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Munindra Khaund 1
 
Beyond Social Networking: Twitter as an educational andcommunication tool
Introduction
Among the social media tools that have captured my attentionand interest, Twitter has intrigued me the most. Thesignificance of posting a message that is comprised of 140characters or less, and the possibility of the message beingpursued globally, is truly inspiring.The intent of this paper is to share my experience in usingTwitter as an instrument for both disseminating and alsogathering information. Therefore, this paper is a report onusing Twitter – (I) as an educational tool, and (II) as acommunication tool.
What is Twitter?
Speaking at TED, Evan Williams, co‐founder of Twitter, statesthat Twitter started as a side project. Williams articulatedTwitter in the following words:“You say what you’re doing in 140 characters or less,and people who are interested in you get thoseupdates…Twitter lets people share moments of theirlives…momentous occasions or mundane ones.”
i
 Simple as it might sound, Twitter has become much more thana tool to send updates about oneself. Twitter has evolved intoa powerful communication and marketing tool. For example,the Center for Disease Control and Prevention used Twitter todisseminate information pertaining to the 2009 H1N1 FluVirus. CEOs’ are using Twitter to connect with theiremployees and customers. Universities are using Twitter forrecruiting, retention, and alumni relations.Among its many avatars, Twitter allows real‐time publicconversation. A first‐rate example of this usage, to beelaborated later in this report, is the widespread use of Twitter during the Mumbai terrorist attacks on November2008.The illustration to the right shows asample tweet. A tweet includes a dateand time stamp, and can contain anURL to a Web resource.
Glossary of terms
Twitter
 The creators of Twitter defineTwitter as, “a service forfriends, family, and co–workers to communicate andstay connected through theexchange of quick, frequent answers to one simplequestion: What are youdoing?”
Tweet 
 A
tweet 
is a post on Twitter.
Follow
 When you subscribe toupdates from anotherindividual on Twitter, you
 follow 
the person.
Followers
 People who subscribe to yourtweets are
 followers
.
Hashtags
 A
tweet 
may be preceded [ortagged] by a #, which allowsthe
tweet 
to be easilysearched and located.
Direct 
 This option allows you tosend a
direct 
message toanother individual on Twitter.
Retweet 
 This option allows you to
retweet 
[forward] a
tweet 
 from another individual.
 
 
Munindra Khaund  2
 
I. Twitter as an Educational Tool
 
In November 2008, Nobel Laureate Robert Solow spoke at a World Affairs Council event inSpringfield, Illinois. As a member of that audience, I decided to tweet during the event. What follows is a compilation of my tweets composed during it. The tweets reflect what I thought were important points to share with anyone interested in the topic. Another participant in theaudience might have sent a set of tweets revealing a different perspective.
Table 1: Tweets from an event 
Time and Date
Tweet 
7:22 PM Nov 11th, 2008
attending robert solow's presentation
7:26 PM Nov 11th, 2008 *6
brk auditorium is packed
7:33 PM Nov 11th, 2008 *7 
roy wehrle introduces solow
7:41 PM Nov 11th, 2008
solow speaks about economics and the billions that live on .25c a day
7:42 PM Nov 11th, 2008
deep poverty ‐ poor countries falling behind
7:43 PM Nov 11th, 2008
how to grow fast... how to create fast economic growth in the world
7:51 PM Nov 11th, 2008 *1
7% growth for past 25 years in 13 countries
7:52 PM Nov 11th, 2008
no rapid growth in isolation but took full advantage of world economy
7:53 PM Nov 11th, 2008 *2
maintained rough macro‐economic stability
7:54 PM Nov 11th, 2008 *4
all 13 countries were primarily market economies but with limitedgovt control
7:55 PM Nov 11th, 2008 *3
committed, credible, and competent govt 
7:58 PM Nov 11th, 2008
achieve price advantage in the world economy
8:04 PM Nov 11th, 2008
example of malaysian electronic industry obtaining comparitive [
sic
]advantage
8:07 PM Nov 11th, 2008 *5 
savings and investment ratio ‐ 25% of gdp
8:09 PM Nov 11th, 2008
5‐7% in infrastructure investment 
8:15 PM Nov 11th, 2008
export sectors are important for a country's success
8:18 PM Nov 11th, 2008
training, education, and infrastructure play a vital role
8:21 PM Nov 11th, 2008
solow presenting on world bank commission report 
8:23 PM Nov 11th, 2008
high quality civil service with little corruption ‐‐ difficult but integral tocountry's growth... provides continuity of policy
8:28 PM Nov 11th, 2008
openess [
sic
] to trade by richer/developed countries; protectionismhampers growth
8:30 PM Nov 11th, 2008
help technology to poorer countries, especially manufacturing
8:31 PM Nov 11th, 2008
technology transfer
8:41 PM Nov 11th, 2008
q&a session ‐ very involved audience
8:44 PM Nov 11th, 2008
education of girls in poorer countries critical for development 
8:50 PM Nov 11th, 2008
some evaporation of export markets given the current economicconditions
8:56 PM Nov 11th, 2008
kudos to the local world affairs council
* These tweets refer to items listed in the following paragraphs.
 
