Twitter is blowing up both on and off KSC campus

Over the past three years, the noun and verb tweet has acquired a new meaning. In addition to the voice of a bird, a tweet is a virtual post or update on the popular social network site called Twitter. Twitter is a modern information network connecting curious people from around the world.

People use Twitter to find out what’s going on in the world through the posts of individuals, celebrities, companies, news sources, professionals and so on at momentary intervals. Not only can someone devour tweets from others, they can also share their own thoughts and information with the world.

Twitter is user-friendly and accessible. Both the tech savvy and technologically inept can tweet in harmony. All a prospective user must do is simply set up an account to begin contributing and receiving Twitter updates. Users can customize their own Twitter cocktail by choosing who they want to follow.

But there is a twist to tweeting. One’s message or tweet cannot exceed 140 characters. Dom Sagolla, a co-creator of Twitter, talked about the art of Twitter in his Style Guide for the Short Form. He explained that expressing yourself clearly in ‘short bursts’ of a 140-character limit, takes special writing skills.

College students, professors, professionals, celebrities, comedians, musicians, companies and those of other varieties are increasingly adding to the symphony of tweets.
Keene State College Provost Emile Netzhammer has used Twitter for over three years. He said Twitter is a great outlet to communicate and share information professionally.

“It falls into a number of different categories. The most useful thing for me is that I have lots of gate keepers who are keeping track of information and I feel, in terms of Twitter, that it’s my personal and professional learning network,” Netzhammer said.

Despite common misconceptions, Twitter harvests many educational benefits.

“I think there are great educational benefits with Twitter because it keeps learning going all the time because you can share information instantaneously with many,” Netzhammer said.

Anyone can follow any person, event or cause at the click of a button.

“Plenty of students follow me on Twitter. I hope the students learn something and enjoy knowing what’s going on at the college,” Netzhammer added. Netzhammer is one of the many members of KSC who use Twitter.

The college academic affairs Web site is in the process of reconstruction. There is a Twitter feed from faculty and staff members at KSC. Over the past few days, there have been over 138 tweets. The college is currently setting the Web site up so the feed will be available on the main page. Dr. Ellen Nuffer, an education professor at KSC, said she uses a lot of things she learns from Twitter in her classroom. 

“Twitter has impacted my teaching and research because I’ve learned a lot of information that affects the content that I teach. I’m able to access information in a much more timely way than if I were just relying on journals and newspapers because I teach my issues in education class which includes current educational issues, ” Nuffer said.

Nuffer said she follows a variety of people such as K-12 teachers, educational technology, professors at other institutions, news organizations and more.  

“Twitter is akin to hanging out in a very intellectual and culturally rich coffee house, where you can overhear conversations and get a little taste of those conversations you are interested in,” Nuffer said.

Not only has Twitter become an educational inspiration for teachers and scholars but some teachers are taking the network a step further into the classroom. KSC sophomore Jesse Jardim said one of his professors created a class account as a communication source in which all the students have to follow.

In addition, Jardim uses Twitter personally, along with many other students.
“I use Twitter because if there’s someone I find interesting or funny or if there’s a company I like, then I can follow them. I like it because you can get out of it whatever you want to get out if it,” Jardim said.

On the other side are students who do not use Twitter. Some students said they don’t use Twitter because they see it as a waste of time. Freshman Tyler Nadwairski, commented on his inactivity in the Twitter network.

“I have an account but I don’t use it,” Nadwairski said.

Twitter has expanded rapidly since its establishment in 2006. Its accessibility has expanded as well to mobile and hand-held devices. A variety of user applications have been devised for user convenience. If students are not familiar with Twitter, they can feed their curiosity and today on Twitter.com.

Danielle Rivard can be contacted at drivard@keeneequinox.com.