How to Increase Parent Followers on Social Media Sites

Let's say you've already set up a classroom Instagram, Twitter, and/or Facebook. Now you need to get the word out to your students and their parents. How do you do that? Here are some suggestions:

• Feature the students. From what I understand, CISD employees are allowed to post student photos on a classroom website, so long as the parent has signed the permission slip. My kids still get excited when they see me taking pictures of them because they know there's a good chance they could wind up on our class Instagram and be "famous!" 
• Let the kids post for you. I did this 2 years ago on Twitter {and need to do it again!}, and the kids were so excited to tweet that they excitedly ran home and told their parents.
• E-mail parents. Be direct and let parents know you just started a classroom social media account and would love for them to follow the updates.
• Put a reminder in your e-mail signature. You can do something as simple as writing "Follow me on Twitter! @MrsKaras," for example. You can link to your profile(s) if you want to get a bit fancier. And if you have multiple sites you'd like to share, you can add social media buttons to your e-mail signature:

This is currently at the bottom of my work e-mail signature

• Put links on your classroom website or blog. Everyone at CISD has an Edline page to customize, and most of us have blogs, too. Link to your social media sites in the sidebar so that they're always visible to visitors. 
• On a similar note: embed a stream of your latest updates on your website. I know you can embed Twitter and Instagram feeds onto a website, but I'm not sure about Facebook since I don't use it for the classroom. On Twitter, go to settings >> widgets >> "create new." You can generate a simple HTML code to put onto your site, which could look something like this:

Tweets by @ckarasedu
           

Instagram is mobile-based but you can view photos from the web now. I used SnapWidget to create my embed codes. You can see examples of my embedded Instagram feeds by visiting individual grade level pages on my classroom website.

The good thing about embedding feeds directly into your website is that visitors don't have to do any extra clicking or navigating to see your updates -- it all appears right there on your main website.

• Interact with others in the community. I think my professional Twitter account pretty much flew under the radar until I started interacting with other CISD accounts. Something as simple as favoriting, re-tweeting, or mentioning another user might help you gain followers.
• Put it in announcements. Simply telling the kids via announcements -- either school-wide or just at the beginning of class -- can do wonders.

Keep in mind that parents can see your updates by visiting your profile even if they don't officially "follow" or "like" it. I'm always surprised to find that I have a lot more readers than my "following" number shows.

Above all, the point of social media isn't to get "likes" or "followers" -- it's about connecting with others. Don't get too caught up in your numbers!

 

The Social Classroom

The Prezi below is an overview of the discussion in my mini-session about social media in the classroom on our district's "digital day of learning." Press the "play" button in the middle of the screen and use your arrow keys to navigate through the presentation. Click the square button in the bottom right corner of the Prezi to show the slides full-screen.

Twitter: My Board

Although I have a Pinterest account for personal use, I decided to create one for professional use so that I could link it to this blog. Below is the board where I pin all things Twitter-related:

Follow Candice's board Twitter in Education on Pinterest.

Here is my general social media board:

Follow Candice's board Social Media in Education on Pinterest.

And here is the link to this blog's Pinterest profile if you want to see all things technology:

Visit Candice's profile on Pinterest.

Twitter: Suggestions for Use

Now that you know all about Twitter (what it is, special Twitter vocabulary, setting up an account, navigating the website, sending tweets, the hashtag, Twitter chats, and Twitter accounts to follow), it's time to put that information to use. Below are some ideas I have about using Twitter as a teacher.

Suggestions for teacher-posts with limited interaction:

