Rose Tirotta

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What Are You Doing?The What and Why of Twitter

• Suddenly, it seems as though all the world's
  a-twitter.
• -Newsweek

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Twitter?

• How many people have heard of
• How many people have used

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Dewey

• In The Child and the Curriculum, Dewey (1902)
  talks about the notes and a map created by an
  explorer The map is not a substitute for a
  personal experience (pg. 26).
• Dewey (1938) states that every experience is a
  moving force and educators must make sure this
  force is moving in the right direction (pg. 38).

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What Is?

• Twitter

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Blogging

• A blog is a type of website, usually maintained
  by an individual with regular entries of
  commentary, descriptions of events, or other
  material such as graphics or video. Entries are
  commonly displayed in reverse-chronological
  order.
• Many blogs provide commentary or news on a
  particular subject others function as more
  personal online diaries.

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogging
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What is Microblogging?

• A form of multimedia blogging that allows users
  to send brief text updates or micromedia such as
  photos or audio clips and publish them, either to
  be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group.
• These messages can be submitted by a variety of
  means, including text messaging, instant
  messaging, email, digital audio or the web.

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microblog
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What is Twitter?

• It is a social networking and micro-blogging
  service that allows users to post their latest
  updates. An update is limited by 140 characters
  and can be posted through three methods web
  form, text message, or instant message.
• Founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan
  Williams in March 2006 (launched publicly in July
  2006)

http//www.crunchbase.com/company/twitter
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• Twitter can be a much faster way to get help
  from colleagues than sending an e-mail message to
  a list or posting a question on a blog. With
  twitter you can get an answer is a few minutes, a
  blog post would take hours (Young, 1993, p. 2).

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• They pose questions. They send links to
  interesting stuff theyve found online. They pass
  along breaking news (Barack Obama announced his
  running mate on Twitter).
• its also a brilliant channel for breaking
  news, asking questions, and attaining one step of
  separation from public figures you admire. No
  other communications channel can match its
  capacity for real-time, person-to-person
  broadcasting.
• (Pogue, 2009)

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Third-Party Applications for Computers, Mobile
Phones, Smart Phones

• No cell numbers necessary for all third-party
  applications

http//twitter.com/goodies
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Who Is?

• Twitter

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Traffic
http//www.quantcast.com/twitter.comsummary
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Demographics
http//www.quantcast.com/twitter.comsummary
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Interesting Facts

• In October of 2007, KPBS, San Diego's public
  television station, used Twitter to update its
  audience about the California wildfires after its
  website went down (Glaser, 2007).
• On April 10, 2008, a student used Twitter to get
  himself out of an Egyptian jail (Simon, 2008).
• During the 2008 Presidential Elections, both
  Presidential Candidates, Barack Obama
  (http//twitter.com/BarackObama) and John McCain
  (http//twitter.com/johnmccain) used Twitter in
  their campaigns.

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Interesting Facts

• Twitter had planned to go down for 90 minutes
  Monday for maintenance, but rescheduled it citing
  "the role Twitter is currently playing as an
  important communication tool in Iran," according
  to a notice posted on its Web site. The
  maintenance will instead happen a day later, when
  it is 130 a.m. in Iran. (CBS News, 2009)

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How Do You?

• Twitter

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Post updates
Information
Tweets
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The Basics

• Tweets message posted in Twitter
• Follow subscribe to a users posts
• Unfollow unsubscribe to a users posts

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Hash Tag

• Add to add metadata to your post

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Retweet (RT)

• Copy and paste message and include RT and person
  you got it from - message can spread widely and
  quickly

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Direct Message (_at_)

• Can send one person a direct message
• Cite a RT

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RSS

• The technical acronym for RSS is Really Simple
  Syndication, an XML format that was created to
  syndicate news, and be a means to share content
  on the web.
• To make RSS much easier to understand, in Oprah
  speak, RSS stands for Im Ready for Some
  Stories. It is a way online for you to get a
  quick list of the latest story headlines from all
  your favorite websites and blogs all in one
  place. How cool is that?

http//www.backinskinnyjeans.com/2006/09/how_to_ex
plain_.html
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http//www.backinskinnyjeans.com/2006/09/how_to_ex
plain_.html
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Why?

• Twitter

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Why Twitter?

• Free
• Easy
• Connect with others quickly
• Get out a message to a number of people quickly
• Do not have to share cell phone number

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Why Twitter?

