Blogs and microblogs (Twitter)

Helen Fallon, Deputy Librarian, Maynooth University, helen.b.fallon@nuim.ie

Why and How I BlogTo encourage/promote academic writing among library staff

Calls for papers etc.

Links to my articles/PowerPoint presentations on academic writing

Tips from published authors and journal editorsFilm clips/photographs/websitesGuest postsMeasuring Impact - Statistics

How others are using blogs• Turning public presentations into blog posts• Contributing to debates• Sharing information, knowledge and expertise with a

very wide audience• Finding out about what is going on in a particular

discipline• Reflecting on practice• Embedding blogs in undergraduate assessment• LSE Impact Blog

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/

How much time does it take to blog?• Key factors – focus and credibility

– How much time can you spend on this?

– Who will be allowed post to blog?

• Setting up a blog

– http://bit.ly/1rhGKcG• Comments – mediated/unmediated

• Short (500 word max.) focused posts written in a relaxed style

• Blog statistics

Twitter• Microblog• Can send and receive short public

messages (140 characters max.) known as Tweets

• Can include links (blogs, web pages, images and other online material)

• Can use computer, smart phone or tablet

Getting Started• Go to www.twitter.com/signup• Name, e-mail address, password and username• Select a username that is easily identifiable• Click on “Create my account” • Once you have set up your account give some

details of your research interests, include a photo

• Use keywords to find people to follow

Getting Started• On your profile page read “similar to you”

• Start following people whose conversations interest you – your “twitter feed”

• You can “unfollow” at any stage

• Short tweets – use bitly.com or tinyurl.com

to shorten web addresses

• Schedule your tweets throughout the day

How I use Twitter• @helenfallon• I follow links and retweet posts of interest• I use the “search twitter” box to search by

subject• I create my own tweets– Events– Publications (my own and others)– Powerpoint Slides (slideshare.net)

How I use Twitter• I set up a hashtag for the event #LAICPD14• I tweet at events• I’ve linked twitter to my overall social media

strategy – I tweet each blog post I create• I keep up to date with areas in my field• I join conversations• I use it to get information out to a wide

audience• I don’t go back more than a few hours