Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Twitter Reflection

I'm new to Twitter and still contemplating the fate of Twitter in my life.  To be honest, my first impression wasn't great.  With a full-time job, a 1-year-old, a 3-year-old and my online Masters degree in progress, I don't have a lot of time!  I don't have time to read tweets like this (keep in mind I've only subscribed to tweets from my personal learning network):
"I suck at telling time. Arrived at the airport 20 minutes before my flight. Thought it was an hour later. Still made it"
"4yr old boy climbed on a play house at gymnastics. 2littlegirls:u can't sit here. Boy:why? 2littlegirls:cuz we're girls & we rule the world."
I'm not going to "out" these tweeters because they probably have a lot more to say than what's here, so it's not fair to represent them this way.  But, these tweets are examples of why I haven't gotten hooked on Twitter yet.

To get more out of Twitter, I decided to follow some relevant hashtags (e.g. hashtags related to education, technology, teacher-librarianship).  First, because I'm passionate about the school library, I followed the hashtag, #tlchat.  By following this hastag, I came across some great resources and started thinking about the possibilities that Twitter had to offer.  For example, I came across this Livebinder that I think will be useful when I'm ready to teach online search strategies and more to my students:

Knowledge 2.0

The second hashtag I followed was #edchat.  The following tweet caught my eye:


She recommended a video about Twitter and it's inspired me to tap into Twitter more!

#tlchat and #edchat were the first two hashtags I searched, but Cathy Nelson highlights other hashtags that I'm excited to follow.  Over the next few weeks, I hope to explore Twitter more and use these hashtags to strengthen my personal learning network.



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5 comments:

  1. Deborah Cryderman27 October 2011 at 10:30

    I think following the right people (and having the right people follow you) is the way to get a lot out of twitter. I know - I get those "I'm putting on my socks" tweets, too. But intersperced are links like this one that I'm going to use right this instant:

    @thelibrarynews thelibrarynews
    Bringing Gaming (and Gamers) to Your Library: 100 Tips and Resources | OEDb: http://t.co/P8r22CS3

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  2. Anonymous29 October 2011 at 08:11

    Thanks Becky. I don't have the "phone" or the "pad" so using the one home computer to follow twitter has proven difficult. I too have the family, job and Masters classes so these tags will be useful.

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  3. Anonymous30 October 2011 at 13:24

    Great # list Becky! Thanks for posting it! :)

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  4. Cathy Jo Nelson30 October 2011 at 19:21

    Wow thanks for the ping!! You have definitely figured it out--you have to use your own tools to make Twitter work for you. Hashtags are the best. Cultivating a network of librarians as your contacts is another. Have you added me (aka @cathyjo)?

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  5. Becky Wilson31 October 2011 at 14:49

    Wow! Somebody is reading my blog! Now, this is exciting!

    Deborah, I have yet to tweet and if I did, I'm not sure who would get it...maybe 2 people, unless I added a hashtag....

    Kevin & Solveig, I hope the tags are useful! Thanks, Cathy!

    Cathy, I feel like a rock star just posted on my blog! Thanks! I follow your blog, but I didn't think to follow you on Twitter. I am now! Thanks for your great recommendations!

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