the 10 steps you need to get started!

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1 the 10 steps you need to get started! Take the plunge! Sign up for your Twitter account and get started. Head over to and fill out the screen that looks like this --> Make sure to fill out your profile as much as possible, and upload a picture of yourself! Educators on Twitter will feel more comfortable knowing what you look like...it also helps to keep the social in social media - say cheese! Spend some time watching and observing others. Take some time to learn the ins and outs of Twitter. This step is important because it will lay the foundation of how others are using and embracing Twitter as a professional development tool. Talk to educators who are using Twitter. We d be willing to bet that you learned about or heard something about Twitter from a colleague (or MASSP!). This is great news! This means you most likely have someone in your building or in your district who is using Twitter, and this gives you the opportunity to question them about how they use Twitter as a professional development tool. Tap into their experience and find out how Twitter has affected them professionally. These colleagues can be huge when it comes to supporting you and your future growth and development. Start to interact with your followers. The key to making the Twitter experience the best it can be is in developing relationships with the people with whom you interact. By interacting with people you are able to foster an environment of sharing and collaboration. People are more willing to help and support you when they know they can rely on you to be a valuable member of their Twitter community. Building and establishing relationships with your followers is crucial. Continue the conversation by leaving comments on their blogs. As you start interacting more you will take part in more and more conversations. You will find that many of these conversations can lead to future blog posts. Take time to read the blogs of people with whom you interact, and make sure to continue the conversation by leaving comments. By leaving a comment you are showing your dedication to the thoughts and musings of others...this is extremely important as you continue developing relationships.

2 It s okay to be social. Twitter conversations need to be focused and on topic, and for the most part should remain professional. However, it is important to remember that the people with whom you interact are people with lives and families, and as such it is okay to be friendly and social from time to time. In fact, I would say it is encouraged! Being social helps to develop and refine your Twitter relationships, which in turn will lead to more productive professional conversations. Be selective when it comes to who you follow. There are some people on Twitter who are going to challenge you and make your Twitter experience greatly rewarding...there are others who will not. Make sure you find and follow those people who are actively tweeting and participating in conversations. Just because somebody follows you does not mean you have some obligation to follow them. Twitter follows the unconference model...if somebody adds value then you follow them, and if they don t add value then you move on. You will get what you put into it. As mentioned several times already, building strong relationships is key. If you tweet once a week and never check to see what the people you are following are tweeting, then you probably won t get too much out of Twitter. To get something out of Twitter you will need to be an active and frequent participant. You don t have to tweet 100 times a day, but you will need be actively involved if you wish to get any meaningful use out of Twitter. Remember...use Twitter as a tool to meet your needs. Twitter is anything and everything you need it to be. If you want to get professional development ideas they are out there...if you want to collaborate and share with math teachers they are willing...if you have questions and need help it is available. When somebody helps you to meet your needs, please make sure to repay the favor if possible. Twitter thrives on the generosity and reciprocity of the Twitter community. Share, explore, discover, collaborate and encourage others. Enjoy Twitter and take advantage of the many great educators who are willing to share and help. Some of the most progressive and influential educators can be found on Twitter, and it is their dedication to improving education that makes this such a powerful tool. Last step! (Yep... we snuck in another one!) make sure you Follow us!

