A Year (and 18 days) On Twitter
Posted by ejallen on October 18, 2009
On September 30, 2008, I began my adventure. That day was the opening session of our Powerful Learning Practice (PLP) cohort. At the opening session, Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum Beach had us all sign up for this thing that I had not heard of….Twitter!
And so it began. I started to learn what a personal learning network (PLN) was. There was a lot of googling of twitter terms going on in my life. And before I knew it, I was building a PLN. And what an incredible resource that has been.
So what have I learned? Well, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but here goes.
- I am humbled by my PLN.
- From my PLN, I have learned so much. My delicious account is full of links I have seen on twitter.
- Tweet and retweet often
- Thank your followers
- Be selective when choosing who to follow. I pretty much keep it to teachers. Admins, and ed tech people
- Don’t follow celebrities
- I often check twitter before I check email
- The amount of followers doesn’t matter. This is not a popularity contest. It is about quality conversation and learning.
- There are many Phillies fans in my PLN
- It is incredible to connect and learn with great people around the world.
- Time zones
- It is good to go “off the grid” every so often. The tweets will continue and I don’t need to read them all. Balance.
- There are some tremendous blogs attached to members of my PLN. I read as much as I can. My Google Reader is loaded!
- Go to Educon.
- My PLN on twitter has brought me some of the best professional development I have ever had.
- It is great to see and read innovative thinkers, even and especially when there are differences of opinions.
- I can’t wait to see what’s next with my PLN.
- I can tweet from my iPhone!
- On occasion, I actually find that I have something of value to say. So for those of you starting out on Twitter, keep going and believe that you have something to add to the conversation. Because you do.
As I said, this is not a complete list. I wanted to post this on September 30, but as blogging goes, that didn’t happen. So, if you are reading this, first, thanks! And then, if you are not on Twitter, get there. And build your PLN.
Thanks to my first 8 followers: @erikgerm, @lawdog0140, @lrphils, @antiprogress, @ncara. @shareski. @glassbead and @snbeach. You guys are still following me! Thanks and thanks to these 8 and all of my PLN for teaching me, learning with me, and sharing. Here’s to another year!
BY the way, my twitter ID is @horizons93
October 18th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Glad to see you are still enjoying the PLN experience. I hope to see you at educon again this year.
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ejallen Reply:
October 18th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Thanks Charlie, and thanks for taking the time to read this. You have been an excellent member of my PLN. Denise and I are planning on being there all weekend this year. We will definitely catch up.
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October 19th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I had the privilege of beginning my twitter life @lrphils the same day as you @horizon93. Re #12 “Off the grid”: that was one of the hardest things for me to learn. @maggiev told me that Twitter is like a flowing stream. If flows by in real time and you occasionally dip in for a satisfying drink. I now am not as worried if I miss a few tweets.
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