1. Reminders about assignments that are due or upcoming quizzes/exams/projects
2. Reminders about snow days, picture days, sporting events, field trips, spirit days, etc. 
3. School events and/or their outcomes (plays, musicals, art shows, academic meets, etc.) -- especially ones where your school won/did well or is playing a rival
4. Hints about how to complete an assignment or project
5. Bonus points that can only be aquired through Twitter. {For instance, when I taught high school English, I once tweeted, "Go to the class website and scroll to the bottom of the home page. The first student to describe to me the newest object at the bottom of that page gets 5 bonus points." The purpose of this, of course, was to get students to view the class website and the newest important tool on it.}
6. Helpful websites
7. Links to related online games
8. Helpful apps
9. Books you recommend
10. Vocabulary words/definitions in a Word of the Day (#WOTD) format
11. A poll to help your classroom/planned lessons {either with the answer options included in the tweet or as a link to another polling platform, like Survey Monkey, for instance}
12. Exit ticket answers {If students ask a question on an exit ticket, you could answer it on Twitter.  This allows everyone to benefit from the answers without taking up valuable class time.}
13. Motivational/inspirational quotes 
14. Challenges {"I challenge you to find one example of alliteration today."..."I challenge you to do one random act of kindness -- #ROAK -- today."}

If you're interested in using twitter for professional development purposes, please read this blog post.

Posts to stimulate interaction/potential student projects:

1. Schedule a chat. For instance, I might specify the #MrsKSci4 hashtag and assign a start time of  7 pm. Ideally, at 7 pm, students would log on and use the search box to find our class's hashtag. We can then have an online discussion of classroom topics outside the walls of our classroom. You could discuss anything from an in-class topic to a President's speech on television to a movie you all went to see. Click here to read more about Twitter chats. 
2. Peer-to-peer tutoring. Encourage parents/students to tweet questions. Other students/parents could check the hashtag and answer peer's questions. We learn best when we teach! Of course, you'll want to monitor the feed to ensure that all questions are answered accurately.
3. Exit ticket. At the end of class, ask students to whip out their mobile device and tweet a quick exit comment/question to the cyber-world. Hopefully, these tweets generate a discussion for other students answering their peers' questions. You also get a quick evaluation of who understands the material.
4. Summary of the day. Whether you've just taught a math lesson or you've just finished another chapter in the class novel, students can tweet a 140-character summary of the day's lesson. In order to make assessment easier, you might consider having students either tweet this as a "reply" or include the class hashtag.
5. Short answer quiz questions. Of course,  <140-characters/tweet is a short short answer! But if you're able to explain/answers something in such a short and concise manner, you're probably more likely to understand it.
6. Twitter as bellwork. This feeds off the last suggestion, but immediately upon entering the room,  there will be questions or a discussion prompt on the board {or tweeted by you}. Students must respond to the question(s)/discussion prompt while you take care of those mundane "house-keeping" duties {attendance, lunch count, etc}.
7. Summary of text. After reading a chapter in a novel or expository textbook, ask students to tweet  summary of what they just read. 
8. Timeline report. Follow a celebrity or company and track their tweets over time. Then write a report over their day-to-day life. This could work as a biography project or even for a business class.  
9. Find students in another school/state/country with whom your students can tweet back and forth. It would be challenging to convey all information in 140-character segments, but that might create more concise writers. 
10. Create a class story. One student can start by tweeting the beginning line to a story. Students then take turns to tweet a class story, one line at a time. This collaborative project works on writing skills, creativity, and sharing.
11. Getting to know you. As a back to school activity, ask students to describe themselves in 140-characters or less. If students' Twitter usernames weren't easily recognizable, you could even play a game where students must guess which student belongs with which tweet.
12. Character tweet. After reading a novel, students can pick a character from the story and tweet, say, 5 status updates throughout the day. Each status update should be written in the 1st person format, as if the student were actually the character. 
13. Historical tweet. Feeding off the previous suggestion, you could ask students to pick a person from history and impersonate them on Twitter throughout the day. What would Abe Lincoln have to say if Twitter was available during his time? A website called Historical Tweets might help with this.
14. Hashtag timeline. Monitor the hashtags over a period of time to see the trends of our society. This would be great for a history or current events class. 
15. Hashtag quick-write. On a random day, write the current trending topics on the board. Ask students to write about a curtain hashtag either individually or as a group. They could write their thoughts, create a story, etc.
16. Personal story. Using the 3 parts of a story, ask students to write an entire story in 420-characters or less (140 for the beginning, 140 for the middle, and 140 for the end). 
17. Micro-research paper. Ask students to create a micro-research paper using the Twitter guidelines. The intro paragraph must be 140-characters, the thesis must be 140-characters, the first paragraph.... you get the idea. Each part of the micro-paper must comply with Twitter character count rules. 
18. Spelling race. Tell students a word in class and see who can tweet the correct spelling the most quickly. (You could also do this for math problems, science/history trivia questions, etc.)
19. Vocab race. Tweet a word and see who can reply with the correct definition the most quickly...or vice versa.
20. Vocab sentences. Tweet a word and ask students to reply with a tweet that uses that vocabulary word correctly in a sentence. 
21. Synonym/Antonym race. Call out a word and ask students to tweet synonyms or antonyms.
22. Book club. Students can tweet book blurbs in an effort to get other kids to read great books.

