Why Twitter is my new best friend

When Twitter first rolled out on the scene, I thought it was just media's latest attempt at extreme voyeurism; I don't really care that much about the personal lives of celebrities and I definitely don't want to spend my precious free time dishing out gossip about those latest details. 

So I've stayed away from Twitter for years...until last week. After talking to some friends I realized that I should connect with Twitter to hopefully get more connected with the digitally competent teaching world. And oh my goodness creating my @kidsmathtalk handle has completely changed my world!

Twitter has amazing discussions

I have had so many wonderfully insightful discussions with the teaching world at large and have already in less than a week made over 40 connections.  I am now constantly thinking about tweets to send out to get even more discourse started amongst people who truly share the same interests. Furthermore, everyone I have encountered is so extra nice. Every time I get on I truly feel like I belong to an inviting community. Even more amazing is that these people are from all over the world-no limits for your networking possibilities!  

Twitter is organized

I had always heard media and ads talking about hashtags, but who ever knew that the number sign could connect you to so many possibilities! Everytime you add that cute little hashtag, your tweet is connected and in a way filed with every other tweet that was sent on the same topic. After only a few hours of Twitter usage, I stopped seeing random tweets about celebrities altogether. It's only the tweets that are from my connections. While I know that some people who are using Twitter at the exact same time as me are on for non-professional reasons (which is perfectly okay btw) I don't have to be in that mix, which is lovely for me. Twitter is genius!

Twitter is always there for you

I can open up Twitter at 6 in the morning or 11 at night and be able to have contact with someone in the teaching world. If I am stuck on something that I am creating or just need some advice, I can just fly over to Twitter and send out a lovely tweet for fellow educators to answer when they have the time. It's awesome that Twitter has the component of email in that you do not have to be live in order to make and keep connections. But then Twitter also has the abilities of chat rooms if you would like to have a live discussion with others. I have participated in a few of these chats already and come away feeling energized and motivated. I love it!  Always available to talk, just like a true friend. :)  

Here are a few of my favorite hashtags:

1. #teaching

2.#mathchat

3.#3rdchat 
4.#21stedchat

What are some of your favorites?

How are you using Twitter in eduation? Leave a comment to get the discussion started! And you can follow me on twitter @Kidsmathtalk