Twitter ... why tweet?

I'm pretty sure I'm preaching to the converted but I can't believe it took me so long to join the conversation. I've known of twitter probably since it began but until now didn't see how useful it could be. Since joining, my personal learning network and my personal knowledge management has expanded.

I joined twitter, not because I had been persuaded it was a wonderful tool for short, witty conversation, sharing links and videos or keeping up with the latest news but because I saw that most of the people I follow on Facebook, Google Reader and Blogs had twitter accounts. I suddenly felt I was missing something.

Now I'm addicted. At present I have 37 followers (this is more than any other social media I'm involved with and I'm quite impressed) and I follow 81 tweeters. Those I follow fall into 3-4 broad categories: News; Australian politics; Social Learning (e-learning, informal learning, workplace learning); Climate Change; and some well known Australian/American/English identities.

The big thing about twitter is that your tweets are restricted to 140 characters. Surprisingly 140 characters is quite a bit of text:

Though users can answer the prompt, “What are you doing?”, tweets have evolved to more than everyday experiences, where links are shared

The above represents 139 characters, so your tweets can make sense, be very witty and clever. The core premise of twitter is responding to: "what are you doing?" as indicated above but tweets have become so much more than that. Have you seen tiny urls? they came about because of twitter's restriction to 140 characters, so now most links shared on twitter is shortened to enable understandable text with the link.

It's easy to sign-up, go to twitter.com click sign-up and follow the prompts. During the sign-up process you will be asked to follow suggested tweeters (up to five) - I found this a bit annoying and didn't realise I could skip this. On the other hand when the process finished I was receiving tweets which was quite rewarding. Also, you can adjust who you follow later. I've found a short video that takes you through the sign-up process.

Mashable.com has put together a Twitter Guide which covers all things twitter such as, how to retweet, what hashtags are for, favourites and so much more.

I found this article provides insight into: why twitter? Essentially, tweeters like how twitter ignores barriers of class, age and locale, the 140 character restriction which means more thought is put into each tweet.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest where does twitter fit into social learning? For me, twitter has broadened the reach of my personal learning network (PLN). A PLN is a great way to connect with people in your area of work, to learn what they're doing/thinking and to contribute your thoughts. A wonderful form of social learning.

And to quote from one of my PLN mentors/coaches: "Twitter is a wonderful tool for sharing quick ideas, links and articles. It offers the user access to industry experts, authors, like-minded practitioners, fellow hobbyists and yes, celebrities. ... A great place to find help or advice" Jane Bozarth Social Media for Trainers.



If you do take the plunge, find me @anniemonline.