3 #TweetChat How-To Twitter chats, sometimes known as a Twitter party or a tweet chat, happen when a group of people all tweet about the same topic using a specific tag (#) called a hashtag that allows it to be followed on Twitter. The chats are at a specific time and often repeat weekly or bi-weekly or are only at announced times. Below is a quick overview on how to join a tweet chat: 1 2 Sign up for a free Twitter account! Don t have Twitter yet? Head over to twitter.com and fill out the screen that looks like this. Fill out your profile, add a picture and follow the leader of the Twitter chat you want to participate in. Take a look at some Twitter etiquette tips/tricks to get the hang of using it. Be sure to follow the chat hosts, guests and browse the posts on previous chats to see who else may interest you. Finding Twitter chats. Browse a list of regularly scheduled Twitter chats by finding hashtags that interest you on a site like Hashtag.it or Hashtags.org. (Be sure to follow #masspchat every Wednesday night!) Not sure what that is? Just think of a hashtag as a label in your Twitter filing system. 3 How to listen. You can simply click on the hashtag in a tweet to see all of the recent tweets around that hashtag. If you try to follow the chat from your own timeline on the Twitter website you can, but if it s a big chat you can quickly lose the thread of the conversation. Fortunately there are a number of sites that allow you to follow the chat only and participate more easily. See if there s one you like by trying any of the following: Tweetchat.com Twitterfall.com TweetGrid.com Twubs.com

4 4 How to participate. So you ve decided to enter the world of tweet chats! Follow these tips: When someone organizes a tweet chat they choose a hashtag related to the event and a time to hold the chat. They let as many people as possible know about it and ask them to spread the word. Often they will assign a moderator to welcome participants, ask questions and generally keep the conversation on track. If there is a guest answering questions they may be posed by the moderator or the participants. When you join the chat, spend a moment to scan the tweets around the tag. Who is talking? If there is a host or a featured guest what questions have been posted? What is the theme of the chat? Feel free to share tweets from within the chat with your network, perhaps by retweeting or with comments, but don t forget to use the hashtag so people can follow along. Retweeting the posts of another user in the chat is a common way to support statements from other tweeters and share them with your own networks. If you ask a question or respond to someone in the chat, use the hashtag so everyone can be in on the conversation. Some chats use the format of Q1 and A1 to help decipher group questions and answers. It s OK to greet your friends who are participating in the chat with a quick mention, but don t use the hashtag unless it s on-topic. If you have enough space in the tweet to share their post and comment too great, but if there isn t you can re-tweet their comment intact and with your feedback and be sure to use the hashtag. It s acceptable to send a private tweet to someone if it is off the topic of the chat, but try to do it outside of the hashtag so it doesn t end up in the archive of the chat. If you ask a guest to moderator a question, please stay on topic. It is not OK (in most cases) to use a tweet chat stream to market your own product or services. This isn t about you. You might want to let people know you ll be participating in a chat in advance. This is a nice way to support the host and let your network know you may be a bit noisy during that time. Make sure you every Monday at 8 p.m. using #masspchat!

5 Anatomy of Tweet - Must See Guide 1. Avatar - This can be a photo or any other graphic that a user is known by. The importance of an avatar is that it leads you when you click on it to a shortened version of that person s profile where you can learn more about him\her. 2. Tweeter s name - This is the name of the person sending the Tweet. It might be their real name but several people prefer to use pseudo names. 3. Twitter username or handle - This is a name by which a tweeter is known in the twitter community. For instance, our Twitter handle 4. Shortened URL - These are links that lead to external websites that Tweeters share in their tweets. By default, Twitter uses a number of shortening services to shorten the URL of a website to fit in within the 140 character limit. 5. Tweet Text - This is the substance of the tweet or the message the tweeter is sending to his\her followers. 6. Hashtags - Hashtags are used to create a community around a topic. 7. Time\Date - This indicates the time and date of the tweet, when it was sent. 8. RT - Indicates a Re-Tweet, or re-posting of someone else s Tweet. 9. Mention of Another Twitter User - To mention another tweeter in your tweet all you have to do is followed by that person s handle or twitter name.

