Be a Follower!

Since 2006 the social networking website Twitter has been gaining in popularity as one of the best tools for staying connected over the Internet. How does it work? So glad you asked!

Considered a micro-blog, Twitter allows its users to read and send messages, known as tweets, with a 140-character limit. This message will be displayed on the author’s profile page, where it can then be seen by the author’s subscribers, or followers.  Users can also add a hash tag to their tweets, which identifies the subject of a tweet. For example, an English teacher with two British Literature classes could create a hash tag for each of her classes to keep both informed of assignments and allow students to communicate with each other.

Although a survey found that the content of almost 41% of tweets consisted of “pointless babble,” Twitter has recently tried to shift its focus to more of a news and information source. During the 2007 California wild fires, Twitter users were able to get some of the most up-to-date information about fire and emergency locations to their followers, who were often neighbors and friends. During the 2009 Iranian presidential election, Twitter was one of the only forms of communication that protesters were able to use to broadcast their message outside of the country after the government blocked most modes of communication.

The use of Twitter in the classroom is growing daily. Not only is this an excellent tool to communicate with people across the world, Twitter is very effective at keeping teachers connected to their students. Some instructors have adopted a policy that students must tweet a question or ideas they have about the days lesson. Some universities have also started having students tweet feedback to instructors at the end of a course, as opposed to the usual course evaluations.