Twitter: From Lurker to Learner

I'm relatively new to Twitter, but I am so incredibly hooked!  I was pretty apprehensive at first, but along the way I learned that Twitter really isn't all that scary. Now I think half of my sentences begin with "I found this thing on Twitter..." so I've been getting some questions from people who are new to Twitter or just lurking. I thought I'd answer some of them here. 

Sidenote: I wrote all of this from a perspective of a PC rather than an ipad or other mobile device. Things are slightly different on mobile devices, but I think the notes below are still applicable. 

Why Twitter?  What good is it going to do me?

You get to connect with people all over the world and learn from them.

How do I know it works?

•   I randomly found a virtual field trip to the Tundra (@DiscoveryEd). REAL scientists in the Tundra did a live broadcast where they talked about their research. Students from all over the world emailed them questions while they talked, and the scientists answered the questions during the live broadcast. It. Was. Cool.
• I have a principal in Ontario, Canada, in my PLN (Tim Slack @slackt). He was presenting on why to have a personal learning network and asked for his followers to type their thoughts into a google doc which he then shared during his presentation. I added my two cents to his presentation, and, I’m not going to lie, I felt a little famous. Also, I love the idea that I helped with educator professional development across the world.  You can see his Google Doc here.
•  I have a fourth grade math and science teacher from New Orleans, Paula Naugle (@plnaugle), in my PLN. She regularly creates lessons for her students in google docs and tweets them out. She compiled a great list of election resources, including an interactive lesson and links, and I was able to share those resources with the teachers on my campus. She also shared a math lesson she called “The Great Pumpkin Project” that saved our third grade math teachers some time because they didn’t have to start from scratch to create a similar activity. 
• I’ve participated in my first Twitter chat (#txed), and I’ve already used one suggestion I got from it. The topic was how to keep teachers and students motivated during this time of year, and one principal mentioned that his leadership team meetings begin with everyone writing two notes of appreciation to teachers on the campus. I have to give a great big thanks to @TroyMooney and @PrincipalAlton. We’ve already used that idea in our leadership meetings.

Okay, I’m convinced. Who should I follow and why? How do I do that?

First, I use my Twitter for professional purposes only. I have a personal Twitter so that I can follow family and friends, but my school stuff stays at @stormyhickman1. You can use your Twitter account however you choose, but this works for me. I follow principals, teachers, technology specialists, and educational organizations, among others.

How to find people to follow (there are lots of ways, but this is a good way to start):

1. Check out educational hashtags that interest you. Here’s a google doc from Alan November with a pretty comprehensive list.
2.  Enter the hashtag in your search box at the top of the page - #cpchat for connected principal chat or #edchat are good places to start.
3.  Browse the tweets. If a particular Twitter account seems to interest you, click on the person’s name (it looks like this @stormyhickman1).
4.  A summary of that person’s profile will appear. If you would like to follow them you simply click the follow button. That person’s tweets will now show up in your feed.

A few words of advice about following people.

Don’t be afraid to follow! You’re not asking a Twitter user to the prom, so there’s no need to stress about it. Educators are on Twitter because they want to participate in a personal learning network. The more followers a person has, the more he is participating, so by following someone you are essentially helping them out.

You’re also not asking fellow Twitterers to marry you, so you always have the option to unfollow them. I have followed a few people only to find that their posts were mostly about television shows or the latest funny (sometimes inappropriate) youtube videos. I just quietly unfollowed them, and no harm was done.

Following others is also the best way to get followers yourself.

Now I’m following people, but what do I do if I like something I see and want to share it or be able to see it again?

You have two choices – retweet it or favorite it.

Retweeting another person’s tweet posts it to all of your followers for them to see. You get to share the knowledge!  Do this by clicking the “Retweet” link that comes up when you mouse over the tweet that you love.

Favoriting a tweet saves it in your favorites so you can reference it later, but it doesn’t send it out to your followers.  Do this by clicking the “Favorite” link that comes up when you mouse over the tweet that you love.

Now I know how to find information from Twitter, but how do I get back to the stuff I retweeted or favorited?

The best way to explain that is to talk about the tabs at the top of the Twitter web page. Once you can navigate those, you can find your stuff. 

The Home Tab – contains your feed (tweets from people you follow), suggested people to follow, and topics that are trending on Twitter. When I’m just looking for information, cool new stuff, and want to see what’s out there, I click on my home tab.

The Connect Tab – if someone Tweets you or mentions you by using your name in a Tweet, it will show up on your connect tab.

The Discover Tab – Twitter says this tab is to help you discover new content. The content should be customized to you.

The Me Tab – shows your profile. When you tweet something, it shows up here. This is the best place to go to look for something you retweeted and want to see again. You can also see a list of who you’re following, who is following you, and your favorites. If you favorite something, it will stay in your list of favorites so you can reference it later. Just click “Favorites” in the pane on the left to see all of your favorites.

You still haven’t told me how to compose my own tweet or participate in a chat. What’s up with that?

Honestly, I didn’t do those things until I’d been dabbling in Twitter for a while. More advanced users may move to that stage more quickly, but if you’re waiting for my instructions you’ll have to wait for another blog post. J

Welcome to the vast world of Twitter!