Review of Twitter

Review of Twitter as a social media tool for libraries

TWITTER
What do I want to use this social media platform for?	Posting updates and service announcements about the library and events. Live tweeting events (including photos). Retweeting interesting and relevant things from other organisations. Following other library related organisations and professionals to keep abreast of developments in the industry.
What features are available (i.e. photos, videos, animations, hashtags, etc.)?	Can post text, images, videos, and GIF animations. Users and locations can be tagged in photos, and replies and mentions can be done in tweets by using the @ symbol. Hashtags (#) are frequently used in tweets to categorise them and make them searchable. You can create polls on Twitter, which can last any length between 5 minutes and 7 days. You can use 116 characters in the question, and 25 characters in each option, with up to four options. The responses are anonymous. Can Direct Message (private message) other Twitter users.
Any there any tools to help me use this social media platform?	Twitter has a thorough help section that is simple and straight forward. It also has an analytics section that, when turned on, can collect data to help you measure engagement, follower activity, etc.
Can it be accessed on mobile devices? Is there an app for it?	Yes, Twitter can be used in web browsers or with the dedicated Twitter app on mobile devices. There are also many third-party apps which can be used to access and post to Twitter, which can have special features like the ability to schedule tweets.
Is the site fairly easy to use?	Yes, but it can be a challenge to stay within the 140 character limit. It can also be difficult to follow the replies in a conversation on a tweet.
Is the privacy and/or security of the site adequate?	Site security is good and there are options to recover a locked account. “All or nothing” approach to privacy – tweets are either protected or public. If protected, only approved followers may see tweets.
Are there any particular limitations associated with this social media platform?	There is a limit of 140 characters for each tweet. Images and hyperlinks take up 23 characters each, regardless of actual size or length. Only one animated GIF per tweet, and cannot be posted in same tweet as images. Four images maximum per tweet. Videos cannot be longer than 2 minutes 20 seconds, and there are some other technical restrictions.
Can I use my own branding (customization)?	Yes, you can upload a custom profile icon, and a custom cover photo for your page.
Are other libraries using this social media platform?	Yes, there are many libraries actively using Twitter.
Is there a particular demographic that uses this social media platform?	Much smaller portion of the Australian population use Twitter than other social networks – just 2.8 million compared to 15 million on Facebook. It is more popular in urban areas and among more affluent and more highly educated users. More males than females use it, and there is a higher percentage of younger users than older (14-24 38%, 25-24 34%)
Would this stand as our only social media tool?	No – the character/content limits for each Tweet are very restrictive, and the community reach is narrower than Facebook.
Recommendation	Twitter is great for commenting on events as they happen, especially when paired with hashtags unique to the event – such as live tweeting National Simultaneous Storytime. Clever, moderated use of hashtags can help drive more traffic towards the library online, especially if a hashtag gets used enough to be featured as “trending”. The shortness of each tweet makes it easy to post quickly, and it is more acceptable to do multiple posts a day on Twitter than it is on Facebook.