USING MICRO BLOGGING

What is a microblog? A short, social and concise way of sharing resources, pictures, links, ideas, opinions, reflection or commentary on any subject. These ‘posts’ (or 'tweets' if using Twitter), can be about any topic and are available to be read by anyone. People freely reply to tweets, entering the conversation; responses are made, ideas are swapped and suggestions are offered. However, posts are most likely to be seen by the author’s ‘followers’ - people who have indicated that they’re interested and want to receive updates from them. The short ‘micro’ nature of tweets means that they’re quick to write and instantly consumable by readers.

What is a microblog? BLOG MICROBLOG My thoughts on digital literacy: When I first started using a computer back in the mid 1990s, digital literacy was a phrase no one knew; today, not much has changed. However, for those who do understand the term, there are a number of resources availble via “JISC Netskills”. You can find out about them at Digital Literacy Resources via JISC NETSKILLS,

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How could you use Twitter?

Get Started Search Twitter ( for keywords that are meaningful to yourhttp://search.twitter.com/ subject, job or teaching. Be careful what words you choose. If you teach English, searching for “English” might produce far too many tweets. Searches for “English Teacher” might be better. Try and pick things you’d want to share ideas on. So, instead of “ESOL” (which could be discussion about ESOL issues), try “ESOL resources”

Get Started Sign up for an account at Try and pick a short name, which is easy to type and remember jbloggs, jbloggsUK or similar. Make sure you include a brief bio, a link to a website about you or your organisation and a photo (though it doesn’t need to be a photo of you)

Get Started Sign in and start tweeting! Start by sharing something you’ve read or have been that’s interesting. Say why it’s interesting. For example, “Just found out how to use twitter on this website: DON’T put “Just on a website finding out how to use twitter”, because that is of no use to a reader..share like you would in normal conversation.

Get Started Follow people On twitter, you don’t just follow people you know (like you might do when you add friends on facebook). Search for experts in your field, or people you admire and see if they are on Twitter. Find organisations you are or want to be involved in and follow them. DON’T Follow hundreds of people for the sake of it, or follow people you’ll have no interest in. Follow people who are saying things you’re going to want to read More help available herehere

Get Inolved Send people a mention Use the symbol followed by their twitter name to send a message Hello, how are you?) You could start by sending a mention to an organisation you know Just started using Twitter, so have followed you”) NOTE: Any messages sent like this are public – do don’t share secrets this way More help available herehere

Get Involved Send someone a message If someone you follow has followed you back, you can send them a “direct message” which can only be seen by them. To do this type “D” a space and then their username (without sign). Eg: “D person1 You asked for my contact number, it’s ” More help available herehere

Safety First Everything you send can be seen Even if you send someone a direct (hidden) message, always assume it can be seen, that way you won’t get any nasty surprises.

Safety First Everything you say reflects on you (and sometimes your employer) What you tweet can be archived and displayed forever. So, if you tweet opinions, accusations or contentious content, make sure that they do not break any laws (such as those around libel, threats or obscene content), try not to be hurtful and also remember that anything you say culd be associated with your school, college or employer