• Ideas
• Connections and social bonds
• Viral marketing
• Weak Ties
• Ask and answer questions
• Share resources
• Share tips and announcements
• Follow the news

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Why Not?
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Ideas Professional

• Research using Twitter instead of Googling the
  question, Twitter it
• Search for a phrase/word
• Use during conferences
• Questions/Answers
• Follow!
• Network/Add to your network
• Connect with experts in the field

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Who Can I Follow? Professionally

• Teacher Survival
• http//twitter.com/TeacherSurvival
• US DOE
• http//twitter.com/usedgov
• ASCD
• http//twitter.com/ascd
• School Library Journal
• http//twitter.com/sljournal

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Ideas In the Classroom

• Follow!
• Research using Twitter instead of Googling the
  question, Twitter it
• Search for a phrase/word
• Twitter events, homework, updates
• Virtual study groups
• Connect with experts in the field

• Live tweet during class
• Discussions throughout the week using a tag
• Librarians, other groups can use to answer
  reference questions, post events, new books, etc
• Questions/Answers students, other teachers
• Interactive reading response journal

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Who Can I Follow?Educationally

• Red Cross
• http//twitter.com/RedCross
• NASA
• http//twitter.com/NASA
• KidderLit
• http//www.kidderlit.com
• http//twitter.com/KidderLit
• Twitterlit
• http//www.twitterlit.com
• http//twitter.com/TwitterLit
• Twrivia
• http//twitter.com/Twrivia

• Twitter Poetry
• http//twitter.com/TwitterPoetry
• Tweet Congress
• http//tweetcongress.org/
• Authors
• http//mashable.com/2009/05/08/twitter-authors/
• http//twitter.com/susanwrites
• BarackObama
• http//twitter.com/BarackObama

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How do I know they are who they say they are?
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Tweeting A Little Differently

• Historical Tweets
• http//historicaltweets.com/
• http//twitter.com/historicaltweet
• http//twitter.com/FoundingFather
• Literary Tweets
• http//twitter.com/halfPintIngalls
• http//twitter.com/thecatcher
• Writing Stories
• http//twittories.wikispaces.com/
• http//manyvoices.wikispaces.com/
• http//twitter.com/manyvoices

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Searching Twitter
http//search.twitter.com/
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Searching Tweets
http//topsy.com/
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Twitter Resources

• Twitpic
• http//twitpic.com/
• URL Shorteners
• http//bit.ly
• http//tinyurl.com
• Group Tweet
• http//www.grouptweet.com/

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Tweducation?

• Edmodo
• http//www.edmodo.com/

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Back To Twitter
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twtpoll

• Create polls using Twitter
• http//twtpoll.com/

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• http//twtpoll.com/4prkzu

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Other Places to Look

• Twitterholic
• http//twitterholic.com/
• We Follow
• http//wefollow.com/
• Tweetmeme
• http//tweetmeme.com/
• What the Trend
• http//whatthetrend.com/
• Twitter Passion
• http//twitterpassion.com/
• 100 Twitter Feeds To Make You a Better Teacher
• http//www.onlinecourses.org/2009/10/01/100-twitte
  r-feeds-to-make-you-a-better-teacher/

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• But the point is not Twitter, because something
  else will come along to challenge and replace it.
  Its the various forms of communication students
  need to master and the knowledge of which one,
  when, why, and how to use it effectively
  (Miners, 2009).

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http//www.socialsignal.com/cartoon
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Any Questions?

• Rose Tirotta, Instructional Designer
• Hofstra University
• Faculty Computing Services
• 516-463-6825
• rose.tirotta_at_hofstra.edu

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References

• CBS News (2009, June 15). Twitter tells tale of
  Iran election. CBS News. Retrieved from
  http//www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/15/tech/ma
  in5090788.shtml
• Dewey, J. (1902). The Child and the Curriculum.
  Chicago The University of Chicago Press.
• Dewey, J. (1910/2005). How we Think. New York
  Barnes and Noble.
• Glaser, M. (2007 October 25). California Wildfire
  Coverage by Local Media, Blogs, Twitter, Maps
  and More. Retrieved from http//www.pbs.org/medias
  hift/2007/10/california-wildfire- coverage-by-loca
  l-media-blogs-twitter-maps-and-more298.html
• Huberman, B. A., Romero, D. M., Wu, F. (2009).
  Social networks that matter Twitter under the
  microscope. First Monday, 14, 1-5.
• Kroski, E. (2008). All a Twitter. School Library
  Journal, 57 (7), pp. 31-35.
• Miners, Z. (2009, June 15). Tweeting your way to
  better grades. US News and World Report.
  Retrieved from http//www.usnews.com/articles/edu
  cation/2009/06/15/tweeting-your-way- to-better-gra
  des.html
• Pogue, D. (2009, January 15). Twittering Tips for
  Beginners. New York Times. Retrieved from
  http//pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/twitter
  ing-tips-for-beginners/
• Simon, M. (2008 April 25). Student 'Twitters' his
  way out of Egyptian jail. Retrieved from
  http//www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/i
  ndex.html
• Thompson, C. (2008, September 7). Brave New World
  of Digital Intimacy. New York Times. Retrieved
  from http//www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07
  awareness-t.html
• Young, M.F. (1993). Instructional design for
  situated learning. Educational Technology
  Research and Development, 41(1), pp. 43-58.