Twitter: As A Professional Development Tool

cynthia wetzel

Twitteras a professional development

tool

September 2011MGCCC Employee Development

licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Social Networking is BIG

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-and-social-networks.aspxhttp://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Networking-Sites.aspx

3rd highest Internet activity, after email & search engine use

2005 : only 8% of American Internet users ~ 5% of all American adults

2011 : over 65% of American Internet users ~ 50% of all American adults

61% increase from 2010 Double from 2008

Facebook (92%) MySpace (29%)

LinkedIn (18%) Twitter (13%)

93% OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS BELIEVE EVERY COMPANY SHOULD HAVE A

SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

http://www.businessesgrow.com/2009/07/17/social-media-in-numbers-too-big-to-ignore/

5.0 billion Minutes spent on Facebook every DAY

3.6 billion Photos uploaded to Flickr (June 2009)

100 million YouTube videos viewed per DAY13 million Articles on Wikipedia

3 million Tweets per day on Twitter

Just what is Twitter?

• A social network begun in 2006, based in California

• A form of text messaging; also called micro-blogging

• Supporting 17 languages, it is used around the world

• 100 million “active users” in just five years

~ More than half are daily users

• 60% of users have joined in the last year (Pew 2011)

• 40% of users only follow and do not tweet

http://blog.twitter.com/2011/09/one-hundred-million-voices.html

Some Definitions

Tweet• Message sent via Twitter• Limited to 140 characters

including sender’s ID• Can be a reply, a retweet, or

a direct message• Can include hashtag(s),

link(s), or @mentions (“at mentions”)

• Also a verb, to tweet

“On Twitter, the people

I follow provide me

with more relevant

links & information

than any other tool. It

saves me time & helps

me learn about new

technologies or

innovative ideas, as

they are happening.”

Some Definitions

TweetFollow/Follower• Basic social relationship of

Twitter• Allows one to see a person’s

“tweets” even if protected• Not always reciprocal

“On Twitter, the people

I follow provide me

with more relevant

links & information

than any other tool. It

saves me time & helps

me learn about new

technologies or

innovative ideas, as

they are happening.”

Some Definitions

TweetFollow/FollowerHashtag• System to tag tweets by

content or relationship• Provides a means to follow

topics, events, discussion• Often used as commentary:

#couldbeworse, #soclever• Can be overdone & usually is

“… you can’t

build a

community in 10

minutes. Your

network requires

time. Not a large

amount of time,

but time and

attention to

achieve its

potential.”

Some Definitions

TweetFollow/FollowerHashtagRetweet• Tweeting a message you

received, i.e., forwarding to your followers

• Method to further distribute information

• Also a verb, to retweet

“… you can’t

build a

community in 10

minutes. Your

network requires

time. Not a large

amount of time,

but time and

attention to

achieve its

potential.”

Some Definitions

TweetFollow/FollowerHashtagRetweetTimeline, Feed or Stream• List of tweets in real-Time

order• Newest messages are first

“…research strongly

suggests that two-

thirds […] of Twitter

users are really just

using the service as a

human-powered

information

distribution and

filtering service”

Some Definitions

TweetFollow/FollowerHashtagRetweetTimeline, Feed or StreamTrends• Topics which are

immediately & at the moment popular

• May be hashtags or not

“…research strongly

suggests that two-

thirds […] of Twitter

users are really just

using the service as a

human-powered

information

distribution and

filtering service”

What Twitter is not

• A chat application

• A blog

• A social network like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn

Some say it isn’t a social network at all but a “real-time information network” or a “personal quick response network”

• Private!

If you wouldn’t shout it from the roof-top, don’t tweet it.

• For everyone

So who is on Twitter?

• 13% of online American adults

• 200 million accounts

• Individuals—real & imaginary– professionals, politicians, artists

• Businesses, corporations, non-profit organizations, governments

• Magazines, newspapers, television shows, writers, actors, animals

Okay, now what?

Now… sign up for an account at twitter.com

You need a Twitter name and a password.Both can be changed, but changing your Twitter name after you have followers can be confusing.

Not quite ready to sign up?Then, look around a bit. Just pick a topic, search for a person & see what’s going on ...

http://twitter.com/search or http://twitter.com/#!/search-home

http://twitter.com/#!/search-advanced

a Twitter user’s homepage

In this selection of Tweeters are librarians, libraries, authors, professors, illustrators, education & technology websites, book resources, professional organizations, conference streams, and… a “spiritual advisor.”

Creating your Twitter ID

http://twitter.com

Full NameEmailPasswordUsername

Each of these items can be changed in either the Account

or Profile settings

The Fine Art of Tweeting

Be concise.If you use all 140 characters, there’s no room for someone to retweet with their own comment

Modifying your TweetsUse “MT” instead of “RT” if you edit the original tweet

Links in your TweetsUse a link shortener, like bit.ly – which will also let you track traffic from your posted link

Media in your TweetsUse a third-party service, like twitpic

Information Overload!

Evaluate & Weed

GOAL: highest yield for least investment

minimize frustration

maximize enjoyment

Drowning in Your Own Stream??

ditch the duplication

migrate from the middle-man

shelve the self-promoters

un-follow the uninteresting

999

There are currently about 20 titles in the our library collections with content about Twitter. Many are marketing books, along with basic how-to selections. Several are electronic books.

In our Library

I recently found these interesting titles, too.They aren’t in the Library collections, but they’re in mine—or soon will be.

Another One, Just for Fun

Reco

mm

end

ed

Read

ing

7 Things You Should Know About Twitterhttp://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7027.pdf

Academics & Colleges Split their Personalities http://chronicle.com/article/College-20-Academics-and/127936/

Twittering, not Frittering: Professional Development in 140 Characters http://www.edutopia.org/twitter-professional-development-technology-microblogging

Twitter as a Personal Information Network http://whatsnewintheworld.net/2010/01/twitter-as-a-pln/comment-page-1/#comment-1599

100 Serious Twitter Tips for Academicshttp://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2009/07/21/100-serious-twitter-tips-for-academics/

50 Ways to use Twitter in the Classroomhttp://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/06/08/50-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-college-classroom/

HIGHLY

Additio

nal R

ead

ing

http://librarianbyday.net/2010/10/15/10-ways-twitter-will-make-you-a-better-employee-better-at-your-job-and-benefit-your-library/

http://web20teach.blogspot.com/2007/08/twitter-tweets-for-higher-education.html

An Educator’s Guide to Twitter http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/34291

My 13 Golden Rules of Twitter http://www.cnbc.com/id/40853842

http://twitterin10.com

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/06/what_the_heck_are_we_doing_on.html

http://mpbreflections.blogspot.com/2011/06/participation-yields-innovation-success.html

http://www.businessesgrow.com/2009/08/29/why-i-block-on-twitter/

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2009/06/new_twitter_research_men_follo.html

Reso

urce

shttp://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-and-social-networks.aspx

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Networking-Sites.aspx

http://www.businessesgrow.com/2009/07/17/social-media-in-numbers-too-big-to-ignore/

http://blog.twitter.com/2011/09/one-hundred-million-voices.html

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Twitter-Update-2011.aspx

http://www.business.com/info/engaging-small-business-through-social-media via http://www.businessesgrow.com/2009/12/10/small-business-owners-struggle-with-twitter/

http://www.alchemyofchange.net/twitter-is-not-a-social-network/

http://www.sysomos.com/insidetwitter/

http://tannervision.blogspot.com/2009/10/twitteracy-twitter-as-professional.html