Where It's AT: Mrs. DiChiara's Technology Blog: Creating Your Own Professional Twitter Page

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Creating Your Own Professional Twitter Page

As a professional in the field of educational technology and assistive technology, I cannot say enough about how important it is to utilize social media outlets, like Twitter, to connect, network and engage with other professionals who are in the same fields. On a daily basis I am connecting with my PLN (Personal/Professional Learning Network) through Twitter, and it is here that I am continually learning about the latest technology advances, resources, ideas and professional development opportunities in educational and assisitive technology. See my previous post about the top 10 reasons every teacher needs a PLN!

In hindsight, which we all know is 20/20, I wish I had joined the Twitter world much earlier on in my career. As Craig Kemp (@mrkempnz) stated in his article 10 Steps to Creating the Perfect Educational Twitter Account, Twitter "is the BEST form of FREE Professional Development I have ever found". Craig's article, featured below, shares his passions behind using Twitter and how it makes him a better educator.

To create a globally connected PLN, Craig firmly believes engaging in the online world of Twitter is a must. To get started, follow these 10 easy steps that he suggests:

1. Go to www.twitter.com and fill in your name, email address and password and Click “Sign up for Twitter.”
Twitter start screen

2. When prompted choose your username – think to yourself, how do I want to be seen as online to my Education network now and in the future. I am @mrkempnz (simple, but effective).

3. Click “Create my account”

4. Next, start following people that you look up to or admire. If you want to follow celebrities, be prepared for a lot of ‘rubbish’. Some suggestions for Education ‘celebrities’ that you should follow instead are:

5. Do some searching and click on the “FOLLOW” button beside anyone you want to connect with. Their tweets will appear in your feed.

6. Once you are finished connecting, you need to ‘de-egg’. When you start twitter you get assigned your ‘egg’ as your profile picture. Let the world see who you are – upload a professional photograph, symbol, or cartoon of yourself. Click on the empty profile photo to upload an image of yourself.

7. Make sure you follow me @mrkempnz and @lrdichiara so we can support you along the way and help connect you with some amazing educators.

8. Edit your profile and add the important details about who you are and what you are passionate about by clicking on ‘Edit Profile‘ – this is what my profile says – it may help you craft your short bio:

Screen Shot 2016-02-17 at 4.29.56 PM

9. Send out your first tweet by clicking on the blue box. Type your first tweet in less than 140 characters (maybe you can say something like: “Hey @mrkempnz I am on twitter and I can’t wait to learn more about how to use it at your #21CLHK workshop”). By including my @mrkempnz tag I will get a notification alerting me you are mentioning me in your post.

10. Start exploring Twitter. Have a look around, wait for me to reply to you and start adding some people you might know. Let’s get connected!

**Added**
Check out this chart to help get you started with the Twitter lingo!