Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

Twitter for educators: A tutorial for beginners

Dan Krutka, PhD

Wichita State University

www.digitalsocialstudies.com

@WSUSocStudies

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

Getting started

Start by going to www.twitter.com and enter your name, a valid e-mail

address, and a password you can remember:

Once you have signed up for Twitter it will take you to the next page…

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

This page will verify that your information. Ideally, your username should be short,

easy to remember, and reflect your purpose for using Twitter. I chose

“WSUSocStudies” because I created my account to use with my Wichita State

students and colleagues. You can change your username later. Below is a screenshot

of an account I created for my mom… we’ll see if she ever uses it:

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

If you check the option to “tailor twitter based on my recent website visits” then Twitter will make

recommendations based on users who visit similar sites. You should choose whether you prefer more

privacy or a more personalized Twitter experience.

I recommend that you that you skip the next couple steps where Twitter encourages you to find users to

follow. This is an important step, but there are better ways to do this.

If you choose to skip past the rest of the

Twitter set up then just type in

www.Twitter.com into your URL and you

should be able to get started. (You should

still be logged in, but if not, you will have to

re-log in). One simple way to find educators

to follow is to look at who other educators

follow or start following #hashtags like

#edchat (education), #sschat (social

studies), & more.

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

Add a profile and header picture! No one likes an egghead on Twitter. They’re

usually associated with Spam! You may want to avoid/block accounts with the

default egg picture. Also, never open links from strangers or suspicious messages

from friends.

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

Also update your profile with other pertinent information. This can be changed at any time.

This image (left) is an example of what your profile should

look like once you’ve added a profile picture and header.

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

You will likely want to change your e-mail notifications so you do

not receive a flood of Twitter-related messages to your inbox:

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

You should be ready to use Twitter now! Here is what your

Twitter feed should look like once you are following others:

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

It is important to be professional in all tweets because they are public. If you are

planning to use Twitter professionally then you should not make your account

private. This prevents you from using Twitter to connect with others. Private Direct

Messages (DMs) can be sent between two twitter users who follow each other:

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

A wise poster on Twitter once tweeted to me, “Twitter is like a waterfall. Stick

out your cup and fill it, but don’t worry if you don’t get it all.” You may leave

Twitter for a few days at a time, but you do not want to miss tweets directed

at you. You can check the interactions tab to ensure this does not happen:

Daniel G. Krutka | 2013

When you first begin Twitter you will have few followers to send your tweets. If you hope to

connect to the larger community then you must use hashtags (e.g., #edchat, #sschat,

#engchat, #mathchat, #scichat, #elemchat, etc.) to broaden your audience and grown your

personal learning network (PLN). Your ability to grow your PLN and use Twitter effectively

will be enhanced when you post insightful comments and/or good resources like this:

Hopefully by this point you understand that Twitter is much more than narcissistic microbits

of blabber like this:

(My mom did not really post this!)

Many educators use Twitter to find, share, support, and collaborate in ways they

never thought possible previously!

Use the tabs on www.digitalsocialstudies.com to learn more!