facebook and twitter

I have used Facebook for a few years now, but am usually an observer of friends lives than actively posting about my life. I guess I like to only share some things online and am really pretty private. As part of this week's exercise I had a look at how libraries and museums are using Facebook which I was pretty interested in. Like blogs Facebook is a good way to give information to a target audience and hope that others will discover what you're doing. For example the State Library's posts of the Library of Lost Moments exhibition and the National Museum of Australia's page. So it looks like a good way of advertising what's on and showing some images to draw people into the physical site.

Twitter was something I hadn't used before as I couldn't really see the point of posting what I was doing all the time. I liked Adam Hills summary of it on the recent Very Specky Christmas when he said that Twitter was like everyone shouting about whatever they liked, all at the same time around the world ( I may have paraphrased this slightly wrong but the sentiment is correct). Like Facebook my initial reaction is who cares what I'm doing unless they actually know me, and even then I think there's some disinterest. And yes I know this is exactly what I'm doing writing this blog, even though its for training purposes.

However I'll keep using twitter to educate myself and I have found a monthly book group thanks to Saire and the Swan Libraries tweets, and who knows what else I'll find. For example here's how  the JFK museum and library and the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge are using Twitter to make the past come alive.

@JBK1960 Follow Jacqueline Kennedy's Campaign Wife newspaper column -- 50 years later. Constructed by the JFK Library from transcripts of the 7 syndicated articles.

@scottslastexp Follow Scott's last polar expedition