Technology Teacher: Twitter… AGAIN!

Okay! I know I talked a while ago in this post about Twitter and how I still didn’t get it. I am getting better, but to be honest, I guess I just don’t have the friends or the time.That’s what I need to work on.

Do I REALLY need to work on it?

No, only if I want to.

I know that everybody seems to think it is the next best thing to “sliced-bread” as Howard Rheingold states in his blog here.

I know that if I get “into” it, I will develop friends and find it more useful.

I just switched from Google Reader to netvibes.com (Thanks to a suggestion/recommendation from Jeff Utecht.) I have a tab on netvibes.com that is called Social. It has MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter on that tab. So now I can keep that tab open and be READY for Twitter …

It is hard for me to think that hearing some people talk about how they are sitting there waiting for a plane to take off (Sorry Will ) or talking about the wonderful ribs they are cooking (Sorry Steve) is worth my time and effort!

OKAY, NOW! Will and Steve, you guys are big enough to be a good example here and not take things personally, right? Will, I know that you were worried about your children flying to Atlanta to visit the G’parents and Steve, my 30DBBB friend, your ribs looked mouthwatering!

So…That’s where I could be wrong. It could be well worth my effort!

I need to develop a community that will be there for me when I need them. In order to create that community, I need to be there for them. I can’t just be an occasional “sucking out bits of wisdom” lurker in the “twittersphere.” I need to follow people, help them when they ask for help (especially new people), follow their ideas or thoughts, and look at what content they are talking about. I need to respond to their content.

Now that is one place where I am confused.

When I like their content, do I re-tweet it? That’s what one suggestion I read said.

Do I @them to tell them I liked what they said? Or is that bothering them?

I know I don’t DM them unless we have something “personal/not for broadcast to the world” to discuss.

I guess if they follow me or see me re-tweeting their message that is enough for them to know I liked it or thought it was worthwhile, right?

How often/how long are people on Twitter every day?

I guess most people have their computer on all day long at school/work/home and also have their twitter feed open at the bottom of the computer all day long. They look at it or have it set to make a noise or flash something when someone they follow makes a tweet. Then they know when/how to respond.

Do most school systems allow this to be going on during the day at school while a teacher is teaching a class of students? Or is most of this tweeting done during breaks, lunch, after school, or at home in the evening?

I know last semester when I was an Interim Teacher in a Computer Lab, I did not have time to Tweet. Some days getting a break to use the bathroom in an elementary school is a MAJOR undertaking!

I know that I would have been in trouble spending time Tweeting when I taught in a K-8 Computer Lab (but perhaps it wasn’t even available then!)

When do you tweet?

How are you able to tweet?

I know I’ve heard all these great examples of how people get lots of responses to their “burning questions” of the moment, how there were twitter pictures of the landing on the Hudson River, how Teach Paperless expects his students to use Twitter for tests and daily class work.

I like the immediacy of it. I like the global feature of it. I like the sharing part of it. Howard Rheingold states some of these very characteristics that I have mentioned that makes him feel Twitter is a great tool. Characteristics of Twitter Howard Rheingold touts are

Openness, Immediacy, Variety, Reciprocity, A channel to multiple publics, Asymmetry, A way to meet new people, A window on what is happening in multiple worlds, Community-forming, A platform for mass collaboration, and Searchability.

These are all admirable, great reasons to use Twitter.

So what’s not to like?

There’s just a tiny bit of me that sees it as a product of our society in which we all want immediate gratification, (but in this-day-and-age who wants to wait for the Pony Express to bring the answer in the mail!) and also I see it as part of the society that has produced so many ADHD students.

So tell me more…

about how it is really good for you.

AND how it could really work for me.