I have to admit that until I started taking this course, Twitter held absolutely no interest for me. If it had not been a requirement for this course, I probably would have never even considered signing up. In my mind Twitter is a very public forum (and those of you who have gotten to know me through this blog know my "issues" with privacy and wanting to limit my digital footprint as much as possible). Before I began this investigation in to Twitter, as far as I was concerned, I had no reasons to let my friends and the rest of the "Twittersphere" know what I was doing or thinking every moment of the day, nor did I care to know what colour Miley Cyrus wanted to paint her toenails or what "Joe Guy" was planning to make for dinner tonight....because that's what Twitter is for, right?
Perhaps my view of Twitter would have been more positive if my friends and colleagues were already "tweeting". Even those people who are big fans of blogs and Facebook were choosing to avoid Twitter altogether. None of my Facebook "friends" are Twitter users and most, upon hearing that I had signed up for an account were very quick to provide me with the many reasons they thought Twitter was, "...useless", "...a waste of time", "...too public", "...too voyeuristic", and one even went so far as to tell me that Twitter was simply, "...a source of validation for the self important".
I decided if I was going to start "getting" Twitter and appreciate what it is and what it could do for me, I needed to put my own bias' and assumptions aside and start with a fresh attitude and approach. After reading some of the trailfire articles and reviewing Richardson's writings, I ventured out on my own to research what Twitter is, how it works and what others were saying about it and doing with it.
Twitter:
Twitter is considered a "microblog" application that allows users to share their "thoughts" through 140 character-limited statements with each other. Initially, the "conversation" is very one sided until you begin to develop relationships with your followers, or those you choose to follow yourself. In the ideal scenario, updates provide not only a real time status update for the person "tweeting" but it also provides the community (which can be limited to a specific group, or include the entire Twittersphere), with pertinent information on a topic of interest.
Whether the topic of discussion is the last episode of , "The Walking Dead", (I have a "thing" for zombie stories), or about the newest Web 2.0 applications that are revolutionizing education, Twitter is first and foremost a tool to help you connect with others who share in the same interests you do.
Getting Started:
Setting up an account and getting started is very simple. Basically, anyone with an email address can set up an account, and then anyone with an account can "tweet" to their heart's content....though at this point when you are just getting started, it is hard to tell if anyone is interested, (the first "followers" I had were advertisements for "female" companionship and a "get rich quick" scheme). My suggestion is to go into your profile settings as soon as you launch into your account and set up some privacy settings. I understand that this is initially a bit counter intuitive since the whole point of Twitter is to be heard and make connections but until you are a bit more familiar with using Twitter, it is not a bad idea to put up a few "fences" while you are getting the hang of things.
Upon further investigation I found that you can control who sees your tweets when you set up your privacy settings under your account profile (using the "protect my tweets" feature); choose who you want to follow you either by requiring them to submit a request to follow you or by eliminating unwanted followers by going to the "gear" icon in their accounts and "blocking" them (a technique I used for the "female" companion I was not looking for); and communicate privately with other users through "direct messages" or DM's (these are messages that are sent directly and privately to a specific follower without being posted globally to all the people who are following you).
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| A screen capture of my Twitter account |
I found an excellent site that provided me with a quick overview of the Twitter terminology, which really helped me to better understand how Twitter works and navigate through the UI. There were also quite a few tutorials on how to get started, but I found this post on Cnet that was very helpful as a more in depth overview to how Twitter works. It definitely provided some important tips to get you started (without overwhelming you with jargon or too much information), and it really helped me to get my head around using features like hashtags to help find and organize tweets and followers.
Who to Follow?
The more Twitter becomes familiar with who and what you are interested in, they will begin to provide you with possible tweeple to "follow". These suggestions can be based on finding users that are similar to yourself and your interests, or they may come to your attention as similar followers of the tweeple you are already following.