Ways you can keep track of tweets from students:

1. Create a hashtag for each class or group of students. For instance, I might specify #MrsKSci4 for my 4th grade Science Lab classes. From that point forward, if I wanted to find my students' tweets, I just type #MrsKSci4 in the search bar and read away. 
2. Create lists. You can create a list for all of your students, and then divide them by class and/or subject. When you want to read their tweets, just click on the name of the list and read only tweets from students on that list.
3. Ask students to "mention" you in every classroom-related tweet.

>> Don't forget to follow me on Twitter: @ckarasedu <<

Here are 50 more ideas about what to post on Twitter, courtesy of Teach Thought.

Here are 22 ways to use Twitter for learning, based on Bloom's Taxonomy, courtesy of Teach Thought.

This article by Teach Thought has 100 of the best Twitter tools for teachers. Some of them are great for use with students. 

Below are the other Twitter posts I've written for this blog:

• An overview/short 'n sweet guide
• Definitions of Twitter and its Vocabulary
• The basics: setting up an account, navigating the website, and tweeting
• Twitter Accounts to Follow
• The Hashtag
• Twitter chats {a fantastic yet "unofficial" way to be "professional developed"}
• Personal Success Stories from Using Twitter in the Classroom

Twitter Chats

Twitter chats are my favorite thing about Twitter, and it's definitely one of my biggest reasons for advocating for educators on Twitter.

What is a Twitter chat?

A Twitter chat is basically when a group of people agree to be on Twitter at the same time and date to discuss one topic. These Twitter users don't have to know each other in real life (IRL) or even "follow" each other on Twitter. All that matters is that they want to discuss the same topic.

How do you chat with a stranger that you're not following on Twitter? With a hashtag. {Click here to read my post on the hashtag.}

One of the beautiful things about Twitter chats is that you don't have to be on Twitter during the actual chat. Since it takes place online, there is a visible record of everything that was said during the chat. To find it, all you have to do is go to the search bar in your Twitter account and search for the hashtag of your choice; you can read the transcript of the entire "meeting."

Another beautiful thing about Twitter chats is that everyone wants to be there. I know we've all been in meetings where some people are having sidebar conversations in the back or checking their Facebook feed under the table, while others are just plain tuning out the speaker. Because it takes place outside of work, all of the people in a Twitter chat are passionate about the topic. It doesn't take long of me sitting in a Twitter chat to feel more energized and excited about education, either -- their passion is contagious.

Even if joining a Twitter chat sounds like the worst thing in the world to you, just promise to try it. I can almost guarantee that if you choose a topic that you're even mildly interested in and just read the tweets being sent by everyone in the chat, your spirit will be renewed and you will feel excited about doing great things in the classroom.

If you need further convincing that Twitter chats are something you need to participate in, please watch the following video:



What Twitter chats could I join?

This Google doc has a spreadsheet of the popular educational hashtags and when they typically "meet" for a Twitter chat. The hashtags are listed alphabetically, so just browse through until you find one that sounds interesting, and make a note of the time and date in your planner.

Most Twitter chats take place weekly, so you can set it up as a reoccurring event on your calendar and attend the chat when you can.

There are, however, some Twitter chats that take place sporadically -- such as only the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month, or only the last Thursday of the month. This website is a Google calendar that features all of the educational Twitter chats happening on each day. I find this a little more difficult to read than the above link, but it's a personal preference!

How do I join?

You don't have to have an invitation to join a Twitter chat -- just jump in!

