Following on from the introduction to Twitter workshop we held on the last Staff Development day, we have put together some information and ideas for those of you who couldn't join us (this can also be used as refresh/reference material for those who did)
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what’s happening now.
Twitter asks “what’s happening” and makes the answer spread across the globe to millions, immediately.
What Twitter Does
Whether it’s breaking news, a local traffic jam, a deal at your favorite shop or a funny pick-me-up from a friend, Twitter keeps you informed with what matters most to you today and helps you discover what might matter to you most tomorrow.
The timely bits of information that spread through Twitter can help you make better choices and decisions and, should you so desire, creates a platform for you to influence what’s being talked about around the world. Search results spread across Twitter and in other ways across the Web so you can discover what’s happening on and off of Twitter.com, wherever you prefer.
Twitter can give a voice to even the weakest signals because of its simplicity. Users can access Twitter on powerful broadband connections via a video game console or through faint connections in rural areas via SMS on a simple mobile phone. You can also access Twitter through more than 50,000 third-party Internet and mobile applications.
Just remember, how you use Twitter is completely up to you. Follow hundreds of people. Follow a dozen. Post every hour. Post never. Search for your favorite topics and create lists. Or not. You are in control on Twitter.
Still a little unsure?
If you have read the above and still have a few questions then check out this short video:
Ways to use twitter
Having read and watched all of the above, you might now be thinking ‘that’s all very good but why would I want to use Twitter?’ – So, if you are interested in trying Twitter but are unsure how you would like to use it we have found some good ideas and tips to get you started:
First Steps
- Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, the name of your school/college/poly/uni, and words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
- Add a picture of yourself. People want to see you. What type of picture – up to you, there is a whole load of diversity out there.
- Don’t just tweet about yourself, talk to other people about their interests, too.
- Point out interesting things happening in your classroom (whatever form that takes).
- Share links to neat things in your institution and/or community.
- Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead.
- Be wary of always promoting your stuff. Your fans (aka mother) will love it. But hopefully you are reaching out to others as well.
- Promote your students’ stories, but be careful to maintain anonymity, particularly with kids.
- Be human.
- Talk about non-education stuff too, there is life outside your institution.
Ideas about what to tweet
- Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
- Have more than one twitterer at your institution. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
- When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
- Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
- Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who they follows, and follow them
- Tweet about other people’s stuff. Make you human
- When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
- Share the human side of your institution. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
- Don’t toot your own horn too much.
- Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.
Some sanity for you
- You don’t have to read every tweet. Some people follow thousands so they can’t be reading everything
- You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
- Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation.
- Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
- 3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter. I use the TwitterFox add in for Firefox and Seesmic Desktop.
- If you tweet all day you will not be popular with your colleagues or your boss.
- If you tweet all day your students will let you know their displeasure. (see 24)
- Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
- If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
- Commenting on others’ tweets, and re-tweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.
The Negatives People Will Throw at You
- Twitter takes up time.
- Twitter takes you away from teaching.
- Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
- There are other ways to do this.
- It doesn’t replace face-to-face (who said it does).
- Twitter is buggy and not education-ready.
- Twitter is just for nerds not for teachers.
- Twitter’s only a few million people. (Only)
- Twitter doesn’t replace email.
- Twitter opens the institution up to more criticism and griping.
Some Positives to Throw Back
- Twitter helps one organize great, instant meet-ups (tweet-ups).
- Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
- Twitter can help direct student’s attention to good things.
- Twitter in the classroom helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
- Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
- Twitter gives institutions a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
- Twitter brings great minds together, and gives everyone daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
- Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
- Twitter helps with staff development, find other teachers.
- Twitter can augment parent feedback.
Already using Twitter?
If you already use Twitter we would love to hear your experiences and any tips, tricks or follow recommendations you have! Get in touch by posting a comment or emailing us on ilt.support@don.ac.uk