Hi everyone, and welcome back to my little slice of the internet! Today, let’s talk about my experience with Twitter.
I am by no means ‘new’ to Twitter. I believe I got an account either at the very end of high school or the beginning of university. My use of Twitter quickly changed as I went through my undergrad degree and saw the platform’s potential as a professional tool.
Once I convocated and began my teaching career, I was interested in engaging more intentionally with my PLN and joined some Twitter chats, most notably #saskedchat (a Saskatchewan-based education chat). I diligently joined the weekly chat and got to know many familiar faces within that subgroup of my PLN. #saskedchat was the perfect place for me to break into Twitter chats and developing my PLN – the people were friendly and funny, there were enough people present to keep a conversation going but not so many that it was totally overwhelming, and (being a Saskatchewan-based chat) it was specific to my place.
After being a frequent member of the chat for a while, I had the opportunity to try out a new, unknown realm of Twitter chatting: hosting my own night of #saskedchat. This meant coming up with a topic for the night, drafting the questions I would ask to participants, and leading the chat on the night of the event. It was, honestly, very easy and a natural next step in my #saskedchat journey. **I tried, to no avail, to find a saved document with evidence of my Twitter chat questions from when I hosted. I remember it was on the topic of Parent/Family Engagement, but have no idea when exactly it was or what my actual questions were. I hope everyone will believe me without providing evidence! haha
Since starting my graduate studies, I’ve obviously been a bit busier, so have fallen in and out of Twitter many times. Thus, I consider myself to be a Twitter “flitter,” because I will flit away for periods of time, but always seem to come back.
I flitted back in to Twitter during EC&I 832, and enjoyed it once again. I made a point to engage in #saskedchat and the course hashtag that semester, and was reminded why I like Twitter as a professional platform. However, after that course was over, I once again flitted out of the Twitterverse.
I think my main problem with Twitter is that the feed feels so overwhelming. Within minutes, there are dozens of new tweets to read. I simply can’t keep up and feel that I will miss something due to the sheer amount of content. I am a “sit-down-and-do-a-task-only-if-I-have-enough-time-to-finish-it” kind of person, so I avoid clicking on Twitter because I feel like I need to dedicate long periods of time to effectively go through my feed. I think the lesson here is that I need to start small and accept that I will never see everything. My goal is to start with just a few minutes a day (maybe setting an actual timer will help) to help build the habit and make it feel manageable.
To sum it all up:
- I have been engaging with Twitter as a professional tool for a long time
- I have experienced the benefits of engaging with a PLN on Twitter
- I see the various ways Twitter can be used as a professional tool
- I often flit away from Twitter for long periods of time, but always come back
- I need to be more intentional in order to attain daily engagement with Twitter (start small)
Hopefully by putting my intentions out there, it will keep me accountable to following through! I look forward to continuing my journey with Twitter as a professional, educational tool.
Until next time,
-KKF
KKF Learning to Teach 
Thanks for sharing your honest thoughts about your experience with Twitter. I participated in my first ever Twitter chat a few weeks ago with #Saskedchat and it was pretty neat and I have vowed to try one more before this class is over. I agree with you that it can feel overwhelming sometimes, so it is nice to know that someone who is well-versed in using Twitter also feels that way. Does Tweetdeck help you with this issue at all? Thanks again for sharing 🙂
So glad to hear you had a good experience with #saskedchat, Jacquie! I’ve always found the people on that chat to be friendly and welcoming. I have a class Thursday nights this semester, so it hasn’t worked out to participate lately. I find that Tweetdeck helps a lot for engaging in a live Twitter chat when the tweets are coming in at breakneck speeds, but it doesn’t necessarily help with my main feed – it is still filled with new tweets no matter what platform I view Twitter on.
Hey Kara, I somehow always gravitate towards your blog. We’re learning about ‘writing voice’ in grade 2/3 right now and I think it must be something about your blogging voice that pulls me in.
I just finished my post about Twitter as well and I think we shared some similar thoughts about going all in with Twitter and then pulling away from it a bit. I wonder if this is more common than we realize. I always feel guilty when I crawl my way back to Twitter haha, but maybe it’s more of a natural pattern than I thought.
Thanks so much for your comment, Sarah! I find myself being drawn to certain people’s blogs as well, based on how they write.
A study or survey on people’s Twitter habits would be so interesting! I am looking forward to reading others’ posts about their experiences with Twitter – kind of like an EC&I 831 focus group!
Oh yes that would be really neat to see! I’d definitely participate!
Hi Kara! Thank you for sharing your experiences with Twitter! As a relatively new person to Twitter, it is nice to hear some positive experiences with the platform and it’s value in terms of professional use. Twitterchats are one thing that I have never expereinced and will have to keep my eye out for a #saskedchat in the future. I can definitely relate to the ‘flitter’, or coming and going from Twitter and anticipate that will be my future relationship with Twitter following this class.
Thanks Amy for your comment! I hope you find value in using Twitter and can connect with some interesting people in your PLN! #saskedchat is Thursday nights from 8-9 p.m. SK time – hope you make it out one day!
I really appreciate and connect with what you said about your Twitter feed feeling overwhelming. But I also love your idea to start with just a little bit at a time, perhaps even using a timer. I think I’m going to do this myself!
Thanks Christina! Speaking of, I am going to set my timer and go check out Twitter right now. 🙂 I guess my post is working to keep myself accountable!