Whenever it comes to writing about Twitter in a blog post, I never know how basic to go in my descriptions. I guess I must assume that there will be many people who have no idea about Twitter. I can also be confident that many other readers are capable of writing a similar post with better strategies. The problem with Twitter is that it is confusing to explain, difficult to understand, and only learned when one begins to use it regularly. My use for twitter, although it can be very social, is for the purpose of personal development. If I was a boat builder, I would follow other boat builders, but since I am an educator, I will focus my following to other educators. The goal is to assemble a list of people who are not only knowledgeable about education and learning, but have a sharing and collaborative philosophy.
One of the first things I do, when I am considering someone to follow, is to check his, or her Twitter Profile. I limit myself to following educators, because I gear my Twitter account for professional learning. Many people have second Twitter accounts for friends and relatives. Once I access a person’s Profile I can verify that he or she is an educator and I can see the most recent tweets. The tweets will give an indication of the person’s collaboration. If there is no profile filled out, I usually do not follow that person.
Another important thing to check is whom they follow. That makes the profile a source for other educators to follow. Individuals can be found under the “Following” header on the profile page. In addition Twitter lists may be found on a person’s profile. They are special lists that Tweeters make up for specific groupings of people that they follow. Examples might be: Music teachers, Pre-service teachers, Administrators. These lists can be accessed and you will have more educators to follow.
Hashtags (#) are another source for follows. Tuesday is known as Teacher Tuesday on Twitter. On Tuesdays people will tweet out recommendations of teachers to follow on Twitter. Each of these recommendations will contain the hashtag #TT or #tt or #Teachetuesday. You may follow by clicking on the name in the tweet and the profile will pop up. The other way to do it would be to do a search for #TT, #tt, or #Teachertuesday. At that point all of the tweets from all tweeters will pop up. Most conferences or events carry their own hashtags. If you are following a tech conference hashtag the chances are good that the tweeters using them are educators attending the conference. The best hashtag to vet and gather follows is #Edchat. That hashtag is used by educators during weekly chats as well as by many educators to extend the range of their educational Tweets. Twitter has another day of hashtag recommendations on Friday; #FF, #ff, #followfriday. The difference between Friday and Tuesday is that Friday is recommendations of great Tweeters, and Tuesdays are recommendation of great Educator Tweeters.
Anyone can make up a hashtag. I made up a hashtag for people to make recommendations for books. I asked people to recommend one educational book that made a difference to them. I asked them to use the hashtag #Edubk. It served multiple purposes. I could do a search for #Edubk and have a list of books read and recommended by educators. I could follow any of those tweeters whose recommendation rang true. I also expanded the number of people to access by the number of Retweets generated.
Reading Blogs gives the best insight into who educators really are a good indication of whom to follow. Many bloggers use Twitter to drive people to their blogs. The obvious thing to do is to follow those bloggers who offer opinions of value. The extension of that source is to mine the comment page. Educators who feel opinionated enough to leave a comment will often have their twitter names available. Their comments offer insights to their philosophy. Another good method is to tweet out thought-provoking questions. Take note of those who engage in response.
I use many Social Media applications to complete my network of educators who help me in learning about education every day. Twitter is first in that bank of tools. I am an avid user and that is what makes writing this post most difficult. I fully understand how Twitter works. I also am very aware that explaining it is overwhelming for those not familiar with Twitter. Twitter is best learned as it is used. I only hope I haven’t confused more than clarified some strategies to develop a valuable Personal Learning Network.
Good information for those of us who have limited experience with Twitter and are just ‘figuring it out’. Thank you! I will share this with my staff, for sure –
I thought you did an excellent job explaining Twitter. I especially liked how you subtly defined a PLN. Twitter has enriched my curiosity and learning more than any book or single educator. It is the constant learning from and with others that makes Twitter so invaluable. I encourage others to use it as well.
Thank you.
Cathy Germano
I agree with you from both the argument of who do you write this for(?) and that I use twitter primarily for professional learning. I have told teachers to go with your exact methodology for who to follow and I also tell them that when Twitter first came out with lists I created one list /edpros. I tell them that if they follow everyone on that list then they can’t go wrong.
I think you did a wonderful job of explaining the how of Twitter. I would have loved to read a article like this when I first began using Twitter because. Many people don’t realize how powerful and connecting Twitter can be. This is an article that I would definitely pass along to new Twitter users.
Tom,
I am designing a in-house PD titled Using Twitter to Develop a PLN. I was going to list you on my Tweeple to follow already, but this blog post is perfect for many of the newbies I will be training. I think you did a fantastic job gently explaining how Twitter works. Also, you are correct that the only way to understand Twitter is to get involved.
Thanks!
Marc (@DaretoChem)
I also love these two websites for discovering great teachers to follow!
http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/w/page/22554534/FrontPage
http://wefollow.com/twitter/teachers or http://wefollow.com/twitter/education
Twitter is tremendous professional development!
Andrew Lindsay
Teacher
South Middle School
Van Buren Public Schools
Belleville, Michigan
Andrew
I have to add the Educator’s PLN to your list with over 7,500 collaborative Educators at http://www.edupln.com
This is very helpful. I will share with those teachers at my school just getting started with Twitter. Most helpful to me has been using Tweetdeck to organize the people I follow. I can quickly look for recent tweets from friends, teachers, things/places in my city, etc.
Thanks for a great post!
@dchristenbury
Tom
I’ve only recently started building my pln. Twitter is one of the main social tools I am using to help build that network. In approximately two short weeks my teaching has completely changed, hopefully for the better, from what it was.
