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Why I started using Twitter?

I found out that Twitter started in 2006. Yes, I just linked to wikipedia. Sue me. I think I’ve had a Twitter account for about six years, but I never used it at all. I heard quite a bit about it. I heard about people using hashtags, but I never really got interested at all because I didn’t see a use for it. This, of course, is the basic discussion for all technology. It can be as cool as it wants to be, but until I find a personal use for it that enhances my world in some way, then it’s just on the peripheral.

I didn’t really understand Twitter until I heard an NPR story about Andy Carvin an avid tweeter, blogger and online sharing type person. The story discussed how Twitter was used during the Arab Spring to share information in real-time with the rest of the world. This type of reporting on the ground by people who are actually there seems to be an amazing use for this type of technology. So I signed up for Twitter and started following Andy.

However, it wasn’t until I went to NETA in 2013 and found Tweetdeck that I saw how powerful Twitter could actually be. By using Tweetdeck, I was able to make Twitter useful. I set up columns following various keywords so I could get instant updates on things that were important to me. When news breaks, I’ll type in a keyword to see what people are saying about the story. It’s a bit ADHD, especially during a big story, but the active tweets create a three-dimensional picture of a real event.

Using Twitter in the classroom is still something I’m struggling with. But I’m going to publish this for posterity.