Munindra Khaund 3
 
For the purpose of comparing the accuracy and the content in my tweets that was delivered byDr. Solow, I retrieved the following notes from the
Commission on Growth and Development 
 website. Dr. Solow was a member of a World Bank Group that released a report in May 2008entitled,
Growth Report: Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development 
.
ii
 
 
The
Growth Report 
highlights the following key features that have helped a few countriesmaintain growth rates of 7% for 25 uninterrupted years – integration into world economy,maintaining high rates of savings and investment, and committed and crediblegovernments. (
*1,2,3
)
 
The Growth
Report 
looked at 13 countries [Botswana; Brazil; China; Hong Kong, Indonesia;Japan; the Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Malta; Oman; Singapore; Taiwan, and Thailand] andconcluded that the countries verge on the following fundamentals: (
*4
)a.
 
They fully exploited the world economyb.
 
They maintained macroeconomic stabilityc.
 
They mustered high rates of saving and investment d.
 
They let markets allocate resourcese.
 
They had committed, credible, and capable governments
 
The
Growth Report 
states that, “If the sustained, high‐growth cases are any guide, it appearsthat overall investment rates of 25 percent of GDP or above are needed, counting bothpublic and private expenditures. They often invested at least another 7–8 percent of GDP ineducation, raining, and health (also counting public and private spending), although this isnot treated as investment in the national accounts.” (
*5 
)The comparison of my tweets from the event and the contents from the
Growth Report 
indicatesthat my tweets reflect essential components of the
Report 
and could serve as an introduction tothe full
Report 
.
Implication of Using Twitter as an Educational Tool
Tweets are succinct and unfiltered messages to potentially anyone. They contain a sender’simmediate report of what s/he is experiencing. When sent from an event, they can reflect microelements of that event. They do not describe the totality of the event per se, nor provide acomplete recording of any discussions within it; rather they answer the question as to what thesender is doing [thinking, feeling, remembering] at that particular moment when experiencingthe event.If a communication is to be rational, it must have meaning. On occasions, an individual tweet may not seem to meet that assumption. However a thread of tweets [as shown in Table 1] on aparticular topic can prove to be most meaningful, as they can provide the basis for subsequent analysis to reveal the meaning and other indirect, frequently irrelevant, information about theevent.Some of my tweets can be referred to as non‐essential information. For example, “brk auditorium is packed” (
*6
) and “roy wehrle introduces solow” (
*7 
). To be useful for analysis,the large number of tweets required may also need to be faithful copies of the perceptions of avariety of followers of the event. By this means it is possible to determine not only the focus of the event in general as perceived by this group, but also, in regard to individual followers, thelevel of knowledge that each brings to the event.
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