To twit or not to twit

[Leigh Thelmadatter]

On one site I use to connect with other English teachers,David's ELT World discussion forums, there is a lively thread on Twitter. IT basically started out with an invitation to those on the forum to connect via Twitter, but it has quickly grown to 'battle' (for lack of a better word) between those of us who love it and those who hate it.

Now, from the last sentence, you probably guessed that I love Twitter. And I do. But Im not going to soapbox here and tell you that unless you use Twitter, youre some kind of Luddite. After all, the aforementioned debate is among people who are at least fairly-well-acquainted with the Web, most of whom use other Web 2.0 tools. There's an aside in the thread as to whether or not once can classify a forum as a "social networking site" But I have to admit I was a little taken aback to how strongly some "anti-Twitter" folks argued their points. Twitter is absolutely useless... period! I dont know whether Twitter either turns people off that strongly or whether the feelings stem from some kind of defensiveness, or both.... or maybe there is something else to consider.

I got onto Twitter thanks to Frank (the glorious leader of this ning! :D) and I have to admit, was wasnt terribly impressed at first. The problem for me was that there was no obvious way to find people to follow so I could have interesting stuff to read. Frank then told me about Mr Tweet and other sites related to Twitter to get started. Once I did that, slowly I started to build a repertoire of people to follow, almost all of whom are in English language teaching. But once the ball started rolling, it rolled well! From following the "tweets" of the "tweople" in Twitter (I know, corny as hell) Ive gotten tips on websites to check out, new concepts to investigate, news as to who has updated their blog and more. Im following tweets of some very well-known people in the EFL world, such as Graham Stanley. There is some banter: talk about kids, who has had a bad day, politics and whatnot but mostly its nice to break up the shop-talk and doesnt get to be too overwhelming often.

Personally, I dont get much out of tweeting myself. I tweet when I update my blog or my wiki, frankly to promote them. By tweeting, I also get people who follow me. When that happens I get an email, and I check the new follower to see if its someone I want to follow. But primarily I get a whole lot more by "listening" than "talking".... mmmmm .... like real life, ¿verdad?

However, Ill be one of the first ones to admit Twitter has its drawbacks. It is a very simple Web 2.0 application... too simple. There is no way to sort out incoming tweets ... when I open my page, its all in reverse chronological order ... period. I cant sort out the people I follow by interests... ed tech folks versus regular-old-teachers for examples or family, if I were following family. That criticism comes up frequently on Twitter. The fact that Twitter is so simple, is the reason "companion sites" like Mr Tweet, Tweetscan, Twemes etc have popped up... to do what Twitter cannot. So for a newbie, there is no way to know that these sites, which are independent of Twitter itself, exist. Yesterday and today I have been trying to follow the IATEFL conference in Twitter... and found myself with a headache! The live micro-blogging of workshops was extremely hard to follow. Basically I had pages of tweets from the same person trying to capture what the speaker was saying like a court reporter. But of course this report appears backwards on my screen. Would be nice if Twitter can go directly to where I left off last time I was logged in so I can read forwards... but I have to read back to find the last tweet I read.

Those of us who were advocating the use of Twitter in the ELT World forum were basically saying, "hey, here's something that could be useful." I dont think I came across as accusing anyone of being a Luddite. Like all Web 2.0 applications, its got its pros and its cons. I still use other social networking venues such as that forum EFL Classroom 2.0 and META of course because no single one of them does it all for me. META is Mexico-focuses (more or less) and heavy into technology. Classroom 2.0 is worldwide and has some features META does not. I use Twitter to keep up with whats new in the field (and often with people a whole lot higher up the food chain than me). ELT World is best for pure "chewing the fat" with other folks teaching and living abroad.

OK, some people hate Twitter... but dont hate those of us who love it!

[Frank]

Eric ... Twitter is the noun .. and Tweet is the verb .. hehehe .. So one tweets using Twitter. Twitter is a tool that takes a lot of growing into .. as it takes a bit of time to cultivate a meaningful and self-sustaining network. Most power tweeters started off skeptical and befuddled at first. Then one day, the sea parts and all the treasures are revealed.

[Eric Roth]

Good discussion on an evolving technology that just hasn't captured my attention. Perhaps I'm too fond of extended arguments - like this provocative post - and distrustful of the 140 character format. Doesn't that just sound like thought reductionism?
But, as a global educator and 21st citizen, I will maintain an open mind. I'm more of a second or third wave adapter. It's good to know, however, that some educators have found Tweeter a useful tool for professional development.
Finally, isn't there a large range of options between love and hate? I seem to dwell in those murky gray areas quite a bit.

[Melissa]

Hmmm, could you throw a black berry the way of a poor public university teacher????

[Leigh Thelmadatter]

Yeah I saw your post and answered. I would like to know what you do and how it works out. If someone I know... like a real teacher... uses m-learning with success, Ill be more open-minded than say a program that is obviously some way for the school to make money with a corporate sponsor

[Melissa]

Interesting side note. My brother has used twitter for quiet some time now, he's a cell phone nerd so he sends them from his cell. Well last summer he had an aneurysm and fell into a coma which lasted for two weeks. During that time his friends made a collection of his "twits" from the week before.

I posted a new question on Dave's. Is this something I could do with my students? I'm always looking for ways to remind them that they are studying English in addition to engineering!

[Frank]

I have always said that Twitter is like "just-in-time" professional development. You just need to go to the edge of the ever-flowing river and take a drink to quench whatever thirst you may have. Lots of goodies and links to be harvested. Like Leigh said, the secret to getting started is to get a few good people in your network and then start harvesting their networks based on what you read and like. Feel free to steal some of mine at http://twitter.com/metaweb20 ... last week, I also started a new Twitter account just for META alers, it is http://twitter.com/metamexico ... feel free to follow either or both.