Strategic Use of Twitter (with a tip of the hat to SocialBakers)

Twitter is for twits

That was my opinion when I first saw how people were using the software. "I'm taking a shower - fabulous morning!" Who cares? "New post on our website!" screams a typical school tweet. ===== How can Twitter be used strategically? that's the purpose of this white paper (a draft version) =========

DRAFT... to give some suggestions on how to use social media

Observations about the use of Twitter and other social media

A White Paper Posted on Scribd.com

Steve McCrea Consultant

Twitter appears to be made for narcissists. "Follow me."

The secret is in the RE-TWEET. Tom vander Ark, a former advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, highlights developments and innovative programs around the world with tweets and posts on his blog. EdReformer.com <<< Please note how vander Ark uses his blog and tweet to draw attention to other programs, not primarily to his opinion making.

1. RETWEETS and RECOMMENDATIONS -- I recommend that a school ought to consider becoming a spotlight or magnifier. At least once a week, the school could send a tweet and post a blog entry and put something on its Facebook page recommending viewers to visit any and all of the following: -- a TED lecture -- a youtube video -- another school (hightechhigh.org, coalition of essential

schools, etc) -- a new analysis or revisit to the Boyer 1983 Nation at Risk report. -- tips -- when you hear about a free ebook, spread the link. Why not even post a video on youtube pointing to all of the above? Important insights can be learned from this article: http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/221-how-to-use-twittereffectively/ The key point in the blog article below (reprinted below) is: BUILD SOCIAL CURRENCY. By taking interest in your followers, you create relationships and build social media equity.

Following the school's twitter account means "you, dear follower, will get something." 2. Build for the future. Posting regularly on youtube and a blog and scribd.com creates a library of free materials. Add to that library by posting lectures by teachers -- follow the example of UC Berkeley, Stanford, MIT...

Instead of using Twitter and Facebook to shout, "Look at what we're doing!", why not use the accounts to point out examples of good school practices? "We think this is a good practice" is a gracious way of saying, "We aim to do the same here." By pointing to schools in other states and countries that have good practices, the school shows that it is a GRACIOUS COMPETITOR and that it tolerates and lives with "adversaries." In fact, when a public school does something right, point it out. "We practice the same idea in our school when..." can reassure parents at the school that there's no need to change schools to get the good practice.

3. Celebrate competence and victories in other places. The competition is not Dreyfuss Art school or other private schools... The competition is over in India -- their kids are eating our kids' lunches. We want people in other countries to succeed and grow prosperous so that they can buy our land and increase the real estate market here. (In a future version of this article I will place here an analysis of post war WW2 era and the rise of the USA,

noting parallel to Indian and Chinese economies... which might invest in USA the way USA invested in Europe after 1950)...

4. Use every tweet and post to grow the school's culture. Dennis Littky uses this observation in his book Education is Everybody's Business. He knows how to build culture in a school. Many of his principles can be carried over into social media. Culture is not something that is imposed and "explained" in a school assembly. (Quote from Littky book) page 55
Something I talk about all the time, and something its really impor- tant to recognize, is that it is the older kids who help carry on the cul- ture of a school. A principal I knew was waiting to move into his new building, and I asked him how he was going to build the new schools cul- ture. And he said, Dont worry about it. When we move into the new building were going to have an assembly. He really thought it was as simple as saying Yay, team, you can do it; lets go, school. It is the same way that some people think pep rallies are the answer to building a common school culture. The thing isa schools culture is not something a principal can announce at a pep rally. The culture of a school is in how the kids act. It is carried on from one student to the next. The kids hold this power. A principal can say anything he or she wants, but if the older kids go around kicking lockers and yelling at their teachers, then the younger kids will go around kicking things and yelling, too. from page 57 Exhibitions at The Met are great times to watch how the culture of a school gets passed on. When younger kids are doing their exhibitions, the older kids on their panels ask questions and can be really tough. Like, Excuse me, Im looking at your

journal and there are only 4 entries but youre supposed to have 20 by now, or It seems like you really didnt do much work this quarterwhy not? If a teacher was coming down hard like this, the younger kids could write it off as just being the teachers job. But they know its not the older kids job. They get that these are the stan- dards the older kids hold for themselves and that theyd better start liv- ing up to the same ones. It happens all the time at exhibitions, and it just brings a huge smile to my face. All the things we adults want to say are so much more powerful when other kids are saying them. Another great time to watch The Met culture being built and carried on is when older kids do their exhibitions with younger kids in the audi- ence. The younger kids hear the older ones talk about how they improved from one year to the next, how they persevered, how they worked harder. The younger kids see that and then, naturally, try to do better themselves. Because now its cool! More examples: At The Met, when an older kid stopped a younger kid from writing graffiti on one of the walls, the younger kid really got that we just dont do that here. When we adults suspected there might be drugs going around, the seniors said, Let us handle it and asked the teachers to leave. Then they held this heavy discussion with the whole school, where they said, Hey, this is our school and drugs just arent cool here. page 59 As a principal, I look at every time I deal with a kid as a moment when the culture of my school is being set. I know that when I am really listening to a kid, I am reinforcing that kids sense that our school is a place where he can feel, Hey, I dont have to fight them; they really listen to us. I am also always aware that the same message is getting across to the people who walk by and see us talking and listening to each other.