I follow those people, like you, that appear to have something meaningful to say about education. I follow those whose ideas I can implement in my classroom. I follow hashtags that are relevant to my current situation. I fear however, that I am tunneling my vision. Am I only viewing the information that like minded individuals are sharing? Are we just patting each other on the back? Should I be following hashtags and people with views different than mine in order to broaden my views? For the most part Twitter has been a positive experience for me. I hear enough negative stuff on the evening news and read it in the paper. Do I want to ruin the Twitter experience with views from teacher bashers and political game players?
When you post original ideas on Twitter, you should get some quick responses especially if you are off target. Once you put an original tweet out there, you have no control over its direction or range. If you are ready to take it to the next step, you can test your ideas in a blog post. You will find out soon enough if you have tunnel vision. Remember Twitter is Micro-blogging. Blogging is the real deal. You can start slowly on the Educator’s PLN where you can place a post to test the waters. As far as the teacher bashers, and political game players go there will always be detractors. Remember:ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM.
This was very helpful – thanks!
I’m a children’s literacy blogger, and I’m trying to build my bank of contacts, so the information you provided here was great. I’ve been wondering what the heck #TT was!
I’d love to read your “next” post on this subject… ie, if this is Twitter 101 (or maybe 102), then Twitter 103. Take us a little further along the Twitter-tips-and-info learning curve.
Thanks again!
I am forwarding this great post on to some colleagues and relatives who are really nervous about joining Twitter! It is clear and direct which is what I think newbies to Twitter (like me need). Thanks for sharing.
Tom, I think that this post has a much broader lesson to learn than just about Twitter. If you take the same principles and apply them to most technology tools for educators, the more you use them the better you understand their application.
And any good teacher knows that following some clear guidlelines such as yours, is extremely advisable.
If only we reminded ourselves of this when we have a desire to spend money on technology. With all the free applications available, there is an opportunity to explore, play and learn about the value of these technologies to education with little lost except time. But when we have to buy technology for education, we often forget to seek expert users’ advice and can sometimes waste valuable dollars on investments that may not add value. But that’s another post. Tom.
In the meantime, if we apply your principles, and play, practise and take advice from those we respect, we can’t go wrong. Great post.
I appreciate you starting with the blogger’s dilemma; it’s normative. And you’re right as well about the immersive benefits of Twitter – at least, that’s my personal experience and how I would explain it, too.
I’ve been using Twitter a lot as an integral part of my learning. #TT is new to me so thanks for sharing that.
So, I guess this is a roundabout way of saying that regardless of your dilemma, most (all?) readers walk away gaining something.
cheers,
Malyn
“My use for twitter, although it can be very social, is for the purpose of personal development.”
I agree. I cannot tell you how much I have learned from journeys that started from reading a single tweet! Maybe it took me to an article that I wanted to comment on ( like this one), or one that I wanted to research further. Maybe it introduced me to another point of view that I had not previously considered. Either way, I have learned and grown much as an educator from using twitter for my personal and professional development.
@EDleadernews
I love your take on Twitter. I am preparing some summer conference presentations right now about Twitter and we are exactly on the same page.
PS: I follow you on Twitter
Thank you for such a positive, informative post! I have just begun using Twitter. I like the idea of a separate account for family and friends because I use Twitter as a PLN. I have been wondering about the hashtags too, and you provided a clear explanation. I hope you write more about Twitter.
I will be doing a webinar on creating a Twitter PLN. I’m proficient but not an expert. Thank you for sharing this an increasing my knowledge! In my opinion, a Twitter PLN is the most valuable PD I’ve every had in 25 years and is the future of education and mirrors the change we need to provide for our students.
Thank you so much for your informative, detailed posts on using Twitter to build a PLN. Most helpful for me, I think, is the assurance that “Twitter is best learned as it is used.” I explored it once on a purely social level, and gave up quickly. Until a recent conference, I was completely unaware of the possibilities Twitter held in terms of professional enrichment. Now, I’m ready to give it another try!
I never understood why twitter becoming so much popular. Facebook got some reason, as there are way to connect with friends, sharing videos, photos, notes etc. But in twitter I did not find anything interesting!
You gave a clear idea about twitter for newbies, but still I am not much interested in using twitter. But would like to see my website getting more twits 😀
Yeah. I did a a try, and within one month, I have over 80 followers 😀
You can also follow me, if you like: http://twitter.com/#!/nayemsufi
Thanks for this article 😀
We met at TeachMeetNJ and discussed the importance of PLNs and taking responsibility for our own professional development. This post did answer a few questions for me, so I thank you. Technology moves at such a fast pace and it is difficult to keep track of everything. I have learned so much from my PLN.
Unquestionably consider that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be at the web the easiest thing to take note of. I say to you, I definitely get irked whilst people think about concerns that they just do not recognize about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top and also outlined out the whole thing with no need side effect , folks can take a signal. Will likely be again to get more. Thank you
I do consider all the ideas you’ve presented for your post. They’re really convincing and can definitely work. Nonetheless, the posts are too short for novices. May just you please extend them a little from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.
Excellent piece. I joined Twitter 9 days ago in order to share websites with my students only to find that I became addicted to my own personal development. A sharing, collaborative philosophy in education is the kind of culture we need in schools. As a teacher educator, I am hoping to model the collaborative behaviours seen on twitter and maybe students will transfer this into their classrooms.
Thanks for the blog – I’m going to share this too.
Curation is the new search, hence Twitter is invaluable, when used wisely.