Not All Who Twitter are Twitts Reaction

Doug Johnson gives an interesting take on exactly what twitter is, and who is currently using it. He states that he does have a twitter account, but he does not twitt. Twitter sounds like it is quite similar to a blog, as Johnson says, "micro-blogging." One of the big hits that people often write on is, "What are you doing," a better question may have been what has stumped you today.
Johnson has yet to find exactaly what it is that he could use twitter for in his class, but he does give a link to a website where teachers blog about their use of twitter in class. Twitter seems that it could be a good thing, but you need to explore it quite a bit first to see what content you need to avoid. Twitter is a social system, sounds like a mix of facebook and blogger, I am not a current member, but it sounds like I soon will be.
One complaint is that people always blog about being stuck in an airport, going to work, talking at a confrence, and what happened to them today. It is irrelevant to most people what happened to everybody else in the world, so why post it. Johnson states that he wishes the site would have, may I say, more intellectual conversations going on. Also, he notes that the website does not promote in depth things because they only let you type one hundred and fourty words per post.
When are people twittering is another question to consider, is it on their time or somebody else's. Students are doing it via mobile internet during class, and workers are doing it while they are on the clock. This is a huge downfall since they are taking up valuable time that needs to be done elsewhere. So, how valuable can twitter be.
The nice thing about twitter is that it lets people connect and follow each others post, they can see exactly what you said and when you said it. One may describe it as a twenty four seven chat room, where you don't always have to be logged in to see what happend. Therefore it makes it easy to stay in contact with people and ask questions and get a timely response.
I went to the teacher who twitter homepage, but it was hard to naviagate and find good information on it. I do think that twitter could be a good way to connect with your students and your students with each other, but you would have to have a close watch on everything they say on there and do. No matter what website you use the internet is a dangerous place, so twitter is just as good as the rest of the website you can use in your classroom.
Johnson ends his journal about how he may not be the biggest fan of twitter but thinks that you need to discover it yourself before you make any decisions. He is all about people learning about new technology and finding ways to put it to use in classrooms. Twitter can be a website you may want to use in your class, you will just need to navigate the site yourself and then decide.

Johnson, Doug. (2009). The online school. Not All Who Twitter are Twitts. Retrieved October 1, 2009, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/johnson/johnson034.shtml.