In this paper I want to show the direction of how tweets can be used to build something of value for the followers, not to treat followers as "disciples" and "hungry devotees"...

The conventional way of using Internet media is to join the fray of people shouting and trying to steer traffic to their websites and programs.

Tom vander Ark is cool he's low-key. When Tom talks, many people listen. He celebrates good works when he sees them. He praises good programs. His blog is thoughtful and points to good programs.

In what way could any school become a commentator and an advisor / consultant? How could followers turn to that school to interpret school reform, improvement and innovation? If you want to see the school of the future, look at themes found in vander Ark's blog, in youtube videos at HightechHigh youtube.com/HTHVideo <<< what a resource! Look at what Littky did. 1. He built a great school, 2. welcomed visitors 3. started charging for visits 4. put his practices in a book (you can guess the procedures by reading the stories carefully) 5. sells their expertise through a side consulting business called Big Picture

Well, that's what I believe is the best use of twitter and Facebook -- point at good works

away from the school and then people might realize that the 1 tweet in 10 that points at your school is worth following, too. -- Steve

Here is the article that every twitter advocate ought to read. from SocialBaker Are you getting what you want from Twitter? Whether you are a pure beginner with few tweets and an egg as your profile picture or someone who tweets daily, here are a few points that will help you get the most out of your Twitter. Be Social! While this may sounds obvious, too often individuals and businesses set up a Twitter account in order to create another direct marketing channel. They want followers and they want their message to be spread through their followers but they become discouraged when they cant reach that goal. Remember that Twitter is about conversations, so if you enter the Twitter-verse only talking about yourself, your company, and what interested you you will become that guy at the party that everyone starts to avoid. Want to be the life of the party? Tweet things that are interesting and engaging of course, but be social with your followers. You can see your followers tweets in your timeline and when you hover over a specific tweet you will see the option to retweet the message. Another option is that you can choose reply to the tweet, so you can speak to your follower directly. By taking interest in your followers, you create relationships and build social media equity. Follow Back Reciprocity is a key element of Twitter culture. Keep notice of those who are following you and follow them back. Twitter has made this more transparent, now when you click on followers you will see next to each person the option to follow them if you arent already. Debates have raged over the years about this issue and Ive heard all of the complaints to many followers is too much noise, the feed moves too quickly, etc however during those years both good business practice and Twitter-etiquette has shown that

following back brings more followers. Each time that someone follows you, you have a chance to engage with them when you follow back by sending them a message thanking them for following you and letting them know that youre interested in learning more about them. Also if you are worried about too much noise in your Twitter feed, then be sure to use the LISTS options to separate those you are following into different groups so you easily filter out the noise and highlight the conversations you want to follow. Another great way to manage your list and conversations is by using TweetDeck, a free application that can be used on your desktop as well as on your android or iphone. Find New People to Follow The easiest way to find new people to follow is by clicking on Who to Follow. Twitter will suggest followers based on who you follow, who they follow, and similar interests you share. While this is a great resource, you will be limiting yourself if this is the only function you use. One of the best ways to find interesting followers, who may also be potential leads for you and your business, is to monitor conversations around key words. Twitter has significantly improved their search function since the spring, so now you can simply search on any key word to see who is using that key word in their tweets. Use Hashtags If youre not using Hashtags then you are missing out on the opportunity to spread your message to a much wider audience. Hashtags act as a kind of standardized search function on Twitter so that people who are not following each other can still have conversations around a certain topics. This is often used for general topics like #socialmedia, specific events like #w2s for the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco this October, and even television shows and news programs like #theoffice or #bbc. If you want find out what a hashtag is being used for, you can look it up on hashtag.org which is an excellent resource that will show you how popular the tag is and even which days of the week and times of the day it is most popular. One of my favorite new resources is Trendsmap, which shows a real-time mapping of Twitter trends across the world. You can either look at a specific location to see which hashtags are trending, or you can look up a specific hashtag and see in which parts of the world people are using it. All in all this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Twitter resources. However by starting with these four

suggestions, youll see your follows grow, your message spread, and your enjoyment of Twitter increase. Dont forget to check out Socialbakers Twitter statistics! Belinda Whittaker Source: http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/221-how-to-use-twittereffectively/

http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/221-how-to-use-twittereffectively/

I did not write this SocialBaker piece. I recommend it highly and I invite comments: TheEbookman@gmail.com Steve McCrea +1 954 646 8246