What's in a tweet? (Mod 6.2)

Before attempting to link myself in to the world of technological communication, I lumped together social media sites and assumed they were just another way for people to overexpress themselves and detail the minutia of their fairly average lives. I could not have been more wrong. These sites, particularly Twitter in particular offer uses a plethora of options for meeting, greeting, and tweeting their way into a complex network of social interaction. For many, Twitter is a tool that surpasses the basics of a social network sites and launches professionals into a network of like-minded members with whom they can compare techniques and resources.

I particularly like the way this site has mapped out how Twitter is effective as a Personal Learning Network:







As we can see, it is a cycle of giving and receiving information to promote personal and professional growth within one's field. This is incredibly helpful, particularly for teachers who can take what they learn in education classes and share with a community of fellow professionals to move forward and promote the advancement of education as a whole.

However there are some things of which Twitter uses must be aware, lest they fall into the trap of being seen the way I had previously assumed them to be. In this article on Twitter tips we see how easy it is to overtweet or overshare and potentially ruin the online image of ourselves we are hoping to convey. This reaffirms the "publicness" of Twitter and how detrimental it can be if we are not familiar with the perceptions of our followers.

Overall, I feel that Twitter is helpful for professional development in the sense that it is concise, yet contains invaluable information in those 160 characters. I find that I am able to scroll through hundreds of tweets and immediately know if they are relevant or not. This is not only efficient, but effective and that is exactly the qualities I look for in using online resources to further my goals as a professional and improve myself as an educator.