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Social Networking
twitter.com/WiscWaterLib

For many people, the phrase “social networking” conjures up images of teenagers late at night, composing messages about their favorite rock bands. However, social networking Web sites are now a legitimate way for many organizations and businesses to reach their audiences, both near and far.

Wisconsin’s Water Library is testing out two of these new technologies, Twitter and Facebook, to provide up-to-date, water-related news, publications, events and resources. Twitter allows the library to send out short messages (called tweets) via its Twitter site. Tweets are limited to 140 characters. To see what we’re saying, go to twitter.com/WiscWaterLib. Sign up with Twitter to receive tweets automatically.

While Twitter has “followers,” Facebook has “fans.” Facebook provides an excellent place to create a community of people interested in a topic—such as the Great Lakes—and post resources, links and ideas for the group. Once you have created a Facebook account, you can type “Wisconsin’s Water Library” in the search box and then “fan” it.

Recent postings on both sites covered news about the new book People of the Sturgeon, reported on a new research report on mercury and highlighted new library resources.

The Water Library invites you to follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. And library staff always welcome comments and suggestions at the Ask Water page.