Twitter Diet: Counting Characters not Calories

                I began this journey because I wanted to learn more about social media. I have dabbled a little – to no avail. I basically have a non-descript Facebook page, a dormant Twitter Account and a Pinterest login. I know enough to sound knowledgeable in cocktail-party speak, but I’m not comfortable enough to compete with the natives. I want to compete.

                Twitter is the most foreign to me. I love to talk and am way too wordy.  After spending years in school being told to write 5,000 or 10,000 or most recently 20,000 words on a topic – I need to go on a word diet. I have basically spent graduate school learning how to stretch things out and cover every possible angle. Now, I need to learn just the opposite.  

                I used to tutor 5^th-8^th grade Language Arts students. At least once a week, for bell work, I would give them a prompt  and ask them to create a 5-word story, Hemingway style. They loved and hated this exercise. However, I bet if they have a Twitter account today – they really appreciate this skill.

                So, today, I am going on the Twitter Diet. I am going to contribute at least one Tweet a day and wordsmith it down to 140 characters. As a lifetime Weight Watcher’s member, I am great at counting points (calories).  Now, I am going to be great at counting characters.

Who am I?

            Before “Thing 3”, I hadn’t really thought much about myself as a brand. I have taught social media lessons to students before, but never really elevated these lessons to the level of brand awareness. However, it makes perfect sense.

Just today, I watched a great TED video comparing information to food. In the information world, consumers of information must compartmentalize the information they receive: meat, potatoes, dessert, and junk. Branding will help us end up in the right compartment.  

When I “googled” my name, I was astonished at what I didn’t find. The “real” me was actually the second listing on the page.  I was pleasantly surprised about this. The other “Debi Cheek” works for ESPN and was the first listing. The correct listings included things like my Facebook page; Linkedin page; and pages from the college where I work.  There were several references to some other Debi/Deborah Cheek’s; many of whom have not led such a virtuous life. However, it took me several pages to find most of my significant professional accomplishments.  

Since most people don’t go past page one on Google, I have some work to do to improve my brand.  So, look out Kraft and Coca-Cola, soon Debi Cheek will be a brand to be reckoned with.

Thing 2 – Not as good as Thing 1

I am really committed to this project; however, I have already gotten off track. Last week, there were two assignments: Thing 1 and Thing 2.  I ambitiously completed Thing 1 and was extremely proud of myself. Unfortunately, like a lot of other things on my calendar, I did not attend to Thing 2.

This made me think about my students. Like me, they often start out extremely ambitious, and then life happens. I could make up a lot of excuses as to why I didn’t get to Thing 2 – busy schedule, TV appearance,  lunch and dinner with friends, went out of town, all of which are true;  but it doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t complete my assignment.

I am recommitting to this project.  This is something I have wanted to do and I am not going to allow myself to quit; for fear of failure, or just give up. I did go and visit a few blogs and found them very inspiring. I appreciated the comradery. I am a solo librarian. Reading and corresponding with others in their blogs allowed me to commiserate and celebrate librarianship.

Here’s to a better Thing 3!

                                         

A Small Step for Debi

Writing a blog had been on my list of to-do things for a very long time. However, it kept getting pushed off the page. About a week ago, I saw a posting from Linkedin regarding 23 Things for Professional Development (cpd23) and was intrigued.  I guess the timing was right or I had too little or too much coffee.  (Who am I kidding – you can never have too much coffee.) So, after learning about the award winning program; some soul-searching; and more coffee, I decided to participate. My blog, LibTech Musing, was born.

I wanted to come up with a creative name that reflected my interests and current career choice as a Librarian. As most of you already know, a library is about more than just books. Today, a library is a hybrid of books and technology, hence the name: LibTech. I tend to “muse” a lot; so I decided to include this in the blog title.

My goal for this course and my blog is simple:  a place to share my reflections about librarianship. I hope this will give me an opportunity to look at the good, the bad and the ugly in a constructive manner. Additionally, I hope that my fellow bloggers will join in the conversation and help me traverse library-land and all its ups and downs.  

Off to read another book….Seating Arraignment; meet with a student about APA format and create an Animoto video…