TWITTER TIPS AND TRIYOUR LIBRARY AND CLASSROOMBy Melissa Purcell

Students communicate daily using text messaging and social networking sites. Microbloggingsites can allow students to interact in a two-way conversation online, anytime, anywhere. Thebest dialogs occur when students interact with one another—asking each other probing andthought-provoking questions, complementing and commenting on one another's thoughts,and adding to the discussion with new information. In a classroom with limited class time itis almost impossible to give every student in the class an opportunity to speak. Some studentsare shy and inhibited while other students constantly dominate classroom discussions. Toolssuch as Twitter minimize these challenges by providing every student an opportunity to havetheir voice heard.

Twitter, the top microblogging site, hit a landmark in February 2012 when it signed up its500 millionth member. It seems everyone has a Twitter account, including our president (@BarackObama). Whether students are summarizing information, asking questions about specificmaterials, conversing in a different language, or following an expert in the field. Twitter providesan excellent platform for educational communication.

TWIÜER TERMINOLOGYBlog—A shortened form ofthe words "web log." A blog is ajournai, diary, or other collection ofwriting and information that is usually displayed in reverse chronological order with the newestposts at the top. A typical blog combines text, images, links, and other media related to its topic.

Follower—Someone who subscribes to a blog or microblog to keep up with all the latest postsfor their selected sites.

Hashtag—Used in microblogging services to group posts about a specific topic together to makesearching for that topic easy. A hashtag consists of the hash symbol (#) followed by words or phrases.

Microblog—^A short, concise journal, diary, or other collection of writing and information thatis usually displayed in reverse chronological order with the newest posts at the top. The shortexchange of information encourages more interaction between the blogger and followers.

Top ten reasons to incorporate Twitter into your library and classrooms (in 140 charactersorless, of course):

TWIÜER

10) Is free.9) Improves student writing through regularpractice.8) Provides students hands-on use oftechnology.7) Encourages self-editing by requiringstudents to edit their posts before publishing.6) Embraces the fact that learning has asocial context.5) Allows students to do the 4 Cs—Create,Collaborate, Connect, and Communicate.

4) Provides an authentic audience, whichmotivates students to do their best workbecause it will be public.3) Allows practice summarizing ideas in aconcise way, which is a standards-basedwriting strategy.2) Gives everyone a chance to participate andexpress their thoughts.1) Engages the students because they think itis fun!

Microblogging—Process of writing a microblog.

Microblogger—Someone who writes amicroblog.

Retweet—Sending out a tweet on Twitter thatis the exact posting of someone else's tweetwith their username attached to ensure theyare given credit for the original tweet. Themore times information is retweeted, the morepeople it reaches.

Tweets—Posts on the social networking andmicroblogging site Twitter. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayedon a user's Twitter profile page.

Twitter (http://twitter.com) is a socialnetworking and microblogging service thatenables its users to send and read messages upto 140 characters long.

Twitter handle—Term for the usernamesomeone selects when signing up for a Tv^tteraccount. The username is preceded by an @ sign.

Twittersphere—^Term used to describe the"world of Twitter," including the site itself,the interaction of twits, tweets, the jargonassociated with Twitter, and the culturesurrounding the site.

The dated one-way flow of

information from book or website

to patron just does not work for

patrons anymore; they need to

interact with their information,

and Twitter provides a platform

for that interaction.

LIBRARY MEDIA CONNECTION November/December 2012

TWIÏÏERTIPS

With miüions of users, it is hard to know whom to follow on Twitter for the most relevant

information. These ten organizations tweet about books and libraries:

Twitter handle

aasl

ALALibrary

harperteen

KirkusReviews

librarycongress

LibraryJournal

penguinusa

SimonTEEN

sljournal

yalsa

Who they are and what they do

American Association of School Librarians: School library views, news, andbook reviews

American Library Association: Library views, news, and hook reviews

Teen division of HarperCollins; frequent contests, giveaways, and the latestnews for young adult readers

Provides reviews of materials from chüdren to adults

Library of Congress: news from one of the largest libraries in the world

Library Journal: library views, news, and book reviews.

