Bibliocycle

Twitter (a free social messaging service “for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” has finally gained “academic respectability.”  According to a recent article in the British online journal the Telegraph,  “The social networking tool, which has 1.8 million users, will be listed in the 30th anniversary edition (of the Collins English Dictionary) to be published later this year.  The website, which allows users to send brief online updates to their friends and family, will appears as both a noun and a verb.”

Remarkably, after being a staunch Twitter-resister for more than a year, I recently took the plunge and created an account.  I did so because Elizabeth Thomsen, whom I highly respect, has encouraged me to do so, and Marci Silverman, with whom I rode my bike cross-country, twittered the whole trip.  In addition, at the recent National Educational Computing Conference, it would have been totally uncool to admit to being Twitter-less.  I began by “following” a few interesting people.  During NECC, I decided that it was time to “tweet.”

I sent one, very banal post.  Following the rules, I tagged it so that it would become part of the pool of NECC tweets by using the #NECC09 tag.  It was, I am confident, completely within the guidelines.

Imagine my shock and dismay when I attempted to log in to Twitter a couple of days later only to find this very harsh message.

I have again followed the instructions and appealed my suspension, but haven’t heard back from the Twitter police.  If you know me, you know that I am a dedicated rule-follower.  I was a girl scout and girl scout leader!  I am a librarian!  If you have a Twitter account, please tweet them on my behalf (@Twitter)  Please help free my account!