twitter and widgets. Here are some things to think about:
What makes sites like Twitter so appealing?
What kind of patron would a site like Twitter appeal to?
What are some library (professional or with patron) applications for Twitter? How about the widgets available from other sites?

Don't forget to check up on your fellow explorers!