6 a simple reference guide to Twitter Terminology. #ICYMI #FF #TBT #MM AFAIK DM HT IDK/IDC IKR IMO/IMHO Mentions MT NSFW RT SMH Subtweet TBH TFTF TIL TL TL/DR TY YMMV A period at the beginning of a tweet makes it visible to all followers. Hashtag - used to join ongoing conversations. Think of it as a label on a file. Used to send a tweet to a certain account. Think of it as the To field. In case you missed it. Follow Friday - a tradition to promote your favorite accounts to follow (on Fridays!) Throwback Thursday - time to get nostalgic Music Monday - time to shake your rump As far as I know Direct Message - a Twitter that s only visible to the receiver. Hat tip - informal credit of a source I don t know/i don t care I know, right!? In my opinion/in my humble (or honest) opinion The notification area where you see who has tagged you in a tweet Modified tweet - When you retweet but have to change it for any reason. Not safe for work (or school) - bad language, questionable images, etc. Retweet - You re relaying a message from someone you follow to all of your followers. Shake my head/smack my head Talking behind someone s back by tweeting about the person but not using To be honest Thanks for the follow Today I learned - a way to share new things Timeline - where the stream of tweets appear Too long/didn t read - often used sarcastically when something is lengthy or boring Thank you Your mileage may vary - implying that things may turn out differently for you

7 6 REASONS TO SIGN-UP Juggling multiple social media accounts across several networks can get hectic. Many self-respecting social media addicts find HootSuite to be among the best to streamline sharing. Users can connect their Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Foursquare, WordPress blogs and other accounts under the HootSuite umbrella, and take advantage of the convenient scheduling feature. 1 Get Organized. Sign up for your HootSuite account by heading over to Once you set up an account and log in, HootSuite will guide you through the basics of connecting networks and organizing streams. The green menu tab displays the networks connected to your HootSuite account. From there, select the streams you d like to monitor, such as your timeline, mentions and scheduled tweets. HootSuite is optimized for managing Twitter accounts, but you can also post to your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, among others. Take advantage of quick customization (click on a tab s name to edit) to open more streams. Group your timeline, sent tweets and scheduled tweets under one tab, and then open a connect tab with mentions and direct messages. Use the search option to create a stream for a specific hashtag, or to get involved in a Twitter chat. Use the refresh button at the top right to stay updated. 2 Posting Made Simple. HootSuite s message-composing features follow suit with its simplicity. At the top of the page, you can create a new post to send to any or all of your connected accounts. If you decide to change or remove the accounts you wish to post to, click on the icon in the top box: HootSuite is also equipped with another social media manager friend a link shortener, right inside the compose box. Paste the link in the box, click Shrink and HootSuite will place it at the end of the text in compose field.

8 3 Scheduling Your Communication. If social media is just one more item on your to do list, then take advantage of calendaring out your posts. Scheduling is HootSuite s most social media manager-friendly tool, allowing you plan ahead and keep your account actively engaged in just a few clicks. Scheduling can be found below the text field in the compose box. Select the date and time of your choosing, and click Schedule when the post is ready to go. You can even look at the weeks and months ahead if you re really on a roll! Tweet/post text goes here! 4 Going Mobile. HootSuite s mobile app (for ios and Android) follows the web app s use of simple categories and tabs to keep everything organized, much like an outline of your social networks. Within tabs, you can smoothly side-swipe between the streams for quick access. The mobile app is perfect for checking on your accounts while on the go, or even when your laptop is on the other end of the couch. With virtually all the same functionality and customization, the mobile app keeps you on top of your social presence and modify scheduling in the case of unexpected events. 5 Keep It Secure. Social media security is important not only for work or professional accounts, but also your private personal data, which can be dangerous if placed in the wrong hands. More social networks are stepping up their security game and HootSuite is no different. HootSuite enables login through Google, Yahoo, Open ID and Facebook to make your social account inaccessible to someone who cracked your password. To make your account more secure, find this option under Settings > Account > Authentication, via the left sidebar. Choose how you would best prefer to connect to HootSuite, and the sites will guide the rest of the setup. 6 All About the Data. Each week, HootSuite sends you an with a PDF attachment of your analytics. The very useful summary gives you graphs showing data you care about, including: Follower growth Number of clicks per day Geographical information on the people clicking Top referrers Most popular links Retweets and mentions And, if you choose to upgrade beyond the standard free HootSuite account, you can get even more information including data for your other connected accounts.