by Mike Disher
What is important for us to know about Twitter? Since we know what happens when you ass-u-me anything, let’s lay some groundwork.
Twitter’s wheels started turning back in 2006 when co-founder Jack Dorsey first ‘tweeted’ the phrase “just setting up my twttr” on March 21. The Twitter service can probably best be described as a “micro-blogging” tool.
A “blog” is term that is actually an abbreviation of sorts for ‘web log’. Blogs are used for a myriad of purposes...what you are currently reading is our blog...a log of our thoughts about what is important to know about (in this post) Twitter. Individuals use blog’s to chronicle the events of their lives, organizations use them to discuss and promote their company and/or products, still others just use them as a way to keep interested persons aware of what projects they are working on.
What differentiates Twitter as a “micro-” blogging tool, is that you have only 140 characters to say (or provide a link or reference to) what you want to say. What is some of the terminology that you need to know?
Tweet - any (up to) 140 character message sent out via Twitter.
Follow - defines your decision to “keep up with” the Tweets of a specific user or organization.
Timeline - a chronological list of the Tweets published by those Twitter users that you “follow”.
Retweet - basically forwarding something that appeared in your Timeline to make sure that those who Follow you have opportunity to read that piece of information. When you Retweet , it is considered proper Twitter etiquette to cite the source.
Mentions - is how you communicate between and reference other accounts. If you want to send a tweet to somebody or include somebody in your tweet you will type in the @ symbol followed by their username. example: "hey @DishTech14 I love your blog!"
Hashtag - The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.” (taken from the Twitter help pages) Hashtags also are used to search for similar messages related to “trending” topics.
Because of our jobs, Deb in k-12 education and Mike in government, we thought a bit about how Twitter might be used in the sectors we find ourselves.
Educational uses of Twitter:
Need to know more? Check out these resources that might be helpful:
Twitter Tips for Beginning and Aspiring Tweeters
Getting Started with Twitter
Twitter Guide Book
Check back with http://dishtech.weebly.com weekly as we present “THE DISH” on topics of interest for the technology curious!
What is important for us to know about Twitter? Since we know what happens when you ass-u-me anything, let’s lay some groundwork.
Twitter’s wheels started turning back in 2006 when co-founder Jack Dorsey first ‘tweeted’ the phrase “just setting up my twttr” on March 21. The Twitter service can probably best be described as a “micro-blogging” tool.
A “blog” is term that is actually an abbreviation of sorts for ‘web log’. Blogs are used for a myriad of purposes...what you are currently reading is our blog...a log of our thoughts about what is important to know about (in this post) Twitter. Individuals use blog’s to chronicle the events of their lives, organizations use them to discuss and promote their company and/or products, still others just use them as a way to keep interested persons aware of what projects they are working on.
What differentiates Twitter as a “micro-” blogging tool, is that you have only 140 characters to say (or provide a link or reference to) what you want to say. What is some of the terminology that you need to know?
Tweet - any (up to) 140 character message sent out via Twitter.
Follow - defines your decision to “keep up with” the Tweets of a specific user or organization.
Timeline - a chronological list of the Tweets published by those Twitter users that you “follow”.
Retweet - basically forwarding something that appeared in your Timeline to make sure that those who Follow you have opportunity to read that piece of information. When you Retweet , it is considered proper Twitter etiquette to cite the source.
Mentions - is how you communicate between and reference other accounts. If you want to send a tweet to somebody or include somebody in your tweet you will type in the @ symbol followed by their username. example: "hey @DishTech14 I love your blog!"
Hashtag - The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.” (taken from the Twitter help pages) Hashtags also are used to search for similar messages related to “trending” topics.
Because of our jobs, Deb in k-12 education and Mike in government, we thought a bit about how Twitter might be used in the sectors we find ourselves.
Educational uses of Twitter:
- As a professional educator:
- A way to connect with other educators around the world and share information.
- Another way to stay current with educational/technological trends.
- A way to attend (virtually attend) conferences/workshops.
- As a student:
- Brainstorming.
- Sharing websites.
- Back channel during a classroom lecture, presentation, etc. Students can share keypoints, reflect, review information shared by following a particular hashtag.
- Closures
- Roads
- Parks
- Beaches
- Hazard notifications
- Service interruptions/status
- Keeping in touch with elected officials
- Policy-making collaboration
Need to know more? Check out these resources that might be helpful:
Twitter Tips for Beginning and Aspiring Tweeters
Getting Started with Twitter
Twitter Guide Book
Check back with http://dishtech.weebly.com weekly as we present “THE DISH” on topics of interest for the technology curious!