Penguin Group (USA), one of the largest English-language trade bookpublishers in the world

Simon and Schuster book publisher; giveaways, contests, and the latest newson young adult books

School Library Journal: the latest news in the library field and reviews ofbooks and digital content

Young Adult Library Services Association, a world leader in selecting booksand media for teens

These ten Twitter users tweet instructional technology and/or library information:

Twitter handle

BlueSkunkBlog

coolcatteacher

dwarlick

Who they are and what they do

Doug Johnson: writer, speaker, technology expert, and director of media andtechnology at Makato Public Schools

Vicki Davis: teacher, instructional technology director, and presenter

David Warlick: educator, author, speaker, technology specialist

davidloertscher David Loertscher: former school librarian and current professor of libraryand information science, researcher, writer, and advocate for school libraries

joycevalenza

kathyschrock

RossJTodd

unquietlibrary

web2oclassroom

willrich45

Joyce Valenza: school librarian, writer, and speaker

Kathy Schrock: district technology education director, speaker, andtechnology in education expert

Ross J. Todd: director for the Center for International Scholarship in SchoolLibraries at Rutgers University, researcher, writer, and speaker

Buffy Hamilton: school librarian at the Unquiet Ubrary of Creekview High Schoolin Canton, a library that has been recognized as an exemplary media program

Steven W. Anderson: educator, technology expert, speaker, and writer

Will Richardson: writer, speaker, and technology specialist

Here are some hashtags that apply to our profession that should make searching Twitter easier:

• Cybersafety - «cybersafety

• Education - #edchat, #teach, »teacher,

»education

• Global Education - »flatclassroom

• Information Literacy - »infolit

• Libraries - »library, »teacher-librarian,

»followalibrarian, »librarians, »tlchat

• Literacy - »literacy

• Online Learning - »onlinelearning

November/December 2012

• Professional book recommendations -

»TUpdbks

• Reading - »readers, »reading, »litchat, »titletalk

• Software applications in education - »edapp

' Technology integration in education -

»edtech, »tech, »technology, »TUtin

• Web 2.0 use in education - »web20chat

• Young adult literature - »yalitchat

RESOURCES FOR IDEAS ON INTEGRATING TWinER IN YOURLJBRiRLANOJLASSROOHS:Twitter for Libraries and Librarians (http://

mobüe-libraries.blogspot.com/2009/07/twitter-

for-libraries-and-librarians.html). This blog

includes suggestions for the use of Twitter in

the library, examples of libraries currently using

Twitter, recommendations to increase two-way

communications, and advice for twittiquette.

100 Ways to Use Twitter in Your

Library (http://mobile-libraries.blogspot.

com/2009/09/ioo-ways-to-use-twitter-in-

your-library.html). A comprehensive list of

suggestions for using Twitter in a library.

34 Interesting Ways and Tips to Use Twitterin the Classroom (https://docs.google.com/

present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_ii8cfb8msf8). A

Google Docs presentation with ideas for using

Twitter in the classroom.

CONCLUSION

We are in the middle of a communication

revolution as people now share intimate detaüs of

their lives as fast as they can type. In this mobüe

world, everyone can have their voice heard in an

instant with few technical skills. Twitter is used

by miüions of people every day to discuss their

lives and the news ofthe day. The dated one-way

flow of information from book or website to

patron just does not work for patrons anymore;

they need to interact with their information, and

Twitter provides a platform for that interaction.

Now is the time to embrace the free technology

tools that our students are already using and

incorporate those tools into our lesson plans for a

true educational experience.

Dr. Melissa Purcell is a media specialist at GlynnAcademy in Brunswick, Georgia, and she is theauthor of The Networked Library: A Guide for theEducational Use of Social Networking Sites (Linworth,2012, ISBN 978-1-58683-545-3).

LIBRARY MEDIA CONNECTION 47

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