Twitter is a goldmine! I fought the twitter and hashtag market fiercely until attending a fabulous session at FETC2014 on building professional development and the main tool used by the technology gurus leading the session was twitter. So I caved in and created an account and ***BAM*** a revolution in my professional community occurred. I am by no means a Twitter expert, I go days without logging on and sometimes chose to ignore the wealth of knowledge at my fingertips because it can still be overwhelming to me…BUT the amazingness is there waiting for me when I am ready. I also found a way to handle all the goodness and organize myself with tweetdeck. It puts all the chats, people, hashtags, and info I want into columns so I can find it easier. Check it out, there are other resources that do the same thing, I liked tweetdeck.
So hashtag, @, chat, pln, follow, favorite, retweet…the language of the twitterverse can be confusing and offputting. So here are a few definitions from my perspective. This is by no means a comprehensive list and it wasn’t meant to be…it is more of a twitter011- you know the remedial kind not even for credit.
hashtag- use the # symbol to denote the topic of your tweet. For example, if I am tweeting about a cool tech tool for kids I may use #coolkidtech as my hashag. If I am tweeting about the Miami Dolphins my hashtag would be #miamidolphins or #strongertogether. Twitter chats utilize the hashtag to coordinate their chats…more to come about that in a sec.
@ the at symbol is a way to talk directly to a person, company, group, and their followers on twitter. For example, if I want to send a tweet to my favorite singer Phil Vassar I would put “@philvassar love your new song” or if I want to share a message with my tech guru Stephen Anderson and his followers I would add his “handle” to my message “@web20classroom Check out my new blog nancypenchev.edublogs.org”
chat- chat is where people get together at a specific time to discuss a topic. The moderator posts questions and attendees post their answers using the chat hashtag. For example, on Mondays from 7-8 Social Studies teachers from around the world gather to share ideas and discuss topics near and dear to their hearts using the hashtag #sschat. Personally I have problems keeping up with chats in the moment, so I wait until the chat is over and the archive is published. This means someone who is in charge of the chat puts all the hashtags together for that chat in a library of sorts. Then, I go back and read at my pace.
PLN- Personal Learning Networks allow educators to grow their own knowledge in their own way. I am a tech teacher, I follow tech and media experts, participate and read chats on tech topics, and explore the things my fellow tech teachers are trying using Twitter. Twitter is such a great place for teachers to learn and share that Susan Bearden created an APP for teachers to learn Twitter. It is called TweechMe. More info can be found at https://edshelf.com//tool/tweechme
Follow- on facebook you can friend and like people, businesses, and topics. On Twitter you follow the things or people you like. This allows you to see what they post and gain information from these people or companies. People also follow you….which to me was very intimidating to me as I didn’t know if i was going to be a fountain of knowledge or give inspiration to anyone. Now I am mellowing out about my followers. Feel free to follow me @penchevable
Favorite- if someone posts something you love, agree with, and want to remember you can favorite that tweet by clicking the star. Followers can see your favorites, so keep that in mind.
Retweet- often someone tweets something amazing that I love and want others to see…so I retweet it. The symbol is like a recycle symbol with two arrows. When you retweet, you can edit the tweet or send it just as it was published. Just now I saw a tweet from scholastic that announced” @Usher hosts a webcast for kids Bigger than Words”. This is a big deal I think, so I favorited and retweeted to let more people know about it.
So much more to talk about with twitter, but I want to share other information.
Livebinder with info for twitter http://www.livebinders.com/
Web20classroom twitter livebinder http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/34291?present=true
Communicating with parents http://technicallyteamann.com/
Learning twitter class http://www.leadlearner.com/
Collection of when twitter chats happen http://www.
Do you have twitter resources? Please share in the comments.