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| Suggestions page in Twitter |
As a interesting side note, there are discussions about Twitter etiquette that ask the question: " if someone chooses to follow you, do you need to follow them"? Unlike Facebook "friending" agreements, "following" does not have to be mutual - for very practical reasons, and according to Twitter themselves:
(from the Twitter Help Center Following Rules and Best Practices)Twitter facilitates social networking, but it's not a social networking website. In fact, the way Twitter works is quite different from social networks: when you accept friend requests on social networks, it usually means you appear in that person's network and they appear in yours. Following on Twitter is different, because instead of indicating a mutual relationship, following is a one-way action that means you want to receive information, in the form of tweets, from someone. Twitter allows people to opt-in to (or opt-out of) receiving a person's updates without requiring mutual following.
If you follow too many people, there’s no way you can keep up with everyone's updates in your timeline. If you need to communicate with someone but don't need to see their updates everyday, you don't have to follow them. Send them an @reply when you need to; it doesn't require following and your update will appear in the person's replies tab, so they can reply back.Using Twitter:
Twitter may seem like a very simple application, and it is simple in it's concept. Where it gets more complicated is in the "application" of this application to find the people and information that you are looking for and in some cases find it before you even know you are looking for it (a lot of Tweets are suggestions to checkout relevant blogs or websites in your area of interest). There are many "apps" (some provided by Twitter and some come from outside developers), that can help you use Twitter more effectively and make the experience of using Twitter more relevant and meaningful in both a personal and professional context.
TwitterSearch:
A very useful application is TwitterSearch. When I first began looking for Tweeple to follow I tried searching from my Twitter account, but the results were overwhelming since it would return all the tweets that used the search term I typed in. When I started using TwitterSearch instead, I had more control over my searches and was able to locate relevant tweets and tweeple to follow quickly and easily.
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| Results of my search on Educational Technology led me to great tweeple sources to follow (which I could organize and keep track of in TweetDeck) |
TweetDeck:
TweetDeck was created by an outside source (Adobe), but can help you to organize the tweets from the users you are following, your own followers and your own tweets and communications to make it easier to keep track of all that information that continues to accumulate (and TweetDeck can actually be used beyond Twitter as a "dashboard" for all your social media including Facebook, blogs, etc...).
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| Welcome Page - Introduction to key features of TweetDeck |
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| "Dashboard" column format to organize Tweets and Groups you create |
TinyURL:
Because Twitter has character limits on the tweets, users need to find ways to make the most of the their tweeting "real estate". One way to do help gain some space and still direct followers to sites of interest is by using applications to shorten the length of long URLs. Twitter has a build in feature that will allow you to do this when you include a URL in your tweet. I still haven't mastered using this feature (for some reason it doesn't want to work for me), so after 3 tutorials and numerous moments of frustration and banging my head on my keyboard, I decided to stick with something that for me was "tried and true": TinyURL
Using tinyurl I can convert this 86 character link from this:... http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_one_teacher_uses_twitter_in_the_classroom.php
...into 25 characters like this: http://tinyurl.com/ml3pcp . In the 140 character, microblog world of Twitter, this downsizing of the URL makes a HUGE difference when writing a concise but effective tweet!
I found these three applications in particular very helpful in my exploration process, however it should be noted that there are MANY apps out there for you to use. If I had been able to get my new iphone up and running earlier, I am sure there would be other apps and interesting tools that would help me make the most of that platform as well. For now I am contented to use my laptop for access, and these three applications to round out my experience. Part of what makes the experience of Twitter more personalized is finding the one's that are right for you. The fact that new technology is always changing the Twitter experience means that there are alwasy going to be new developments. As long as what you are using still works with the current Twitter technology, I believe what works best is what you are most comfortable using and what meets your own personal needs.
Personally:
I found these three applications in particular very helpful in my exploration process, however it should be noted that there are MANY apps out there for you to use. If I had been able to get my new iphone up and running earlier, I am sure there would be other apps and interesting tools that would help me make the most of that platform as well. For now I am contented to use my laptop for access, and these three applications to round out my experience. Part of what makes the experience of Twitter more personalized is finding the one's that are right for you. The fact that new technology is always changing the Twitter experience means that there are alwasy going to be new developments. As long as what you are using still works with the current Twitter technology, I believe what works best is what you are most comfortable using and what meets your own personal needs.
