I recently began @PierceCoLibrary on Twitter and in the first week made a wry comment about Groundhog’s Day, mentioned a handful of library events, and suggested several titles — one timed to a movie opening — with links to the catalog.

Tweets must be short, so reading them need not be burdensome. If longer thoughts are warranted, a link is always possible, but I’d hate to have a library’s Twitter feed devolve into endless press releases (things relevant to you); it should have a nice mix of things relevant to the patrons.

Blend informality, humor, and usefulness. Show signs that you live in the same neighborhood and culture. Inform, entertain, and be relevant. You want your patrons to want to follow you after all!

…and now I’m thinking about strange things like Twitter reference. Stop us before we suggest that as the next big service.

I think a lot of people would love the idea of an animated avatar. I’m not so sold on static comic images, but there might be a sizeable amount of people who would go for that, too. Maybe it’s because I think people would go more for the interactive or pseudointeractive possibilities the avatar.