At the time and date of your Twitter chat, log in to Twitter. You can do this by visiting their website on a computer or by simply logging in to the app on a mobile device.

From there, use the search bar to search for the hashtag of the chat you want to join. Once your search results come back, you'll be staring at a list of all the posts with that hashtag in them. It's at that point where you can start reading everyone's ideas and responding with your own opinions. Although it's totally okay to just go in and read everyone's tweets, I highly recommend joining the conversation -- life is always more fun when you participate. :)

The only thing you need to know about joining in the conversation is just that you need to include the original hashtag in every tweet you send out. That way, others who want to participate in that chat can see your tweets, too -- even if they're not "following" you on Twitter.

If you just want to read the conversation without joining in, you can always Google the hashtag + the word "archive." The link to the archive is usually shared at the end of a chat, so you can read everything later. The archives are a gold mine of information, so definitely check them out!

How do you keep up?

Just do the best you can. :) Depending on how popular your Twitter chat is, there could be new tweets every second, and it can be difficult to keep up with the changing feed and participate.

If you try to participate in a Twitter chat on your mobile device or through the website on a regular computer, you are going to do a lot of page-refreshing and/or scrolling up. Lucky for Twitter-chat enthusiasts, there is a website that can help make things easier: it's called TweetChat.

When you go to the TweetChat website, you'll see a screen that looks like this:

Go to the top, right corner and click "sign in." If you've logged in to your Twitter account recently, you'll see a screen that looks like this:

Click "authorize app." {If you haven't logged on to your Twitter account recently, you'll have one extra step, which is to log in. That screen will display right before the one shown above. Enter your username and password to Twitter to sign in, and then you'll see the screen shown above.}

The website will redirect you back to TweetChat. You'll know you're "in" when the background of the screen looks like the background on your Twitter profile, your profile picture appears in the top left corner, and you are greeted by name on the right side of the page. My welcome page looks like this:

In the search bar at the top {next to the words "TweetChat"}, put in the hashtag of the chat you want to follow. For instance, I typed in "edchat:"

Click "go." The website will then load all of the current tweets that have that hashtag in them:

When new tweets are available with that hashtag, you'll see a blue bar that looks similar to this at the top of your feed:

Click on it to see the newest tweets.

Part of what makes TweetChat convenient is that it automatically adds the original hashtag into every tweet you post. Normally, a tweet is allowed 140 characters, but the text box in the picture above says  that I only have 132 characters left -- as if I've already used 8. Well, I have, in a sense. TweetChat will automatically add "#edchat" onto the end of the tweets I send through this website. #edchat is only 7 characters, but TweetChat also adds a space so that nothing runs together. :)

When I first started participating in Twitter chats, I sometimes forgot to add the hashtag onto the end of my messages. TweetChat eliminates that worry so that you can just concentrate on connecting with others.

There are some other handy features about TweetChat, too:

• If you want to include a link in your tweet, that will take up a lot of room. Normally, I use a service like bit.ly to shorten links so that I can still type other things in my tweets. But if I use TweetChat, there is a link shortener built right into the website so that you have one less thing to worry about. 
• You can highlight tweets from one or more particular users. {To do this, press the "highlight" button and type in the username(s) you wish to follow.} 
• You can block any users quickly and easily. 
• Clicking the "retweet" button so that an eye is visible allows you to see all the retweeted messages in the chat. The default is set with a slash through the eye, which means that you won't see retweeted messages. If you remember from our basic Twitter vocab review, a retweet is when you send out the exact same message as someone else, and you give the original user credit for their words. A retweet usually starts with RT @[username] and then the message that he/she originally tweeted. While retweets are great, if you're trying to stay on top of a Twitter chat, you don't want to see them because they'll just clog up your feed. 
• You can also click "share room" to tweet a link to the TweetChat page you're using at the moment. This will let all your Twitter followers know which chat you're participating in, in case they want to join, too. 

