Twitter

**Task 9: Twitter (What are you doing?)**
Twitter is a micro blogging tool that lets you upload mini posts (140 characters or less) from your computer or mobile phone to the Twitter website. Twitter users receive updates via the Twitter website, RSS feeds, or even text messages. Your profile can be set to public which anyone can view or set to private that only allows invited users to follow. Choose to follow fellow educators and instantly see their posts as to what they are doing in class or interesting finds they encounter on the internet. The more followers you have and the more you Twitter the more people will follow you. Let the world know what you are doing!

Discovery Exercise
Watch the video below to find out more information about Twitter, how it is used, and how it can be useful for learning.

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Twitter Resources
Academhack - [|Twitter for Academia] Vicki Davis - [|Twitter Tips] [|A Teacher's Guide to Twitter]


 * HELP:** [|Getting started with Twitter] by Liz Davis (screencast on how to setup your account)

Part 1a:** Sign up for a [|Twitter] account. Go to the [|Google Doc] and add your Twitter ID in the correct column. Begin by following all the other members from the Pi 2.1 course and Brandon (wbdarrow), Amy (avalk), and Tami (olivert225). Add an interesting post such as a question, comment, or web link to an internet article. (**Note:** when posting web links on Twitter use [|TinyURL] since you are limited to 140 characters per post.) Once you start following other users and develop a following of your own you can check out the users they follow as well and choose whether or not to follow them too.
 * Task:

Visit [|this wiki] to find educators within your subject/interest area to follow. This is an excellent resource. Or check out this link that matches other users to your profile. ([|Who should I follow])
 * Wondering who to follow on Twitter?**

Our suggested educators to follow:
 * = teachakid ||= dkuropatwa ||
 * = coolcatteacher ||= mscofino ||
 * = budtheteacher ||= smartinez ||
 * = teach42 ||= khokanson ||
 * = GrammarGirl ||= stevehargadon ||
 * = AngelaMaiers ||= Angela Stockman ||
 * = courosa ||= jutecht ||  ||

Click [|here] to learn more about Twitter etiquette and other FAQs.


 * Part 1b:** Do a Twitter search. When you are logged into Twitter, you should see a search box. Type in a specific topic of interest and see what everyone (not just those you are following) on Twitter is saying about that topic. Often, there will be a plethora of links to videos, photos, and websites, as well as commentary. In the example below, I typed in the tag ("blc09") that they asked everyone at a specific conference to use. I got minute by minute reports about the conference with links to presentations.


 * Part2:** After reading the article(s) in the discovery exercise how can Twitter be a useful tool in the classroom? How can Twitter be a useful tool for teacher development? Do you find Twitter to be a good tool for sharing information with others? Post your comments on your wiki sandbox page.

//**Stretch Task:**// Download and install a desktop client for Twitter. The desktop client application runs in the background and lets you use Twitter from your desktop. Otherwise, you will have to go to the Twitter website and refresh the page constantly to get updates. [|Twhirl] is a good starter client, but feel free to check out the others and use one of them instead. [|TweetDeck] offers more customization features than Twhirl and is also worth evaluating. (Note: you must download [|Adobe Air] before these clients will open on your computer).

[|Desktop Client Review] [|TweetR] [|TweetDeck] [|Spaz]