Twitter- Changes in Networking
Stats in November ’07: 
Stats in December ’07: 
I joined Twitter in May of 2007, with the intention of trying it out. Blogging in 140 characters or less? What would the benefits be? I had read many comments on various blogs that people were just not getting the Twitter phenomena. So , I figured I was just going to throw myself into it to see.
Here is my first tweet back in May:
I am going trough my Twitter archive. Too bad that there is no search function according to time. I have to click myself through 20 Twitters at a time until I got to the oldest.
I twittered along for the next months, since then it has evolved somehow/something like this:
- Reading other tweets more than twittering…
- Twittering things that I was doing professionally at school…
- Stating unrelated facts “What are your doing”
- Traveling with Twitter to Germany, New York & Egypt
- Venturing into asking questions from other Twitter friends- Not much response. Asking myself : No one is interested or I don’t have “enough” friends on the network?
- Keep twittering
- Announcing an upload when I finish a blog posts on Twitter
- Go through list of the people who my followers are following. Adding them or request to add them.
- Continue to have the people who want to follow my twitters go through my approval first. Trying to keep Followers and Followees at the same number. (Don’t know why…?) Only will accept fellow educators.
- Starting to make a conscious effort to use “@username” more to respond to other tweets. Maybe it is not all about what I AM doing, but to let others know that one is interested in what THEY ARE doing.
- Making sure I share links to cool new tools with others.
- Starting to get responses to my tweets via @langwitches- Good feeling to be in a conversation now…able to contribute something for others.
- Trying to find collaborators on new school projects through twitter.
- Checking Twitter first before my Bloglines and Google Reader. Sometimes even before my e-mail. Oh my….
- Checking Twitter specifically to see if there is any live event/chat/ustream going on in the world.
- Starting to have fun with Twitter profile pictures.
- Changing settings. Not protecting my updates any more. Still checking who the person is who has started to follow me. Will block them if not an educator.
- Finding great blogs of other educators by following the trail from twitter profiles.
- Answering “Shout-outs” from people I follow who are trying to demonstrate the power of Twitter to others.
- Enjoying a Twitter Hanukkah by following Twitters in Israel and other Jews around the world. Makes me feel connected and not so lonely in the “Bible Belt”.
- Answering a Shout-out from someone who is writing an article about tech integration in elementary school. Within an hour we skyped and I send her links and projects we have been working on at school for her to include in the article. Through other people answering her shout out, I am expanding my Twitter network with more elementary school educators. Others are starting to follow me because of this twitter exchange.
- Meeting for the first time a Twitter friend in real life. Amazed how much we know (professionally) of each other just by following each other’s tweets. Almost feels like “déjà vu”. You know about the fact/incident/story, but there is no recollection of the moment that person told it to you.
- Amazed at the speed of responses from people all over the world when someone needs a tip or suggestion.
- I catch myself thinking of Twitter immediately when I am doing something that think others might be interested in. I am starting to learn about different “Twitter personalities” and their interests. Specifically sending out tweets addressed to individuals.
- Starting to use Direct Messages more.
- Realizing that it is not the 140 characters or less that make sense about Twitter, but the SENSE of community and the process one goes through in becoming part of that community.
That was a stroll through memory lane (Archive lane) in 140 characters or less per memory. Wow! I would like to archive the tweets separately. Since it is some kind of record “What I have been doing/thinking/responding to in the last months.
Is there a better way than using a screen capture tool for each twitter or copy/paste into a Word doc. Any ideas anyone? Well I probably should twitter that question. I am sure I will get a faster answer through Twitter rather than wait for my blog post to show up in people’s Bloglines or Google Reader.
You have really captured the power of Twitter. I feel like I have gone through a very similar evolution. On Friday I had a perfect Twitter experience. I was struggling with a technology problem – what tool to use for a particular school project. I tweeted the problem and got 10 suggestions within 5 minutes. Most of the suggestions were great, and one was just right. It was awesome, literally, to feel the power of the network to help me when I was stuck.
One difference in the way my Twitter experience has evolved. I started out not protecting my updates. When I got involved with the Twittories project, I started following a lot of non-educators. I found much of what they had to say was irrelevant to my professional life and some of it inappropriate for school. Subsequently, I stopped following them and started protecting my updates. I may open up again, but right now I feel safer not tweeting out to the world.
Liz,
I have found that when I follow someone’s @username from within a Twitter and they have protected updates, I am less likely to ask to follow them, since I was not able to find out more about them. Are they educators? Interested/involved in some of the same things as myself? I am sure that happens to others as well. So this was a block for expanding my network. When someone follows my updates, I receive an e-mail, which allows me to click through to their profile and see if their have a website or blog listed. If they are not educators, I will block them immediately. If their updates are interesting I start following them too. I have “found/discovered” some great new blogs this way lately.
This does sound familiar. I’ve made recent changes, too, deciding only to follow people who follow me. That was mostly so I wouldn’t be confused about conversations (though sometimes obviously I still am). But mostly, it was so that I wouldn’t feel compelled to try to answer someone who wouldn’t even get the message! I do follow a couple of non-educators (runners I used to blog with and a couple of “idea” twitters.
I just started tweeting yesterday, trying to make some sense of it. I only have five people I am following (you are one of them!) and one following me and even that seems a bit overwhelming. Thanks for sharing your “Twitter evolution”. I love your idea of following educator twitters. As a new elementary tech teacher I am a bit overwhelmed by everything out there and wanting to do everything for the ultimate benefit of my students, I need to stay focused on the task at hand…
Thanks for sharing all your knowledge, your “finds”, your thoughts and putting your questions out there!
Susan,
I do worry that it sounds “snobbish” to maybe only follow people who follow me or block people who are not educators. I don’t want to be in an excluding/exclusive “club”. On the other hand, talking about education, expanding my professional horizon and giving and receiving links that will further my professional development IS the reason I twitter.
Liana,
Hold on, because Twitter will be a wild ride. You will never lack good tips, tricks and different points of view. We need a strong elementary school presence. Looking forward to reading Twitters from you and checking your blog out. I am following you now.
Smiles —
your 3rd to the last on your list happened to me tonight.
I was invited to a Christmas dinner and they served Pork Roast — my exact thoughts were “I HAVE TO TWITTER THIS” because there is a frequent reference to Pork Roast Nachos on Twitter (if we follow the same people) and I just had to laugh.
My friend, who knows I twitter, saw my look and told her mom “Jen will be right back, she has to twitter about the meat you served!”
Grins, I waited until dinner was over — but YES, I twittered it….
Sad — but true. (smiles)
Jen
[...] has taken on a very important role in my online networking. I have written about Twitter-Changes in Networking back in December [...]