I have used Twitter in my personal life for a little while. I mainly use it to keep up-to-date on a variety of interests and hobbies. I find it to be a great way to self-curate the media I want to consume. Twitter tends to be my go-to place for world events, technology news, hobby-related information, sports highlights, etc. It provides me with a quick shot glance at the world at large, and from there I can drill down further if I want to. I use it to keep in touch with some friends back home too. I have used Hootsuite on mobile before, but I am cell-phone dumb now so I no longer use it. I don't really enjoy being quite that connected either.
I haven't used Twitter for professional learning or as a professional community, but I do see the advantages. The D123 video was great, and it definitely got my interested in the idea of having a professional Twitter account. I like keeping my personal life separate from my professional, so I would need to manage two separate accounts if I create a professional one. Colleagues don't necessarily need to read my angry tweets about how poorly my favourite hockey team is doing, and my friends don't need to read about classroom planning. Having said all that, I don't know how soon I will create an account for professional reasons. As it is, I don't tweet a lot. I mainly use the platform to passively engage with my interests outside of my professional life. In creating an account for the teacher side of my life, I fear I wouldn't contribute enough to keep me motivated to continue using it. My interest is piqued, but I'm not quite there yet.
Thanks for your thoughts on Twitter. I have 2 separate accounts as well-- one professional (@aliciaduell), where I tweet to and follow the ed/tech/library worlds, and then one personal, where I basically follow People Magazine and a few reality show personalities (who I'm too embarrassed to name). I'm planning to keep going with the @ISManilaHS account in the hopes that it can become an additional way to promote events, celebrate achievements, and connect with the community. I think that the buy-in factor is one of the main obstacles to really making Twitter in schools great, so it will likely be a long and slow road!
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