Twitter.  I can’t help it, I’m hooked.

Now I know that a statement such as this is highly likely to be view suspiciously by most, myself generally included.  But before you write it off completely, ask me why I like twitter so much.

There are many reasons, but the main one is that I have managed to join a group of similarly minded people from all aspects of education, from cutting edge educational theorists  like @wfryer and @dwarlick to teachers at the coalface like @mrrobbo and @mrbalcom.  Then there are the people who provide resources for teachers, free, as a service to their fellow teachers, such as @adrianbruce.   Add to that mix of amazing knowledge and experience, scientists and other relevant experts in their fields from whom I learn all manner of things and services updating me about current events, including @astronautics and @newscience .  And of course, there are also the people who simply make me laugh and generally cheer up my day, like @darthvader or the people whose lives I find fascinating, like @stephenfry.

Twitter enables me to talk to all of these people, share with them, learn from them, and feel part of their “tribe”.  I can see that teachers from all over the world face the same challenges as we do, and we can share ideas of how to solve these issues.  I know I’m not alone.

Recently I drove up to a traffic jam but was unable to see what the hold up was, so I flicked on the good old CB radio to listen in.  Sure enough, almost immediately I was able to find out that an oversized vehicle had required both lanes of a two lane bridge, so we were making way for it.  I was very grateful for this piece of shared information from strangers who just happened to be nearby at the time.  It struck me that twitter can be a bit like that – there’s a little bit of casual chat, a little bit of reaching out to people, and a whole lot of sharing.

Of course, I warn you, it can become a procrastinator’s dream, so you may have to turn off the updates when you are in an easily distracted mood, but I have found that you soon learn to prioritise your attention to twitter the way you do all the factors competing for your attention at any time.  It’s worth it – if you use twitter as a tool and contribute to the community, you will find that you gain so much more than you loose.

Check out my profile: @monstersciences and take a few minutes to visit some of the people I follow.  I can recommend them all.