Personally:
I am still struggling with the idea of using Twitter for personal use. I understand that there are interesting conversations to be had and ideas to be shared, but I think until I find some followers who are following me and vice versa, I still haven't had the opportunity to really experience the kind of interaction and connection that I can have with my "friends" on Facebook.
On the other hand, do all my “friends” necessarily want to discuss technology integration in a classroom? My teacher friends might find that an interesting or a good “coffee-talk” type subject, but the majority of my Facebook friends do not have a vested interest in it. So maybe I could use Twitter to fill that void in my life? In an instant, I can be connected to potentially millions of users who have similar interests, and like me may not have a group of immediate family or friends to discuss these interest with.
Twitter may have been intended to be a way to let your friends know what you are up to during the day and vice versa, but this ability is not that different than a Facebook update. Having mobile internet technology on your phone also levels the playing field between these two applications as both can provide real time access and updates.
What sets Twitter apart is this idea that you are not restricted to your present circle of contacts. You have the ability to follow other people's conversations and thoughts without them even knowing that you are interested in what they are saying or doing until you choose to "follow" them - Although this definitely opens up the possibilities of sharing knowledge and experiences to connect and build relationships in the Twittersphere, it also sounds a bit creepy.
For example, if you are in a coffee shop and you are listening in on a conversation, and even if the people talking are VERY loud talkers and assume that they are probably attracting attention, is it okay to listen in? More importantly, is it appropriate to join in? In essence, Twitter is making that kind of behaviour not only "okay", but encouraging it. In the context of the Twittersphere, this ability to track and comment on each others' tweets, even those from complete strangers is what eventually creates the group or community that learns from each contribution to the stream of information that is constantly flowing onto the page. The strength of Twitter is that it can literally give everyone a voice.
Professionally:
On the other hand, do all my “friends” necessarily want to discuss technology integration in a classroom? My teacher friends might find that an interesting or a good “coffee-talk” type subject, but the majority of my Facebook friends do not have a vested interest in it. So maybe I could use Twitter to fill that void in my life? In an instant, I can be connected to potentially millions of users who have similar interests, and like me may not have a group of immediate family or friends to discuss these interest with.
Twitter may have been intended to be a way to let your friends know what you are up to during the day and vice versa, but this ability is not that different than a Facebook update. Having mobile internet technology on your phone also levels the playing field between these two applications as both can provide real time access and updates.
What sets Twitter apart is this idea that you are not restricted to your present circle of contacts. You have the ability to follow other people's conversations and thoughts without them even knowing that you are interested in what they are saying or doing until you choose to "follow" them - Although this definitely opens up the possibilities of sharing knowledge and experiences to connect and build relationships in the Twittersphere, it also sounds a bit creepy.
For example, if you are in a coffee shop and you are listening in on a conversation, and even if the people talking are VERY loud talkers and assume that they are probably attracting attention, is it okay to listen in? More importantly, is it appropriate to join in? In essence, Twitter is making that kind of behaviour not only "okay", but encouraging it. In the context of the Twittersphere, this ability to track and comment on each others' tweets, even those from complete strangers is what eventually creates the group or community that learns from each contribution to the stream of information that is constantly flowing onto the page. The strength of Twitter is that it can literally give everyone a voice.
Professionally:
In a professional context, Twitter is an amazing tool for research and discussion. In this video, Jennifer Clark Evans (who is featured in Will Richardson's DVD version of our textbook), talks about using Twitter to brainstorm ideas with other experts and educators, but her examples are more about using Twitter to help her answer her own questions.
Many educators are quick to point out that they find incorporating Twitter into their classrooms has increased student engagement and participation in class discussions. This video looks at Twitter from a students' perspective and even though the "experiment" was conducted at a post secondary level, the comments being made by the students are also relevant to the issues faced by secondary students.
Twitter can also be used as a communication tool for teachers, students and parents in order provide a link between the school and home. Teachers can remind students and their parents about up coming tests or deadlines for assignments and students can tweet their teachers and ask questions either publicly or privately to ensure that teachers are able to address all students' questions (which can't always happen in a traditional classroom setting if students are too shy or if there are too many students to address everyone's questions during the same block of time).
