Connected Educator Month @iES
Day 4 - Hashtags
Hashtags
If you’ve completed the activities from day three and have been browsing through your Twitter stream, you’ve no doubt noticed the use of hashtags. Typing a pound sign (#) followed by a word or phrase (such as #edchat, #plpnetwork or #CE13) into a tweet makes a special link that searches Twitter for that word or phrase. In this way, you can follow discussions, topics, live tweeting of conferences or events, or join Twitter chats (scheduled discussions of particular topics which are grouped together by hashtags for easy tracking), even if you don’t follow the users who are using that hashtag.
Here are some activities to get you started using and following hashtags.
- Check out the hashtag #CE13 (the official hashtag for Connected Educator Month 2013) to find out about events, join discussions, and discover other connected educators to follow.
- Join a Twitter chat during Connected Educator Month. Check out the calendar and click on “Twitter” in the list of topics to see all the chats that are happening this month. In addition to the #plpnetwork Twitter chat, there are other chats around various hot topics sponsored by Connected Educator Month participating organizations. View the calendar now.
- Read educator Patti Grayson’s account of discovering hashtags and using them for her DIY professional development.
- If you want more on how to use Twitter for professional development, check out Middleweb’s excellent resource on Twitter for summer PD.
- Sign up for a Twitter application like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite (both sites have web-based, desktop, and mobile apps). These Twitter clients let you track hashtags, make lists of people you follow ), quickly check your @replies and direct messages, and more.
- Start following a few hashtags. Start with #CE13 so you don’t miss out on Connected Educator Month discussions and announcements. Find more suggestions in Middleweb’s Twitter for summer PD article and a comprehensive list of A-Z educational Twitter hashtags.
- Try composing your own tweet using a hashtag. Stumped for ideas? Just tweet this: I just learned all about hashtags from my Connected Educator Starter kit with #CE13 and @plpnetwork. Get your kit here: http:// bit.ly/NwIboA
Nice job! That’s all for today. Tomorrow, we’ll delve even further into Twitter