Firstly, you should know that each tweet can only contain 140 characters. That includes punctuation, spaces, letters, and numbers. You can add pictures, videos, and links to your tweets, but just know that those eat up some of your characters.
Anytime you include somebody's twitter handle (username) in a tweet, Twitter sends that person a notification, so they can easily view your tweet (when you use their Twitter handle remember that you must use the @ sign).
The real magic of Twitter is the hashtag (#). There are millions of Twitter users tweeting about all kinds of random things; it can get very distracting! The hashtag allows you to sort through those billions of tweets and search for tweets that are important to you. Simply search for a hashtag, and Twitter will sort through every tweet and deliver only the tweets you are interested in. For instance, I teach Algebra 1, so I often search the hashtag #alg1chat. There are teachers from all around the country sharing their thoughts and ideas about Algebra 1 by using that hashtag. There are very specific hashtags and there are generic hashtags like #mathchat or #edchat. Perhaps you want to know what's going on in Kansas or our school district; search #ksedchat or #usd443. You will only see the tweets of people talking about Kansas education or USD443.
With the hashtag comes great responsibility. When you tweet, you should try to include hashtags. If you don't include a hashtag, then no one can search for your tweet. If you are tweeting about independent and dependent clauses, then include a #ELA or #Englchat. Use a hashtag that others might search for and make your tweet visible! Also, I love using #usd443 because I want parents, community members, and other teachers to see what's happening in our district. I try to share within the district as much as possible.
When you tag users in your tweet (by typing their twitter handle), and you include two or three hashtags in your tweet along with a picture, you will run out of characters fast! So, sometimes tweeters will get creative to use less characters. Sometimes they use 2 instead of to or too. Sometimes they'll use b4 instead of before. Now, we're teachers, and I think this type of "text" talk annoys all of us! I try to avoid it at all costs because I want my tweets to be professional. However, there are instances where I need to get creative to get my message across in 140 characters, so I'll have to take some shortcuts. Many times teachers will use "Ss" to represent students and "Ts" to represent Teachers. There are other shortcuts teachers use when tweeting, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. Here's my advice: if you have a questions about what someone is talking about, you should totally just tweet them, and ask them! I promise they will be cool with it! That's the best way to find out!
Another thing you can do on Twitter is send a "Direct Message." A direct message is essentially an email. When you send a direct message, it goes straight to that person and no one else. Some conversations you may want to keep private, so you should send those out as a direct message (click on the little envelope and type in the persons twitter handle). Just like tweets, Direct Messages can only be 140 characters. WARNING: If you send a tweet and it is NOT a direct message, it can be seen by the entire world of Twitter. Try to avoid embarrassing situations at all times!!
Finally, if you like a tweet that someone else wrote, you have two options to show them some love. You could "retweet" their tweet or "favorite" their tweet. When you retweet someone's tweet, it gets shared with all of your followers. This is a great way to spread really good ideas. This is how tweets go "viral" because the more people share, the more people see the tweet. Plus, it feels really good when someone retweets your ideas. So, if you want to make someone's day, retweet them. Another way to show love on Twitter is to favorite a tweet. This is similar to "liking" a status on Facebook. The cool thing about Twitter is it saves every tweet you favorite. So, sometimes I see an article I'm interested in, but I don't have time to read it at the moment. I will favorite that tweet, so I can find it later and read it. You can always search any tweets you favorite. Again, this is another way to show someone some Twitter love. It's like giving someone a virtual high-five!
You're turning into a Twitter pro! I think you're ready to learn about Twitter chats!!
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