Twitter

**Getting started with Twitter and Tweetdeck (or, "Becoming Part of the Conversation")**
As you will learn from reading Solomon and Schrum, Twitter is a form of "microblog," since your updates can be no longer than 140 characters. If you're unfamiliar with Twitter, I like to liken it to the "status update" on Facebook (which almost everyone knows).

There are scores of ways to use Twitter, but since we are looking in this class to develop our digital footprint and to grow our professional learning network, we will use it as a way to begin our entré into the conversations that are happening around the world among your colleagues in the profession (of education) about Internet Communications Technologies (ICTs) and education.

If you haven't used Twitter, and wonder, like I did, "What's it for?", you might want to watch this brief video from the always amusing Common Craft Show, "Twitter in Plain English" (2:25)

1. Once you have an idea of what Twitter is, **watch this short video that will help you start an account**.
 * If you are more verbal/linguistic, here are some print directions.

2. Then **peruse this beginner's guide** to get a feel for what Twitter is and how to use it. There are also plenty of video tutorials on YouTube if you just do a search.

3. ** Follow me ** at @https://twitter.com/. Once you do, I will follow you back. Eventually, you will be able to check back and click under my "Following" tab, and find all of your classmates. Follow each of them, too. **This means, of course, that you need to be recognizable by your profile and/or your handle (so your classmates can recognize you and follow you).**

4. Then I recommend you **find people and start following them**. When I got stared on Twitter, I used the Twitter search function to look up leading English educators, literacy scholars, and edtech folks to see if they were on Twitter. Sometimes I also looked at who they were following, or took Twitter's suggestions of who I might be interested in following (or who is "similar to me").

I also searched for my friends, but keep in mind that you are using this medium as a professional, so it's not a bad idea to relegate your more private/personal discussions to another medium (i.e., folks in the profession who begin following you because you seem to be saying something interesting about English ed or edtech will quickly "unfollow" you if they have to be subjected to your Tweets about how the Packers are doing this season). If you want to Tweet for personal use, sign up with a different screen name (i.e., one personal, one professional).

5. **You might also find these lists interesting**. There are tons of such lists out there, as you will discover, so I'm consciously limiting how much I expose you to at the outset. However, take a close look at the Chat Schedule, since one of your assignments before the next class meeting will be to participate in one of these live chats (see Course Schedule for details).


 * **Twitter for Teachers** @http://twitterforteachers.wetpaint.com/page/Who+Should+I+Follow
 * **Chat Schedule** []

6. **Sign up for Tweetdeck (and again download and install the app on your home computer).** The reason you will want to use Tweetdeck and not just Twitter is that it allows you to search for terms and then isolate a Twitterstream that uses that term. People who are interested in similar topics communicate with each other, therefore, using "hashtags" -- or the "#" symbol before a term that usually describes their interest. See this (open, meaning you can add to it, if you like) hashtag list for Twitter []

7. **Finally, Tweet something out to us at #506** (that's the hashtag we'll be using for our class this semester!). If everybody's following the #506 tweetstream on Tweetdeck (see #6 above), you should begin to see comments propagating. At first, nobody will be "watching" us (or #506, so please feel free to play around with the medium using this hashtag. In other words, just saying "hi everyone!" is fine. Btw, you can't use more than 140 characters!