Other helpful Twitter chat websites:

• ChatSalad: Log in with your Twitter username and password. All the Twitter chat times will automatically be converted to your time zone, so you'll never miss anything. :) Be aware that this website lists ALL Twitter chats -- not just educational ones -- so you will see a LOT of information. But the home page lists all the upcoming Twitter chats by day and time; click the green "join button on the right to see a room similar to the one at the TweetChat website (which makes joining the conversation a little easier). Click the hashtag to see a page of more information about that Twitter chat. On that page, you can also click "subscribe" to receive text message reminders about that chat. 
• TweetDeck: see the picture below to see some of its features.

TweetDeck also has an app for Mac computers. It looks like this when it's in action:

• TWUBS: Follow hashtags, see archives easily, embed the hashtag feed elsewhere {could be fantastic if you want to do a class hashtag for parents and students... embed it on your classroom website!}
• HootSuite: Has a desktop site and an app. Not only helps with Twitter chats, but makes it possible for you to schedule status updates across social media sites.

TeachThought has an article about 100 of the best Twitter tools for Teachers. Some of their suggestions would be great for Twitter chats. 

Good chats to join

Above, I gave you the link to the master document that tells when each educational Twitter chat takes place, but I know that document can get overwhelming. I definitely want you to know that there is a chat for everyone, so below are a few basic Twitter chats to get you started:

Grade Level Chats:

• Kindergarten and early childhood education chat: Mondays from 8-9 pm CST. #kinderchat
• 1st grade teachers chat: Sundays from 7-8 pm CST. #1stchat
• 2nd grade teachers chat: Wednesdays from 7-8 pm. CST. #2ndchat
• 3rd grade teachers chat: Wednesdays from 6-7 pm CST. #3rdchat
• 4th grade teachers chat: Mondays from 7-8 pm CST. #4thchat
• 5th grade teachers chat: Tuesdays from 7-8 pm CST. #5thchat
• 6th grade teachers chat: Tuesdays from 8-9 pm CST. #6thchat

Encore & Pull-Out Program Chats:

• PE teachers chat: Mondays from 6-7 pm CST. #pechat
• Music education chat: Wednesdays from 6-7 pm CST. #edmusic
• Music teachers chat: Mondays from 7-8 pm CST. #musedchat
• Teacher librarian chat: Mondays from 7-8 pm CST. #tlchat
• Librarian chat: Wednesdays from 7-8:30 pm CST. #libchat
• Gifted education chat: Thursdays from 12:00-1:00 pm CST. #gifteded
• Gifted and talented chat: Fridays from 6-7 pm CST. #gtchat
• English language learners chat: Mondays from 8-9 pm CST. #ellchat

Administration Chats:

• Elementary counselors chat: Thursdays from 7-8 pm CST. #escchat
• 21st century administrator chat: Mondays from 8-9 pm CST. #21stadmin
• School psychologist chat: Mondays from 8-9 pm CST. #psycchat

Subject Area Chats:

• Math teachers chat: Mondays from 2:30 - 4:00 pm CST. #mathchat
• English teachers chat: Mondays from 6-7 pm CST. #engchat
• Social studies teachers chat: Mondays from 6-7 pm CST. #sschat
• ELA chat: Tuesdays from 7-8 pm CST. #elachat
• Science teachers: Tuesdays from 8-9 pm CST. #scichat

Educational Technology Chats:

• 21st century educators chat: Sundays from 7-8 pm CST. #21stedchat
• Flipped classroom teachers chat: Mondays from 7-8 pm CST. #flipclass
• Educational technology chat: Mondays from 7-8 pm CST. #edtechchat
• Web 2.0 tools for teachers chat: Wednesdays from 5-6 pm CST. #web20tools

Miscellaneous Chats of Interest:

• New teachers to Twitter chat: Saturdays from 8-9 am CST. #nt2t
• Texas educators chat: Sundays from 8-9 pm CST. #txeduchat
• STEM chat: Tuesdays from 8-9 pm CST. #stemchat
• Athletic coaches chat: Wednesdays from 7-8 pm CST. #coachchat
• New teachers chat: Wednesdays from 7-8 pm CST. #ntchat

---

>> Don't forget to follow me on Twitter: @ckarasedu <<

Below are other posts on this blog about Twitter:

• An overview/short 'n sweet guide
• Definitions of Twitter and its Vocabulary
• The basics: setting up an account, navigating the website, and tweeting
• Twitter Accounts to Follow
• The Hashtag
• Suggestions for Use
• Personal Success Stories from Using Twitter in the Classroom

The Hashtag

As far as I know, the hashtag was born on Twitter several years ago. As hashtagging became more popular, other social networking sites -- such as Facebook and Instagram -- implemented them into their websites, too. {You can read more about the history of the hashtag by clicking here.} Now, they are almost universal in the world of social networking.

