Y (I) Use Twitter

Imported from  my Posterous Blog

For me Twitter is a great place for learning new stuff. I’m amazed all the hints, tips and tricks I can pick up from the people I follow on Twitter.

I haven’t had this feeling of enrichment from the very start. When I created my Twitter account it was out of simple curiosity. I wanted to see what was going on there. And I was confirmed in my preconception that Twitter was useless for academic purposes. 140 characters are not something you can expect to use for constructing a real argument. Consequently I soon abandoned Twitter.

After a discussion about Twitter contra Yammer as knowledge sharing tools I took up Twitter again. And since I spend some time actually using Twitter it has been an eye opening experience. Instead of a closed community as with Yammer Twitter gives access to an open environment for exchanging ideas and not least important for the way I use Twitter: sharing links.

I’m directed at blog posts and sites I would never have found had it not been for the people I follow on Twitter. I ‘meet’ colleagues that are really engaged in the same topics as I am. We share information and knowledge to an extent hardly ever seen in a workplace. I think that people on Twitter are interested in sharing and learning from other.

For med using Twitter is the outcome of a simple cost-benefit analysis. I gain more from Twitter – or actually from the people I follow on Twitter – than it ‘costs’ me to be there posting and read through all the less interesting stuff that you also find when scrolling through tweets.

And what’s more. The less interesting information is somehow needed. It’s the molar that keeps the community together. The tidbits of everyday conundrums make Twitter a vivid and engaging place to be as also described by Scott McLeod in his blog post ‘If you were on Twitter’http://bit.ly/lC81Oq

Personal community

To follow and being followed on Twitter constitutes communities. The Twitter communities are open communities that do not have clear defined borders and boundaries. The communities consist of the people who join them and in that respect you can call Twitter communities for communities of interests. Communication and sharing in these communities of interests is a form of practice that builds up a certain knowledge culture you learn from.

As a Twitteroid you participate in a community but that community is not necessarily the same community as your followers and followed. Your community is a personal community in that sense that it is built on your connections – the community is part of a personal learning network (PLN) that also consists of your off-line connections.

Communities in a network society are open and reach out to a lot of different communities – to different people with specific capabilities. The pace of knowledge sharing and, hence, participation in different communities of practice is defining a new and different learning culture. The individual’s learning is more defined by the activities in his or her PLN. Knowledge is not something to have – knowledge is something you do together with other participants.

For me Twitter is a very important part in my PLN.

Connections and learning

Steve Wheeler claims in a newly published blog ‘Twitter: It’s still about the connections’: “Twitter is not so much about the information and useful links you can gain access to. Twitter is powerful because it allows people to share their emotions - you can gain a window on their everyday experiences, and that often helps you in your own daily struggles. I am often encouraged by people who share snapshots of what is happening in their lives right now. It's an important dimension - I have made many friends on Twitter whom I have later met and strengthened my friendships with.”

I don’t say that I totally disagree with mr. Wheeler. Different people may use Twitter differently and for different purposes. But I do not use Twitter as a connection with friends. I’m no friend of mr. Wheeler and I’m no friend of most of the people I follow on Twitter – I have never met them. I can’t say that I don’t know them because I actually know a lot of them very well professionally.

I ‘met’ Wheeler on Twitter and because there was an interesting citation I began to read his blog ‘Learning with ‘e’s and I began following him. I have learned a lot from him, his writing, the links he share, his twitter comments, his wit etc.

The most interesting links I hear about from Twitter I collect on Scoop.it to use them when needed. Mr. Wheeler’s and others practice using Twitter thereby becomes part of my work as a researcher in learning and teaching and as a development consultant.

I follow mr. Wheeler because I learn from him. We are doing things ‘together’ by commenting, pointing out interesting things, and so on. Wheeler is part of my PLN – he is a part of my knowledge base and, hence, I know through and with him. And that’s great and I’m thankful.

Y do U use Twitter?