This tweet from Mark Pesce got me thinking this morning. So many people I know don’t write blogs or operate in an online environment. Some have difficulties dealing with email. Most of them have no understanding of what Twitter is or why on earth you’d want to spend time looking at the 140 character responses that are posted on this microblogging tool.
I was with them once. And it wasn’t all that long ago. I’d heard about Twitter but wondered why people would be interested in using this tool. Twitter’s prompt is ‘What are you doing?’ Why would you want to tell people about the minutiae of your life. I danced around it for awhile but finally started using it. Clay Burell helped me to form my network by doing a shout out for me asking people to follow me. The thing with twitter is is that you have to follow people and they need you to follow you back in order for you to see each other’s posts (tweets!). It’s a reciprocal relationship and when it’s like that that’s when it works best.
Seeing Mark’s tweet this morning prompted me to reply with my belief about the power of Twitter.
And that’s it really. It’s the capacity of your network to share with you that makes it such an essential tool. Twitter has taken me places I never would have found without the valuable links being provided by the wonderful sharing people involved in my network of reciprocation. Sometimes those same people who post those great links also share with me that they’ve just burnt dinner or have to put the kids to bed. And that’s OK too. I get to know them as people and enjoy the human experience with them.
Let’s face it, it’s powerful. How else would a teacher like me get to connect with a mind like that of futurist Mark Pesce? Personal learning networks are amazing. If you’re dancing around the edges of Twitter it’s time to take your turn in the middle and explore the potential of what is an incredible tool for connecting and sharing.
Lucacept - intercepting the Web 
You are so right in your observations in this post Jenny. I am only new to Twitter but I have got so much from my daily ‘connections’. It IS hard to explain, I’ve had to try to explain it to members of our staff..it is hard convincing them it is a form of staff PD!
What have I got from Twitter in the short time I have been using it? Well, I have been directed to numerous sites that are timely and relevant to topics and units being studied by classes and discussed by staff. I have been able to ‘link up’ with teachers who were looking for classes to ‘connect with’ for online projects, I have started to develop professional friendships with educators from around Australia and beyond. I have been notified of various online meetings & participated after following links on Twitter.
The thing I like best is that this format bridges the gaps and allows me to ‘get to know’ educators whom I have admired through their blog posts or other mediums. The quick personal notes, allow me as a novice, to identify with those educators. They have families & lives away from their online existences & seem to have similar struggles with time and commitments. This is so encouraging- it helps us all to connect- realising that we are ‘all in the same boat’!
My Twitter experiences have provided a wealth of knowledge. Like you, I wish that others take the plunge & join in!