Tweet your #fridayreads

In today's fast-paced, over-stimulated world, there's nothing quite as relaxing as curling up with a great book. With a simple turn of the page, a reader can be transported to far-away places, peek into the lives of others, learn about new ideas, or find comfort in relatable experiences. Similarly, there may be nothing quite as powerful as a personal recommendation from someone who has found that next great read and wants to share it with you. Welcome #fridayreads!

#fridayreads is a community movement on the social networking site Twitter, using the hashtag "#fridayreads." Every Friday, thousands of people all over the world post what they are reading with this hastag. If you have a Twitter account, you can participate, whether you are in the Library, at home, on vacation - anywhere! 

Publishing industry blogger Bethanne Patrick began the movement back in Fall 2010 when she found herself home-bound with a broken leg. Interested in finding out what her Twitter followers were reading that day (a Friday, of course!), she tweeted a question with her now-famous hashtag - and thus, a brand new community of shared reading experiences was born.

Why #fridayreads? According to Bethanne, "It's a community of readers and, beyond that, it gets people excited about reading. When people get excited about reading, all sorts of incredible things happen: we get smarter, we think more, we're entertained, we're contantly learning. The list goes on and on." (-fridayreads.com). 

What's not to love about that?!

Interested in participating? Join us online on Fridays @PrincetonPL as we tweet what we are reading each week, and follow #fridayreads on Twitter to see what others are reading, as well. Then, begin posting yourself! To get started, visit Twitter.com and register for a free account. Every Friday, post a tweet that says what you are reading. At the end of your post, add #fridayreads. For those with a smartphone, try the free app.

If you are not on Twitter, you can also participate via Facebook at www.facebook.com/FridayReads. I can't wait to see what you are all reading this week!