OK, I have to admit that by picking Twitter, my least favorite of all 23 things, as the tool to share with a friend, I was not giving this exercise a fair try.
Last night I showed my wife Twitter and had her create a Twitter account.
My wife is not a techno-phobe. She's loves her PDA (she's in medicine and subscribes to a couple of expensive services that keep her PDA up to date with the latest formularies, etc), has used email and PC's for years, etc. As I showed her posts on my Twitter account she rolled her eyes and couldn't believe people actually broadcast their daily activities.
I then showed her my blog of the 23 things and she looked at me like I had gone to the other side.
I think the lesson here is that a tool has to be relevant to an individual's problems/challenges. And this lesson can/should be applied by libraries each time we evaluate a potential tool.
Too often, people are seduced by a new technology/tool and then try to find a way to use it. This isn't the way to approach technology when you have limited resources. Instead, you have to define your problem and define how you'd measure a successful resolution. Then you look at the potential tools and evaluate them in that context.
Of course this means you must be able to identify the potential tools. That is why librarians should be aware of new Web tools, such as these 23 things. If the tools don't help reach the goals of your library, then you shouldn't be trying to implement them. But if they help you provide services to your clientele, then by all means the tools should be used.
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