To Twitter or Blog or Both

Twitter is a networking site that limits posts to no more than 140 characters. What I love about Twitter is that with just a few tweaks, such as adding a photo to my profile and some links, I was able to start posting right away.  

I'm noticing that some libraries (Hubble - New Orleans, Philadelphia Free Library), library staff (Emily Lloyd, creator of Self Check), and organizations (ALA/RUSA) are beginning to use Twitter for quick announcements instead of posting everything to their blogs.  It's just a nifty tool for spontaneous, short comments, links, or news that I want to share without spending more than a minute or two typing.  

It's also a great tool to keep in touch with family and friends by embedding Twitter on your other social networking sites.  See one of my older posts to follow a link on how to do this.

Even authors, entertainers, and politicians are beginning to rely on Twitter to help keep their fans/supporters up-to-date with their activities.  John McCain's campaign committee has a very good Blog, but I haven't found an official McCain Twitter link yet.  Barack Obama's campaign is using Twitter for quick up-dates to their candidate's blog.  The site has over 65,000 followers and is following 68,000 other Twitters.