How to use Twitter
As part of our partnership work Europe Direct Leeds and Leeds Libraries have attended “Extreme Makeover: Transforming the face of your Library Service” (JISC RSC Yorkshire and Humber) in October 2009. Please find our worksheets for this session below. Things might have changed slightly since then, so please forgive any non-updates.
Using twitter for language learning (Powerpoint) -> and as Prezi
Phil Bradley’s twitter Cheat Sheet Follow him on http://twitter.com/philbradley
We also recommend following Liz Cable, Social Media Trainer & strategist: http://twitter.com/lizcable
And these two sites:
Follow Leeds Libraries here: http://twitter.com/leedslibraries
Follow Europe Direct Leeds here: http://twitter.com/europedirect
If you need any help or have further questions email us at europedirect@leeds.gov.uk or tweet us, @europedirect, of course!
We are also on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/europedirectleeds
Background
Europe Direct Leeds was the first Europe Direct relay mentioned on the EC External Relations list of EU institutions on twitter: http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/twitter/index_en.htm Another fact in relation with twitter we are proud of is that we were one of the first to tweet about the Czech President signing the Lisbon treaty.
We have been tweeting since April 2009 and are actively involved in the Web 2.0 project group of our host institution, Leeds Library and Information Service. This means that we get to work with knowledgeable and enthusiastic colleagues from the city council as well as libraries and museums, being able to share our experiences, difficulties, ideas and solutions. After attending the 2009 AGM in Rotterdam, we have shared our experiences with colleagues from the Netherlands, who were starting to explore the benefits of twitter and Facebook for their own organisations. Since then, we have worked on the pan-European Web 2.0 project group and recommend the guide that was produced by the group (you can find that on the ED intranet if you work for an EDIC).
We have made some very useful and interesting connections on twitter, and feel very involved in and informed about the activities going on in the European institutions and other partner institutions, in a way that we probably could not have achieved via traditional channels.
Twitter is a very useful tool, easy to use and helps promote your services, share information with colleagues and customers, as well as keep you informed about the latest news and developments. As you can choose who to follow and whose updates to ignore you can tailor the service to your individual needs and interests and build useful and meaningful relationships.
Twitter doesn’t take long to update (there’s only space for 140 characters per tweet), so Europe Direct Leeds would like to encourage everyone to get themselves on twitter and start connecting!