Twitter Covers the World

I am receiving Tweets (that's a Twitter message) from friends as they travel the world. They are all traveling from America to other parts of the world. The map above shows the homes of Twitter users. Looks like Europe is inundated and the US isn't too far behind. I found this map in an interesting article recommended by Lois Lindell, Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage and Communities.

It's interesting to think about how we can communicate at the touch of a button. I received a tweet from Howard Reingold asking if anyone knew of "Any ideas on using Twitter in classroom besides backchannel." He said that students could twitter insights, comments and questions during class discussions. That's an interesting idea.

What other kinds of educational applications are there? Is this just a solution looking for a problem, or is it a new utility that will allow us to do things that will expand our learning experiences?

What do you think? Does Twitter have any educational value?

Everyone's a-Twitter about Twitter

Twitter? How do I get Tweets from my Twitter?
This is Web 2.0 confusing.

Twitter is a new Web 2.0 way to keep in touch with your friends' whereabouts. It is IM-ing on Steroids. The main purpose of Twitter is to MicroBlog with information about what you are doing at that time and where you are going. You are limited to 100 characters so you can't ramble too much.

I have a class of students who are all supposed to be signed up for Twitter and we are all supposed to be following each other. I have seen the links from about 3 of my students. I am being followed by 32 people so I think that most of them have linked to me but haven't been keeping me in touch with their happenings. =-)

All that it takes to get on the Twitter-wagon, is to go to the Twitter website and sign up. You just create a Twitter persona and then find people to follow.

The main problem with Twitter is that you have to go to the Twitter website to add or read Tweets, right? WRONG.

There are a number of programs that augment your twitter so you can send and receive from your desktop, Facebook, IM, or your phone.

Twitterrific - Desktop for the Mac. Go to http://www.iconfactory.com to download it. DON'T go to Twitterrific.com - it is a porn site.

Twitter-Roo - Desktop for the PC. Go to http://rareedge.com/twitteroo/

You can find a bunch of 3rd party programs that you can add to your computer at http://explore.twitter.com/ Check out the Popular Downloads.

I must admit that I haven't figured out how to integrate Twitter into an educational setting, but it is kind of fun to see the microblogging going on. I have linked to David Warlick who is a Web 2.0 guru that I love to read. He has been Tweeting a couple times a day so I am getting to know him. I have also linked to Obama and Edwards who are the only two candidates who are twittering. Haven't seen anything from them, but hope that it happens soon.

What have you found out about Twitter? R U using any interesting 3rd party software? Sounds like fun.

Lois Lindell wrote about the proliferation of Twitter/Microblogging utilities. She even found a wiki that is created by Twitter fans (Twitter Fan Wiki.) The best is the way that some Maryland researchers investigated why people use Twitter, Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage and Communities. It's an interesting read. We have an unquenchable need to share information and chat.

Who would'a guessed? Guess that's why we have blogs. 8-0