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SocialNetworking

Page history last edited by brunsell 12 years, 9 months ago

What are social networks?

 

 

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The concept of social networks is powerful for making your learning network “come alive.” I do use Facebook to keep in touch with my students (current and former) and some friends, but it hasn’t been useful for professional development. However, the social network site, Twitter, has become very valuable to expanding and growing my personal learning network.

OK, so you probably have heard of Twitter. It seems like every time you turn around, someone on TV is twittering. I'm pretty sure CNN's Rick Sanchez was the first mainstream TV personality that incorporated Twitter into his show. Others soon followed. Now, you can find Oprah, Aston Kutcher, and Shaq. Woo hoo! You use Twitter to tweet 140 character messages about what you are doing. For example: (@brunsell I'm working on an online course and getting eaten by mosquitoes...in my house!) Who cares? Thankfully, you can also follow science teachers, scientists, NASA missions, ed tech experts, and science bloggers. You can communicate with them and see what they are reading and doing online. You can ask them questions, ask for help, or provide support. Just as you learn with your colleagues, you can learn with your network -- but you are not constrained by geography!

How to describe Twitter… On its surface, it seems like a complete waste of time. If you are struggling with blogs as being mostly for pointless rambling about useless stuff…just wait. Twitter is a “microblog.” It challenges you to answer the question, “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. Here is a good video explanation-



Yes, it is instant messaging meets blogging, but who cares what random people are doing? Not me…mostly. Twitter does give you the ability to expand and interact with your learning network. Here are two blog posts that explain why Twitter is useful (Jeff Nugent & Steve Dembo). I even got in on the action with a US News & World Reports interview & story!

 

More on Twitter:

A NEA article about Twitter.

 

Research presentation on teachers using Twitter (Brunsell, Alderton & Bariexca, Twitter starts on slide 19)

 

#scichat

 

How do you build a Twitter network?


Unfortunately, you don’t get instant gratification from Twitter. It does take an investment in time and energy to build a good network. To build a network, you need to to know one simple thing… You follow people and people follow you. You want to follow people that have backgrounds that you find interesting (science teachers, ed tech, news junkies, Mars Phoenix Lander, etc.). When you post (Tweet) to Twitter, people that are following you see it in their Twitter stream. So, when you follow people, you see their Tweets on your page.

(Note – “things” can be on Twitter too. The public outreach coordinator for NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Tweet as if they are the spacecraft. The New York Times - tweets their top science stories. Newsjunkies tweets top political stories. You will find these in my network.)

Build your Twitter network by following Dale Basler ( a physics teacher in Wisconsin - www.twitter.com/basler) @gardenglen and me (www.twitter.com/brunsell). Look at who we are following and decide if you want to follow them also. You can also look at who they are following and follow them. Along the way, you will notice that many of these people have blogs. Take a look and see if you want to add any to Google Reader! Congrats, you are Twitter Surfing!

Interacting with your network helps it grow too. Watch your Twitter stream. If you see something that you want to comment on, you can “reply” directly by typing @account and then the message. Sometimes you will get a response, other times you won’t. But, by using @brunsell (for example), everyone that follows me will see it…and potentially start following you.

 

Hashtags are another useful "tool" on Twitter.  Hastags (#tag -- ie: #scichat) allows Twitter users to organize posts. For example, many educators include #edchat in their posts.  This lets other educators quickly search for education related tags.  I facilitate a discussion for science educators that uses the #scichat hashtag.

 

Edutopia has two great articles on Twitter & Professional Learning Networks (here and here)

 

How do I use my Twitter network?


I interact with my Twitter network on an almost daily basis. I generally have it running in the background while I am on the computer. I’ll occasionally read my twitter stream & comment. I’ll tweet when I post something new to my blog. If I am reading something that I think others will find interesting, I tweet it. Occasionally, I’ll post something “random” that I am doing. What does this get me-

  1. It is social. I feel like I know (at least to some extent) the people behind the blogs that I read.
  2. It is a great resource – I get relevant articles, websites, web2.0 tools, etc. from my network
  3. I can get feedback. I can ask my network questions (Ie: examples of good classroom wikis) and get responses. It does take time for this to work well, the more people that follow you, the more likely you are to get a response.
  4. By surfing, I find new and interesting blogs to read. I make a point of doing this on a weekly basis…much more frequently when I first started.

 

Your Turn

Create an account at www.twitter.com, start following Dale and me, and Twitter Surf! Start by following around 25 accounts. Add or remove as you see fit. You will really start to see action (and get responses) when you get up to around 100 people that you follow. Make sure you follow @Coursa, @wfryer, @basler, @bbartel, @ehoffman, @gardenglen, @arosey, @willrich45...oh, and me too - @brunsell. (Go to "Find People" and then search for them).  An easy way to find a bunch of science teachers to follow is to search for #scichat and then start following all of the participants.

Add your Twitter account on the participants page. So that others in the class can follow you.

Please use your twitter account on a regular basis over the next few weeks. Remember, it does take some investment of time in order to see a benefit. Follow people, say ‘hi’ if you see me online, search for science teachers (or others), surf for new blogs, and most importantly, interact with your network!  Also, do your best to participate in the #scichat events (dates listed on the front page for this wiki).

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