The value of Twitter?
I have three Twitter accounts. A personal one where I post photos of the dog, talk about Poldark and other random stuff. My @WirralGov tends to relate to everything education and then I have a company Twitter account which is again education related about my work as an NLG. It can be hard work keeping each for different things and I have got in a muddle before now!
However the value of Twitter, in my view, is huge. I follow some 2,500 accounts. There are Headteachers, governors, clerks, school business managers etc. and many follow me back.
Twitter is instant news and views. I would be quite lost without it as far as information is concerned. One does have to ignore the occasional idiot and it is quite easy to block those who make an unacceptable offer to ‘connect’.
I have made some really good friends through Twitter. I can share information from conferences with those who are unable to attend and can Storify an entire day quite easily.
These days when we tell children and young people NOT to meet people we meet on the internet, I have frequently meet ‘unknown’ people at conferences for chats and photo opportunities because I ‘know’ them from education Twitter.
So many government departments tweet their latest news and changes to policy (usually during the school holidays) so it is easy to keep up to date and further share that information.
Sunday nights in term time from 2045 to 2115 @ukgovchat have a live chat on a hot topic. Have any of you caught up with that?
There is a down side to Twitter of course. Respect should be given to differing views and we all have our pet topics. This is not always the case but you can watch, ignore or even laugh at how heated those debates between ‘protagonists’ can become.
In the days when anyone can be googled are you mindful of your ‘name’ and the school (s) with which you are associated? As a governor have you signed a code of conduct about social media?
Has it taken over my life? Well I guess it has but it is also the greatest CPD if you use it well.
Your thoughts? You tweet? Why do you tweet? Should you tweet?
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