Via

The hashtag is represented by the pound symbol (#). Users on social networking sites insert the hashtag into a post before a popular word or topic. Once posted, anyone who searches for that particular topic will see that post {unless the poster has a private account}.

The idea behind the hashtag is that you can find posts by like-minded people and connect with them. It becomes a sort-of search term, if you will. Once you create a hashtag {remember, by putting the pound sign in front of a word or phrase}, it becomes a link. Click on the link to see a list of all the other updates that have that hashtag in them.

For instance, one hashtag I like a lot on Twitter is #edtech. If I post something about educational technology on my Twitter feed, I might include the hashtag "#edtech." Right now, that leads me to a page that looks like this {although this page is always changing!}:

Notice the gray search bar at the top of the page? I typed in "#edtech" and pressed "enter." All of a sudden, I got to see a whole feed of Twitter posts that have that same hashtag in them. This is how I've found some amazing people to follow on Twitter! 

There is no real rhyme or reason for hashtags; you can make anything into a hashtag because they are completely user-generated. Sometimes people use hashtags in front of key words in their post, they use a certain tag that is used by a large group of people, or they'll even make a tongue-in-check phrase into a hashtag.

So where do you start?

Since this is an educational blog, let's focus only on educational hashtags. Below are websites that feature lists of popular educational hashtags:

• 300+ Educational Twitter Hashtags Being Used Right Now
• Educational Hashtags
• The Unofficial Index to Educational Hashtags
• Popular Education Hashtags on Twitter
• The 2012 A-Z List of Educational Hashtags

What else?

Because hashtags are user-generated, some users have taken them to the extreme. While there are no official rules of hashtagging, you definitely want to follow a couple guidelines to avoid looking silly:

1. If the hashtag does not relate to the post, don't use it. 
2. Don't hashtag every {or every other!} word.
3. Feel free to use more than one hashtag for a post, but keep rule #1 in mind. That said, there is no reason to add an entire paragraph full of hashtags. {This mostly happens on Instagram.}

This article, titled, "#HashtagEtiquette: 8 People Who Are Doing It Wrong" featured on Mashable explains a few unwritten rules about using hashtags. Abide by these 8 guidelines and you'll already be ahead of some people! ;)

Stumped as to how you can use hashtags?

• Visit this post for a review on Twitter chats, which completely rely on hashtags to allow people from around the world to talk about the same topic at the same time. 
• Read my post about ways teachers can use Twitter.
• Scroll toward the bottom of this article from TweetChat for 21 ways to use a hashtag. 

Finally, I'll leave you with a bit of humor about hashtags. The following video was featured on The Tonight Show a year or two ago. This video features Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake making fun of people who use the word "hashtag" in real life -- another "don't"! ;)

>> Don't forget to follow me on Twitter: @ckarasedu <<

Below are other articles I've written over Twitter:

• An overview/short 'n sweet guide
• Definitions of Twitter and its Vocabulary
• The basics: setting up an account, navigating the website, and tweeting
• Twitter Accounts to Follow
• Twitter chats {a fantastic yet "unofficial" way to be "professional developed"}
• Suggestions for Use
• Personal Success Stories from Using Twitter in the Classroom

Twitter Accounts to Follow

I read a lot of teacher-written blogs, so those are some of the people I follow on Twitter. Other than that, I've found some fabulous people to follow by participating in Twitter chats and by reading the #FF posts of the people I already followed. 

#FF stands for "Follow Friday." Some people will post that hashtag on Fridays and then follow it with a list of other Twitter users they think you should follow. If you find someone you really like on Twitter, check out their #FF posts (if they have any) because you will more than likely love their suggestions. 

