Using Twitter as a PLN: Part 1 Building the toolbox using Lists

Using Twitter as your PLN
Part 1: Building the tool box
by
Julia Ault

A practical guide to setting up your own PLN using Twitter and HootSuite - a web-based application designed to aggregate your social networks.

What is a PLN?
A PLN is a Personal Learning Network.
Twitter makes an excellent online PLN for Librarians, Teachers and Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL)Professionals.
A PLN can be local, national or global!
One Educator wrote recently that:
“I have found more resources and got more useful advice for professional development in 3 months on Twitter than in the previous 5 years without it.”
.

So how do I build my PLN tool box?
Follow this 6 step program:
Create a Twitter account
Create and Follow Twitter Lists
Create a HootSuite account
Import your social networks into HootSuite
Create tabs and streams of content
Join in – Start Tweeting!

1. Create a Twitter account: http://twitter.com

I created the new Twitter account LRC PLN @lrcpln

2. Create and Follow Twitter Lists
Hmmm – how to find librarians to follow? Ask Twitter!

Phil directed me - @juliadesigns - to this list he had compiled on TweepML and so the newly created @lrcpln chose to follow all:

The next step was to add all these librarians to a list on Twitter itself - a slightly laborious stage - but worth it in the end if you want to separate out those you are following into lists.
Go to your Twitter Home Page and Look in the sidebar for Lists: New list View all and create a new list:

Now you need to add people to your new list. I am going to add the librarians I followed from Phil’s TweepML list:

Click on the down arrow next to each name and tick the relevant list box:

Repeat this step for all those you follow that you want to add to lists.
You need to do this for any and all lists you create,
BUT:
You may be relieved to know that lots of other people (including me!) have already done this work for you and there are many ready-made lists in the ‘Twitterverse’ that you can simply follow with a click of the mouse!
More on this later……

When everyone has been added to the list, click on View all, find and click on the new list:

I now have a page showing all the latest tweets from my librarians list.

Follow that list!!
1.If you are a librarian creating your own Twitter account, the next step for you is to follow @lrcpln and this list yourself.

Follow that list!!
2. Click on Lists: View all:

Follow that list!!
3. Click on each list to follow.

Follow that list!!
4. You will notice that as well as the two lists created earlier, @lrcpln follows lists created by @juliadesigns and other lists are now following @lrcpln.
You can follow any and all of these lists too, if you wish.

Follow that list!!
5. I have followed these lists using the Trinity LRC Twitter account and you will see why later..

Using a Twitter/social media client
It is much easier to manage lists - especially if you have a variety of different interests that you want to keep up with using the same Twitter account - using either a web, mobile or desktop client, instead of just going to your Twitter page on the web.Your own tweets will still be seen by all your followers though, so if you want to keep your sporting, hobby, or political tweets separate from your work-based library or learning/teaching tweets, you will need to create more than one Twitter account.You can add multiple accounts to one client, so you are still able to manage everything on one screen.

Why use HootSuite?
HootSuite is just one of many applications that do much the same thing – TweetDeck and Seesmic are other very popular clients, but we are using HootSuite as an example today, simply because it is a web-based client - which means you can access it anywhere through a web browser or mobile device with no need to install anything on your computer.

3. Create a HootSuite Account
Go to http://hootsuite.com and sign up.

You will need to verify your email address to complete the sign-up process:

You will get this message in your email. Either click on the ‘Confirm my account’ link or copy and paste the code provided into the confirmation code box on the signup page.
I am using the Trinity LRC Twitter account for this presentation.

You will be prompted to add your Twitter account first.

You can click on the Owl at any time to change settings, add other networks and so on.

First steps with HootSuite:
Begin by deleting the default streams and tabs

After you have deleted the Featured tab, delete all the streams on the main Twitter tab apart from Home Feed.

Now you are ready to add your own content:

Choose Twitter: Lists: Subscribed Lists, click on one and then Create Stream.

Repeat this process for all the Library lists. You can rename existing tabs and add extra tabs with Streams for different lists and social networks too.

Click on the Owl and go to Settings: Social Networks:

Add other social networks:

This is how your HootSuite looks now:
The LRC Facebook page has been added as a stream and the tab has been renamed to LRC and Librarians

This is how your HootSuite looks now:
An extra tab (TEL) has been added for the @juliadesigns TEL lists.

Do It Yourself (DIY)
The HootSuite account that I have been demonstrating was created for the Trinity LRC Twitter and Facebook presence, but you can create your own HootSuite and Twitter accounts and add some of our lists by going to @juliadesigns @lrcpln or @trinitylrc on Twitter – you don't actually need to follow the list creator to follow lists by the way.

Do It Yourself (DIY)
Useful Resources:
Educator’s PLN http://edupln.ning.com
Twitter http://twitter.com
TweepML http://tweepml.com
Listorious http://listorious.com
SlideShare My Presentations
YouTube My videos
TEL Blog
Ffynnonweb Blog

Summary:
This has been Part 1 of the Using Twitter as your PLNguide and has dealt with the practical details of setting up accounts, creating and following lists and using a Twitter client.
Part 2 (coming soon!) will discuss ways in which you can use this PLN to impart and receive information and extend your virtual ‘staff room’ globally!

End of Part 1:
Building the tool box
by
Julia Ault
July 2010

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http://trinitybcp.jiscinvolve.org	7
http://ffynnonweb.com	3
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Using Twitter as a PLN: Part 1 Building the toolbox using Lists

by Julia Ault on Jul 15, 2010

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Using Twitter as a PLN: Part 1 Building the toolbox using Lists — Presentation Transcript