4,500 Librarians on 9 Twitter Lists. Value of connections for keeping current

by Joe Murphy Librarian on February 7th, 2013

Here are 4,500 Twitter-using librarians from around the world organized on 9 Twitter lists. Oh, and about 900 libraries on Twitter as well.

I completed my most recent Twitter List and thought it was a good time to share as well as connect on this no longer new issue of Twitter for current awareness. Twitter, with 200 million users at 7 years old, has settled into its role as a foundational social platform. It serves as 2^nd screen to engagement extending connections into our hands, as 2^nd window on our screens, and often as first screen for current awareness and connections.

Change is the name of the game for libraries and current awareness is more important than ever. The most valuable resource we have for staying current and learning is each other, our bonds, our networks. Twitter has proved over the years to be a good tool for extending that connection across distance and situations.

Twitter allows you to add up to 500 members on as many as 20 lists. I leverage Twitter Lists to help me filter and isolate the rush of posts from the ~9,000 accounts I follow (I don’t have much hope for reading the rush of posts in my main Twitter stream). As a long time Twitter user, I am connected and a connector. Through lists I am connected to and promote you and add value as a filter

The Librarian Lists:

Here are the Twitter lists of Librarians (with 500 each) that I’ve created so far, most recent first. Use these Lists to connect by subscribing to the lists or to find and follow fellow librarians.

Have I listed you? Let me know with an @ reply if not. You can check which lists you have been added to by going to your Twitter profile > Lists > Member Of .

Here are my lists of libraries on Twitter:

Send me an @ reply if I don’t list your Library, I wouldn’t want to miss yours.

Other/Newer Means of Current Awareness:

What other ways or newer tools do you use to keep current? How do you maximize Flipboard if that’s your tool of choice for instance? Twitter beyond lists: do you use mobile notifications for filtering real time info?