Twitter can be an easy and fun way to stay informed and connect with others by sharing information and resources in 140 characters or less. It allows you to follow experts, organizations, and interesting people to learn from their tweets of useful information. By participating in twitter, you can help build an online community where you can get answers to questions, find resources, and collaborate with others. It encourages sharing knowledge, ideas, opinions, and what you are doing to create a sense of community and help others at the same time. The document provides suggestions on who to follow on twitter within different interest areas as well as how to use twitter features like direct messaging and polls to connect with colleagues.

1. Support Each Other in 140 Characters or LessOctober 24, 2009We may not really care at all about
What are you doing?
But we do care about: what you know, where you find their information, new ideas you might have Twitter can be easy fun and informative.Easy:Just keep a tab open to it when on the computer, Or just go to it when you want to ask or answer a questionCan doCan even do it with voiceFun:There are funny people on twitterAll useful information is not seriousWe can find out gossip about famous peopleadmit it.. Its funInformative:Follow people or organizations that tweet informationFollow people or organizations who regularly tweet links to resources and referencesGet opinions from others about different issuesAsk for and usually receive answers to your questionsTwitter can help youHelp build communitywhich facilitates collaboration Help share resourcesHelp get answers to specific questionsHelp find resourcesdirectory sitesfinding subjects to followexample hashtags resources shared by followed expertspeople to follow… back to directoriesTwitter can help you help othersShare your knowledge with otherswhat we send out usually comes back to usShare your resources with othersTwitter can create a communityThe quick back and forth that is often characteristic of twitter, can create a sense of a group—a sense of communityIf you share with others less than 140 characters become more than tweetsshare resourcesshare ideassharing ideas can lead to collaborationcollaboration can lead to communityshare opinionsshare informationshare your thoughts(or maybe even what you are doing)After a while familiarity leads to more communityOr a community can create a TwitterYou can also set up twitter groups If you would prefer to keep the conversation within one group of peopleBut I would suggest using all of twitter because of the resourcesof the informative tweets fromorganizationspeople you do not knowsuch as expertsWho Should I Follow (analyses your tweets and looks for people you may like to follow) such as others with similar interests) It's all in the follow! Stuck with a tech problem?Looking for resources?Need feedback?Just can't remember that word?Tech Problem?one of your contacts may have the answerNeed a specific resource?one of your contacts may send you in the right direction.Need feedback?ask opinionstake informal pollsdiscussJust cant remember that word?I bet someone you are in contact with will have it for you. Ask!The community will answerBut first create the community. Here you will find instructions on how to create your own Twitter group. Atebitshttp://blog.atebits.com/2009/02/twitter-groups/ Mashable: The social Media Guidehttp://mashable.com/2009/02/15/twitter-groups-3/Andhttp://mashable.com/2009/07/13/more-twitter-groups/ Follow your interestHere are some places to find people or organizations to follow for relevant information: Twellow: The Twitter Yellow Pageshttp://www.twellow.com/ Twitter Groupshttp://twittgroups.com/index.php Twitter for Teachershttp://twitterforteachers.wetpaint.com/ TwitterCounter (ranks tweeters by number of followers)http://twittercounter.com/ just tweet it (Groups tweeters--or tweeple-- by interest)http://justtweetit.com/ Who Should I Follow (analyses your tweets and looks for people you may like to follow)http://www.whoshouldifollow.com/ Here are some suggestions for people or organizations to follow and what their Tweets may offer: ATE_UTSA http://twitter.com/ATE_UTSA Edutopia http://twitter.com/edutopia Doogoland http://twitter.com/Doogoland TexanCultures (The Institute of Texan Cultures) http://twitter.com/TexanCultures teainfo http://twitter.com/teainfo Bill Cosby http://twitter.com/BillCosby mollybob http://twitter.com/mollybob PBS's Independent Lens Tweets http://twitter.com/IndependentLens education http://twitter.com/Education eLearning30 http://twitter.com/eLearning30 Short funnies to break of the day by Copyjoker http://twitter.com/Copyjoker And here are some more useful things you can do with Twitter: Direct Tweet (like a text message but easier than pulling out your phone) - Get to know your colleagues through their Tweets - Make announcements - Brainstorm - Take a poll - Share resources - Follow mentors Get a good laugh - Find gossip about famous people Find trends on Twitter http://tweetscan.com/index.php To use Twitter from your smart phone. Get the lowdown at: http://www.twitterfone.com/ If all else fails, check out edmodo. Edmodo is a private twitter-like network specifically for educators. http://www.edmodo.com/