War of the Social Networks: Twitter vs. Facebook

In the last decade the rise of social networks have dominated the internet. We all seem to be attached to at least one social media, either to stay in touch with distant relatives and old classmates or to stay current with media and entertainment. In recent times, we have been seeing a larger presence of institutions and companies interacting with their customers through social networks. Libraries and Information professionals have a new platform to help inform their patrons.
 Using twitter, libraries can inform their patrons about up coming events, library hours, and what's happening in the library at that moment. With twitters 140 character limit, their format is best used in succinct sentences. The positives of twitter is that, if used correctly, a few entries every hour, it can keep their followers engaged with the happenings of the library and staff. It would have to be run by someone that is proficient in posting entertaining and informative tweets. If these two things are not met, then the account can be boring and followers would loss interest quick.
When it comes to Facebook, these two issues don't really have to be met to help keep patrons informed and interested. For libraries using Facebook there is a way to keep followers informed of what is happening in the library throughout the week or month. There doesn't need to be a large amount of posting, because that could have a negative affect and annoy their followers. Facebook can be used more like a bulletin board for libraries to announce new events, technology, educational resources, and plenty more. For example you can take a look at IUPUI University Library's Facebook page and see how they post once a day about the events that are happening in the library.Because of this, there is not a high need to connect on a personal level with followers, unlike twitter.
Between picking between using twitter or Facebook, it really comes down to do with the patrons personal preference to these two types of social networks and how much they want to be involved with their libraries.