Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Twitter in the classroom

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society What is twitter? Twitter is a microblogging platform. Users short updates, often called "Tweets" of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to the user’s profile, followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Twitter Stats Pew Research Study Released in May 2012 around 15% of online adults have used Twitter. 8% have used in a typical day. Pew Research Study Released 26% were in the age group of

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Twitter Stats Taken from Pew ResearchPew Research

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Twitter Terminology Tweet – an individual post Re-tweet (RT)– retelling someone else’s tweet Modified Tweet (MT) – modifying someone else’s – a public message to a specific person Direct – message to a follower #hashtag – A tag that tracks groups & discussions Lists – Organize your followers More terminology on TwittonaryTwittonary

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Hashtags Popular hashtags in education: #edtech, #highered, #lrnchat, #socmedia, #edusocmedia, #socialmedia, #sachat, #smchat#edtech #highered#lrnchat#socmediaedusocmedia#socialmedia#sachat #smchat Popular ways to find hashtags: Hashtags.org, what the trend, twubs, trendsmap.com Hashtags.orgwhat the trendtwubs trendsmap.com

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Twitter API Twitter allows users access to their database for use on their own websites and projects Example 1 Example 2

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Twitter Aps Hootsuite – manage multiple Social Media accounts, sets up timed tweets Hootsuite TweetDeck – Organize your twitter followers, set up timed tweets TweetDeck TwitPic – Share pics via Twitter TwitPic TweetReach- Measure your twitter reach TweetReach Twuffer – compose future tweets Twuffer Trendsmap – Map of Twitter HashtagTrendsmap

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Twitter for Course Updates Increases interaction between instructors and students Enhances communication Overcomes challenges of distance learning Helps students stay organized Provides medium for instructors to enhance their identity and encourage students Students can let teacher know they have completed an assignment

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Guidelines Use a human voice Be mindful that Twitter is public and searchable Decide whether to use a personal of professional twitter handle and stick to it – You can use for your class personally Keep to one platform for classroom usage

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Example of Course Updates

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Class Chatter Use hashtags to facilitate real-time discussion on videos, reading assignments or assessments questions. Can be used during class or outside of a classroom

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Class Chatter Example

Serving Sociologists | Advancing Sociology | Promoting Sociology to Society Other Classroom Ideas Track a conference Track the rise and fall of trends Follow industry professionals – a journalist may tweet events real time Follow a famous person Track usage of words/hashtags