I am not sure if I am ready to incorporate Twitter into my classroom practice as most of our discussions in CTS are "hands on" in the sense that we are often guiding students through new skills or exploring ideas in practice rather then traditional lecture style teaching and learning. However, I do see it as a valuable research and communication tool. I could definitely see myself using it to learn from others while hopefully contributing a few things I've learned to other people who need that information, and using Twitter to help students stay on top of their own studies is definitely something I would think most teachers would also be happy to incorporate if their school policies allowed them to do so.
Final Thoughts…for now…
Many educators are quick to point out that they find incorporating Twitter into their classrooms has increased student engagement and participation in class discussions. This video looks at Twitter from a students' perspective and even though the "experiment" was conducted at a post secondary level, the comments being made by the students are also relevant to the issues faced by secondary students.
Twitter can also be used as a communication tool for teachers, students and parents in order provide a link between the school and home. Teachers can remind students and their parents about up coming tests or deadlines for assignments and students can tweet their teachers and ask questions either publicly or privately to ensure that teachers are able to address all students' questions (which can't always happen in a traditional classroom setting if students are too shy or if there are too many students to address everyone's questions during the same block of time).
I am not sure if I am ready to incorporate Twitter into my classroom practice as most of our discussions in CTS are "hands on" in the sense that we are often guiding students through new skills or exploring ideas in practice rather then traditional lecture style teaching and learning. However, I do see it as a valuable research and communication tool. I could definitely see myself using it to learn from others while hopefully contributing a few things I've learned to other people who need that information, and using Twitter to help students stay on top of their own studies is definitely something I would think most teachers would also be happy to incorporate if their school policies allowed them to do so.
Final Thoughts…for now…
As one final thought, I am reminded of my very first real encounter with Twitter. My husband is a firefighter and in 2009 they were dispatched to the Big Valley Jamboree when the stage collapsed during a violent wind storm. I was at home working on my computer (a grad course, of course), when he called me and asked if there were any news reports coming from the site? They were not getting information from the security people at the site and had no idea what to expect or how critical things might be.
I used my computer to check out a few of the all news streaming radio stations and local television sites and found a lot of information about the scene. I was able to relay the information to the crew and reported what I read and heard based on the eye witness reports being sent in to the stations. After I hung up the phone, I suddenly realized that almost all the information that I gave to the firefighters was information that came into the new centres through Twitter users.
It wasn’t professional reporters sending info back to the broadcaster, but just regular people who had just experienced first hand a chaotic and terrifying moment but had the clarity of mind to capture it all in video, photos and tweets.
Suddenly, Twitter was not just a social site for sharing jokes or letting the world know that you bought a new car. I saw the value and potential of what Twitter could do in an emergency situation and it definitely started to change my own understanding of what Twitter is and the potential of how and what it can be used for.
Until I really started to play with Twitter myself, I really had no idea how much potential there is in this tool. What I understand now is that as usual, it is not so much the tool that has issues, it is the perspective and intent of the people using it that makes all the difference in what it is perceived to be. There is definitely value in using Twitter as a tool for communication and learning, but it is up to us as the community of users to make it an effective tool.
It wasn’t professional reporters sending info back to the broadcaster, but just regular people who had just experienced first hand a chaotic and terrifying moment but had the clarity of mind to capture it all in video, photos and tweets.
Suddenly, Twitter was not just a social site for sharing jokes or letting the world know that you bought a new car. I saw the value and potential of what Twitter could do in an emergency situation and it definitely started to change my own understanding of what Twitter is and the potential of how and what it can be used for.
Until I really started to play with Twitter myself, I really had no idea how much potential there is in this tool. What I understand now is that as usual, it is not so much the tool that has issues, it is the perspective and intent of the people using it that makes all the difference in what it is perceived to be. There is definitely value in using Twitter as a tool for communication and learning, but it is up to us as the community of users to make it an effective tool.
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