Why not Twitter? The use of microblogging by academic libraries in Poland

Abstract

The Internet, mobile technologies and social media are the revolutionary tools of new communication used in the modern society. Twitter, which appeared in 2006, is used as a tool for information filtering and knowledge acquisition by microblogging enthusiasts worldwide. The functionality of this social service was also noticed by educational institutions, including libraries which use it as a medium popularizing science and a promotion tool. The author of the article analyzed the extent of use of Twitter by Polish public academic libraries, including medical schools’ libraries. Based on the experience of foreign libraries, described widely in the source literature, she made an attempt to evaluate the degree of microblogging’s adaptation by Polish librarians and answer the question of whether innovation always means gain for a library.