A recent conversation with an inquisitive friend about twitter prompted the following Q&A script. It’s pretty much our chat but I thought it worth sharing to see if others have had the same!
1. So what is twitter?
It’s micro blogging. You can speak to people all over the world and join conversations with fellow educators, or anyone for that matter. But you can only use 140 characters.
2. Isn’t that a bit tricky?
Not really, once you get into it. If you want to say more you can always start your own blog. You can then post your link in twitter so people can read more.
3. So who do you tweet with?
Well, you can build up a Personal Learning Network quite easily. I started following educators who posted interesting stuff and then checked out who they were following and who was following them. You can quickly build up a PLN of likeminded thinkers.
4. So what do you talk about?
Anything and everything! There’s always a conversation going on about some educational matter that you have an opinion on or experience of. It really builds up your understanding. Not only nationally but globally. Then there’s hangtags.
5. There’s what? What are hashtags?
Well, if you see a hashtag and you click on it you can follow that conversation thread. For example on a Tuesday night it’s #edchat. You can follow and join in that conversation every week by simply clicking the hashtag. Every week there’s a different question posed and you can contribute by using the hashtag before you tweet. It’s very straightforward. Thursday night there’s a #edchatuk too.
6. So, how often do you tweet?
I have to admit I am on twitter most days, 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. There are certain times I try and go on. Tuesdays and Thursdays obviously. Then there’s Follow Friday.
7. What?
Every Friday you’ll see people recommend people to follow using the #ff hashtag. It means they’re saying interesting stuff, or maybe the been really helpful to someone, shared some helpful advice or written a great blogpost. It’s another great chance to build up your PLN.
8. Right. So if I want to get started?
Just google twitter and you’re away! There are lots of twitter clients like tweetdeck and echofon but you can explore all of them and see which you prefer. You can tweet from your phone as well. Either via text or over the net.
Sound good. So is it a bit like Facebook then?
Err, yeah sort of!!
