Twitter

I admit it.  I’m addicted…I’m addicted to Twitter!  I joined Twitter 1000 days ago on April 20, 2009 --  http://www.whendidyoujointwitter.com.  My addiction makes me feel guilty if I don’t go on Twitter every day.  I feel that I might miss something of value tweeted by respected professionals that I follow.  My students think that I am on Twitter to find out which marriage ended after 72 days.  I choose to use Twitter.  I choose to use Twitter for my own professional development – the only problem is I don't get credit for my hours.

The first thing that I love about Twitter is that a person has to present their ideas in a concise manner (of 140 characters or less).  I think this makes us focus on our core thoughts and ideas and get to the point.  I don’t have a lot of time to read books and lengthy blogs.  But by watching my Twitter stream and focusing on what I want to learn, I can pick and choose the information and topics of people working in a similar position as me.

I also love the real-time customer support center offered to those that tweet.  It’s another part of my PLN.  Instead of using Google, I can use Twitter to find information.  I can ask a question and receive great feedback, suggestions and various answers from those that follow me and/or are interested in similar topics.  My followers can retweet to their followers and the topic and the audience increases exponentially.

Topics are called hashtags and are preceded by an “#”.  #edchat is a very popular hashtag used by educators on Twitter.  By watching our hashtags we can learn from others on a similar journey.  We can connect and share ideas between educators all around the world.  Instead of looking for information, hashtags allow the information to come to us.  In the past couple weeks, my students finally figured out the power of a hashtag.  They thought it was used to make a “clever” comment at the end of a tweet.  However, after a local student was paralyzed in a hockey injury, they all now follow a tag (#jabs) that supports this local student athlete on his journey to heal.

Instead of using the actual Twitter site, I actually use TweetDeck – a third party social media tool that allows me to organize all of my social networks in one location.  With TweetDeck I can watch a regular twitter stream, follow a hashtag, see my name “mentioned” in others tweets and watch my Facebook status updates.  There’s nothing wrong with Twitter; however, the TweetDeck user interface has so much more to offer.  After 1000 days on Twitter, I continue to learn and grow.  I’m excited for what the next 1000 days on Twitter will bring.  I’m excited for the new tools and interactive sites that I will learn about.  I excited to learn new dynamic ways to engage students.  I’m excited to tweet!

Follow @Susan_Simonson