Overview

Twitter is a fantastic educational tool. We all know you know how to use Facebook, and some of you may even know how to use Twitter, but do you understand its capabilities for helping you learn?
As a class, is to create a network that shares ideas and helps relate experiences to digital literacy, biotechnology, reading and writing (of course), and anything else you want to learn!

Our Goals

Twitter is a Micro-Blogging platform that allows users to share information with selected users
Tweets have a limit of 140 characters...Just like a txt message
You can use twitter to not only share ideas but also links and pictures

Important: When selecting a user name: First Name_Last Initial and graduation year (Example: Michelle_L2015)
Use your BTHS email address to sign up.
Important: When completing the account info, uncheck the "Find me by Email Box" and "Send me Updates"

When you set up your profile, choose a picture for your twitter account. Important: Uncheck the box that enables location posting
When your account is set up, Follow Me (BTHS_TOK). This will enable you to see my updates directly in your twitter feed
When you start "Following me" I'll follow you.
Once you get all set up, start following your friends in this class or the other section, follow famous people (Conan O'brien is my suggestion), the college admissions department your applying to. Almost everyone has a twitter account. Anyone you follow will have status updates that appear in your twitter feed.
Next: Just remember to check twitter often. Post your thoughts about the class, responses to the assignment, or any idea that is TOK. I'll retweet the best!

We're using this twitter account solely for school purposes. If you want to use twitter for just you and your private life, please create your own separate account.
While not everything we post will be super-academic, please follow all school rules and keep it appropriate.
Please use your head and be safe. Common sense is best. Twitter Safety
If you are uncomfortable with tweeting or don't want to participate, please let me know.

Twitter has its on vocabulary. Here is a short breakdown. For even more vocab, go here: Twitter Glossary

Tweet:Is a 140 character message. That is what twitter is!
Following: This means you are following someone's updates. When they tweet, it'll appear in your twitter feed.
Twitter Feed: When you log on, the feed or timeline is the combination of your tweets and those that follow you.
Followers: People that get updates when you tweet
Retweet: If you like a tweet from someone you follow, you can retweet it and send it out to all your followers
Mentions: That means you popped up in someone's tweet. Using the @ symbol and your user name will mention you (Example @BTHS_TOK is an awesome class)
Hash-Tags: A hash tag is the pound sign [really the number sign #) and some word. (Example: #BTHSTOK). This allows people to find all messages with this hash tag. We will be using hash tags for class.
Trends: This are popular topics on twitter. Sports, movies, music all trends on twitter.
Fail Whale: Sometimes twitter gets overwhelmed and needs to take a break. The fail whale will appear. This happened a lot during the world cup.

If you are interested in getting twitter on your mobile phone(Twitter is free but you might have to pay data or message fees. Use your judgement:

iPhone: Tweetdeck is a great application.
Android: Twitter APP in the android market place.
Regular SMS (Text Message): This will send your phone a text anytime there is a tweet from someone you follow. Follow the steps in the Twitter Help Section: Mobile Phones. Twitter is free but your phone company may charge you for the texts or data. Use your judgement.
Share photos or images with twitpic
Use bit.ly to shorten urls for tweets