Week #3: Using Twitter Professionally

By now you’ve at least heard about Twitter, right? If you haven’t tried it yet, what are you waiting for? Now is the time to jump in and see what it’s all about –you’ll be glad you did.

One of the most common reasons many people don’t want to use Twitter is “I have nothing to say.” The truth is, you don’t have to say anything to benefit from being on Twitter.

Twitter is a fantastic source of valuable information. Messages from users you choose to follow will show up on your home page for you to read. It’s like being delivered a newspaper whose headlines you’ll always find interesting – you can discover news as it’s happening, learn more about topics that are important to you, and get the inside scoop in real time.

You Don’t Have to Tweet Anything To Benefit

If you remember one thing about Twitter, it should be this: reading Tweets and discovering new information whenever you check in on your Twitter timeline is where you’ll find the most value on Twitter. Some people find it useful to contribute their own Tweets, but the real magic of Twitter lies in discovering the information that matters most to you.

Check out this great New York Times article, Getting the most out of Twitter.

You don’t have to take my word on it.  Pop over to Twitter and search for a topic you are interested in to see for yourself.

• Learning and Development
• E-learning
• Corporate Training

Twitter gives you the unique ability to access experts in your field.  One good way to find them is in a scheduled Twitter chat.  Two of the best for learning pros are #lrnchat and #chat2lrn. You can even tweet someone a coffee! I’m @tmiket if you want to try THAT out! 😎

Another great example is how you can use Twitter to follow what’s happening at a conference, even if you aren’t there. That’s called the backchannel and uses hashtags, which is a simple way to organize all the tweets related to a particular event or topic. (We’re using #learncamp as the hashtag for this program).

• #LearnCamp
• Learning Solutions Conference
• ATD ICE Conference

Twitter is not something you can “get” without putting your hands on it and actually experiencing it.  Here are 10 Easy Steps for Twitter that can guide you as you’re getting started.

To help you find some excellent people to follow, here is a list of 100 people who tweet about Learning & Development assembled by Jane Hart (@c4lpt). They are all excellent…except  maybe that guy at #39

Activity 1: Share Your Twitter Info

Let us know what your Twitter account is so we can follow you. Leave it as a comment below, or tweet it to us using this link: ( Create a Twitter account first, if you don’t already have one. )

Activity 2: Find & Follow

Follow at least 3 people in your field.  Search Twitter or use 100 people who tweet about Learning & Development list.  Leave a comment to let us know what accounts you followed and why?)

Browse at least one hashtag. (That’s another good way to find people to follow)  You can use the ones listed above or go try out RiteTag to find other hashtags you might find interesting.

Extra Credit:

Tweet your reaction to this statement? All L&D people should be on Twitter. (If you don’t have a Twitter account sign up for one first, then come back and tweet.)

CLICK TO TWEET: I agree, L&D practitioners should be on Twitter #Learncamp

CLICK TO TWEET: I disagree, L&D practitioners do not need to be on Twitter #LearnCamp

CLICK TO TWEET: I’m not sure yet whether I think  L&D practitioners should be on Twitter #Learncamp

Even people who’ve been on Twitter a while have questions. Tweet your questions using the #learncamp hashtag.