What about using it at the school level? Most administrators will tell you that visitor statistics to their school website is probably low. It is a long URL address to provide to parents and sometimes can be hard to navigate for the average user. Twitter can be the connection you need to bridge the gap between your school webpage and your parents.
The best way to use Twitter is to create an account for your school. Students, parents, teachers, and community members could follow the school account. Through this account you could share so much information: School closings, sports scores, announcements, scheduling changes, etc. The best part is that the messages are short (140) characters and it takes very little time to sit down and type the message. Using an App or 3rd Party Software like Tweetdeck, you could easily share stories and links from your school website, thus increasing visitor traffic.
Often it is tough for an administrator to always know everything that is going on and be at every event. You could easily provide the Username and Password to fellow administrators, Athletic Directors, coaches, and teacher leaders, and make it a collaborative effort to share information with parents and the community. Therefore the school Twitter account does become a school wide effort.
More Twitter Resources:
10 Tips for Twitter in the Classroom
So You Are New to Twitter
Twitter Chats
Previous Ed Tech Tip for Administrators Blog Posts
I started using Twitter for my classroom in March and I love it! It allows me to be in constant communication with my students and their familiy. I can alert them of homework, field trips, assessments, and special on-goings at school. Twitter is a great tool for connecting daily with students. I wonder though if a class Facebook page would be even more powerful?
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