If you're new to Twitter, the following is a list of suggestions of educators to follow (in no particular order):

• Kevin Jarrett: @kjarrett

• Todd Whitaker: @ToddWhitaker

• Kyle Pace: @kylepace

• Beth Still: @bethstill

• EdTechTeacher: @edtechteacher21

• John Schu: @MrSchuReads

• Tom Barrett: @tombarrett

• Tammy Worcester: @tammyworcester

• Erin Klein: @KleinErin

• Tom Daccord: @thomasdaccord

• Richard Byrne: @rmbyrne

• TCEA: @TCEA

• Tom Whitby: @tomwhitby

• Sean Musselman: @MrMusselman

• Nicholas Provenzano: @thenerdyteacher

• Eric Sheninger: @NMHS_Principal

• Matt Gomez: @mattbgomez

• Tony Vincent: @tonyvincent

• Steven Anderson: @web20classroom

• Jerry Blumengarten: @cybraryman1

• Shelly Terrell: @shellterrell

• Larry Ferlazzo: @larryferlazzo

• And, of course, you can always follow me! :) @ckarasedu

Here are my other posts about Twitter. Click the name of the article to read the information:

• An overview/short 'n sweet guide
• Definitions of Twitter and its Vocabulary
• The basics: setting up an account, navigating the website, and tweeting
• The Hashtag
• Twitter chats {a fantastic yet "unofficial" way to be "professional developed"}
• Suggestions for Use
• Personal Success Stories from Using Twitter in the Classroom

Twitter: The Basics

This post will cover the basics of Twitter: setting up an account, navigating the website, and tweeting.

Set Up Your Account

Get an account by going to www.twitter.com. You'll see a page similar to the one below. Follow the steps in the pictures:

You may have to check your e-mail and confirm your registration through an e-mail link {I don't remember, since it's been so long since I've signed up!}.

Your username is another way that other users on Twitter can find and remember you. While my full name is on my Twitter profile, my username is just @ckarasedu. If someone wanted to find me on Twitter, they could just search for my username. Twitter users also use usernames if they want to mention someone {mentions and other Twitter vocabulary are reviewed in this post}.

Get to Know Your New Page

The home page is what you see in the picture above. In the column on the right (called your "feed"), you can see the latest updates from the people I follow, from most recent to least recent. I can scroll down to view more.

The bell icon is for your notifications. This is very similar to Facebook in that you receive a notification any time someone mentions you {"@" your username} or follows you. People might mention you when they're replying or retweeting one of your tweets. {A retweet is basically when you quote someone's tweet and attribute the words to the correct author, all by just clicking one button.}

 Change a couple settings:

You can change the way your background looks {mine is green chevron} by clicking "design." You can choose from a few of their pre-picked designed or upload your own. Honestly, I don't know many people that access Twitter regularly from the web, so I don't think your design really matters that much. Most people I know that use Twitter are accessing it from their mobile device.

Two tabs above the circled "profile" tab in the picture above, you'll see a "mobile" tab. Most people just use a Twitter app on their smart phone, but the "mobile" tab is a good one to visit if you plan on tweeting through your phone withOUT a smart phone.

If you plan on using Twitter with a smart phone, you may want to peruse this FAQ section.

Here are 25 Twitter Bio Tips for Teachers {by Teach Thought}.

Send a Tweet

On your home page, there's a box that says "compose new tweet." If you want to send a tweet to your followers, type something into that box. A "tweet" button will appear underneath the bottom, as well as a character count so you can keep track of how long your message is. Keep in mind that you cannot send out tweets that are longer than 140 characters.

Deal with Tweets Others Write

I took a screen shot of just one tweet so you can get a feel for all the available options on each tweet.

Hope that helps! It's really not hard once you play with it a little -- promise!

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Here are other posts about Twitter. Click the links below to view the information you need:

• An overview/short 'n sweet guide
• Definitions of Twitter and its Vocabulary
• Twitter Accounts to Follow
• The Hashtag
• Twitter chats {a fantastic yet "unofficial" way to be "professional developed"}
• Suggestions for Use
• Personal Success Stories from Using Twitter in the Classroom