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I did find this amusing, but also quite true.
How Twitter is all about the coffee….
Using Twitter to form communities of practice.
A presentation from the Handheld Learning Conference 2009.
Do you Twitter?
Some people have “complained” about Twitter as shallow and lightweight, they have missed the point.
Is Twitter just about following people and reading informative links or is it about conversation and community?
I use Twitter in various ways, saying when I am drinking a coffee,to inform about what I am doing, blog articles and as a backchannel at events and conferences. However telling people is only half the story, the real value of Twitter is the conversation.
Of course really Twitter is all about the coffee. It’s the coffee you drink with colleagues during a break, where you discuss work, but also your commute, TV, films, the weather. It’s the coffee you drink whilst browsing the web and posting links of interesting web site to your blog or in an e-mail. It’s the coffee you drink in a coffee shop, reading the paper or a book. It’s the coffee you drink with fellow delegates during a break or at lunch at a conference. Where you discuss the keynotes, the presentations, the workshops, where you are going next, your hotel, the food, the coffee, what you do, where you’re going, what gadgets you have in your bag.
Twitter is about these moments, but without the physical and geographical limitations. Twitter allows people from different institutions, sectors, different, departments to share these moments. This presentation will look at how Twitter can be used to improve and enhance teaching and learning through the use of Twitter as a community of practice.
I’d done it. My (virtual) life was over. After two years on the online social networking site Facebook, I’d taken the plunge and killed off my account – in Facebook speak, I was “de-activated”.
It hadn’t all been bad; we’d had some good times. I’d enjoyed a bit of snooping as much as the next person and found it useful enough as a way to check out potential love interests, flog unwanted stuff and organise the odd shindig or three.
Could you give up Facebook? Read the full account on BBC News.
David Sugden on his Posterous Blog covers his reaction to the article.
BBC News reports:
Social networking website Twitter has confirmed that it has closed a “significant round of funding”.
Co-founder Evan Williams said in a blog post that the site had secured money from five investment firms.
Will this secure the future of Twitter, or with all the possible problems with the networking site mean the death of Twitter?
At the recent ALT Conference in Manchester I made extensive use of Twitter to support and enhance the conference. It’s a very easy tool which allows delegates to share ideas and links, discuss keynotes and presentations as well as keep informed about what is hot and what is not at a conference.
Nice presentation on Twitter.
Nice little simple video from JISC on microblogging.
Reminded last week how much people liked my Twitter video from Handheld Learning 2008.
Thinking about what I can do for this year’s conference.
Strewth Bruce, looks like Skippy the Kangaroo is going to need to get a Twitter account.
Australia is to use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to give people early warning of bushfires.
Residents of towns in Victoria state have said they had little or no warning of the devastating blazes that killed 173 people in February.
Read more on BBC News.
Fifty ways in which Twitter can be used to enhance and enrich learning in the classroom.
Some examples from the article…
5. Brainstorm. The ability to share ideas as the occur any time and any where creates an excellent opportunity for brainstorming on class topics.
16. Follow mentors. If professors or other key figures in your field of study are on Twitter, follow them to keep up with their research and activities.
So is Twitter just hype?
Research from people (who don’t use Twitter) seem to think so.
Micro-blogging service Twitter remains the preserve of a few, despite the hype surrounding it, according to research.
Just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content, a Harvard study of 300,000 users found.
Anyone who reads my e-Learning Stuff blog will know that I believe that Twitter is all about the coffee and the conversation. Yes there is hype, but for my e-learning community of practice it is working really well as a collaboration and conversational tool.
Steve Wheeler over on Learning with E’s has similar thoughts about the Harvard study.
No, I’m not convinced that this study (which is a survey of 300,000 users) is actually saying anything useful or positive. Some people don’t get Twitter and others only get it partially and use it in a limited manner. Potentially, Twitter is one of the most powerful social networking tools ever to have emerged from the so-called Web 2.0 – and I think it will stand the test of time. There is a large and growing body of tools that support Twitter, and already a vast amount of evidence to show that Twitter can be used inventively as a teaching and learning tool. It seems to me that from their tone, the Harvard researchers can be numbered amongst those people who simply ‘don’t get’ Twitter.
Though having suffered recently from some Twitter problems, I hope that Twitter will sort them out so that Twitter can survive the hype and continue to be a useful tool.
