Twitter

=**Communication Tool:**= Group Members: Joey Gaines & Leslie Duggan


 * Screenshot** [[image:twitter.JPG]]

Twitter is social networking/micro blogging tool that allows users to send messages or "tweets" up to 140 characters long.
 * Brief introduction of the tool**

**//Advantages of the tool//** Twitters biggest advantage is the mobility tool. Every smart phone is able to use twitter and it's accessible through every computer with internet. Also it's 140 characters make users "Tweet" short messages that are used to communicate to their "Followers." Each Twitter user is able to follow who ever they want to which makes communication efficient. While some people go through their cell phone to add contacts to a text message, twitter users can get through to whom the want with one click of their phone/computer.

The major disadvantage of twitter is that users can only submit messages up to 140 characters. While some users view this as a disadvantage others view it as a strength to the overall tool. Other disadvantages occur when large amounts of people are on the site, which causes extremely slow productivity on the behalf of the users. The last major disadvtange for some users is the lack of privacy, besides private messages, all posts are open to the public to view.
 * //Disadvantages (limitations) of the tool//**

 Also, a study in San Antonio took a certain number of tweets produced within a 24 hour day and separated them into categories showing that the most tweets produced were actually “pointless babble”. When confronted with this information, a social networking researcher counted this to be false and actually a representation of social grooming and interaction.

During the duration of Twitter there have been several instances of hackers breaking into people’s accounts and writing questionable materials unknown to the user. Security breaches like these are few, however, when they happen it’s a potential problem. In addition, false information being spread throughout Twitter has come to light over its use. For example, a rumor that Justin Bieber had died spread early April, causing quite the uproar. This was banned by Twitter and the topic isn’t allowed to be tweeted about now.


 * Application of the tool in your subject area** * (whats your subject area?)

For elementary education, I can’t imagine younger students understanding or participating in the world of twitter. However, perhaps in a few years this will be completely doable. This being said, one could create a classroom twitter account and have the students voice their concerns, homework questions, or information they want to share within that account. This would be a spectacular way to keep the class together during vacations or weekends.

Also, if you were to be studying history within your classroom, you could look up different groups on Twitter that have to deal with history and collaborate with people from around the world. I would conduct this in front of the class to ensure appropriate information. In addition to collaborating with groups, you could also create one of your own groups as a class and tweet weekly information about your culture or the cultures found within your classroom.


 * Find a tutorial video on YouTube**
 * []**


 * //List of key features shown in the YouTube Tutorial://**


 * //This tutorial provides the user: //**
 * //-Background information about how twitter was created //**
 * //-Statistics of the demographic found tweeting //**
 * //-How to set up an account //**
 * //-How to find others on Twitter //**
 * //-What to tweet about //**
 * //-Gives examples of tweets, how homepages should look, and gives step-by-step instructions //**

Websites to explore to better understand Twitter [] [] []
 * Useful Resources***