9 Responses

1. .

   Hi Steve,

   I actually think that’s a tough ask, as many of the L&D people I stumble across on there seem more interested in promoting their wares than discussing training issues. I’m personally not interested in constant sales pitches (e.g. "20% off our ready made training materials using this code!"), more in the real issues people are facing on a daily basis, and how they’re generally doing.

   For what it’s worth, here’s my L&D list – http://twitter.com/#!/Chutzpah84/l-d/members Although I don’t follow all of them, I think @naturalgrump is the only really ‘everyday’ other tweeter who talks about his day job.

   As you can see the list is quite small, so I’m also interested to see who other people highlight!

   In terms of more general tweeters, I like @qikipedia (interesting tweets from the QI researchers) and @TwopTwips (Viz Top Tip style tweets) which can help you smile throughout the work day.

2. What’s it for?

   Thanks Chutzpah

   I’m now following some of your contacts.

   I’d be interested to know of anyone finds it "really" useful? I think the only one I get anything out of is LBC radio as they tweet what each show is about and if interesting I will always tune in to listen. All the others seem to tweet links to various sites I haven’t got time to look at.

   I would be very interested to hear from any other tweeters!

   Thanks

   Steve

    

3. I do!

   I find it extremely useful, I follow lots of my work colleagues and personal friends on there and it’s a great way to have short, funny insights into their lives. I prefer it so much more than facebook.

   As you can probably tell by my lists, I have various things I like to follow and twitter helps me keep up to speed with them. And it’s not just a one way street, I’ve met numerous people on there that I’ve gone on to meet in real life.

4. Follow the #

    I look for a specific # rather than users and then find the users worth following from there.

   E.g. #lrnchat is always interesting, #educhat gives learning examples from schools, #powerpoint for hints and tips, etc.

5. Twitter – ideas

   Hi Steve

   Setting up a search for hashtags that are relevant to you is a great idea. Particularly with your technical background.

   Check for the companies or industry gurus in the different industries you worked in. Was there anybody you ever worked with that you admired?

   The British Institute of Learning & Development might also be of interest: @theBILD123 or other training related institutes, eg ITOL, other professional memberships you might have and business partners.

   You might also enjoy Paul Matthews’ weekly management tips (@PaulsTips) but then I would say that…

   Hope you’ll enjoy twitter!

   Eva

    

6. #

   Hi Eva

   Thanks for that, I already follow ITOL and BILD

   Could you explain hashtags? Not sure how it works? Whats the difference between a # account and a non # account?

   I must say I prefer to use Twitter for news and gossip as most of the learning/training stuff can be a bit dull and just links to websites and articles in journals etc

   I much prefer Twitter without the links as its not really Twitter if it leads me to a 5000 word essay!

   Most of my tweets seem to be about Downton Abbey!

   Thanks again

    

   Steve

7. Follow a topic!

   Hi Steve,

   Hashtags allow you to follow a topic of conversation, whether that’s an L&D chat, opinions on a conference you’re at, Dr Who or X-Factor.

   Sometimes a hashtag is decided and announced in advance (you may see people say "use the #[hashtag] in all your tweets!", at other times it’s a relatively spontaneous choice by the masses.

   Using twitter search or a client you can filter by this hashtag to see what people are saying about it.

   People basically use them to catch up on a topic without necesarrily following the other people.

   Here’s the twitter help page on them: https://support.twitter.com/articles/49309-what-are-hashtags-symbols

8. Following people on Twitter

   Hi Steve

   I see you have already a number of useful replies. As far as I am concerned, there are a lot of very interesting people out there in the Twittersphere. I have listed my favourite L&D people – http://twitter.com/#!/list/JudithELS/l-d-people – which you are more than welcome to look at. Because my L&D interests are broad, many of those listed work in education but there are also many T&D people listed as well.

   I also agree that #lrnchat (Thursdays at 16.30) is most worthwhile as well as a useful way of finding kindred tweeps.

   I get tremendous value from Twitter, learning a considerable amount each day from my PLN (Personal Learning Network). In fact, I’d feel quite bereft without it!

   Judith (aka @JudithELS)

9. Thanks Judith

   Thanks Judith

   I started off thinking it would be a good CPD tool but the more I use it I am going towards the celebrity (Dragons Den) and news feeds (LBC) and authors (Michael Moore) I like so its more of a distraction tool for the train now.

   (hash) middleclassinjuries being my latest find!

   Sort of getting the hash thing now and its opened up a whole new world of Twittering!

   Thanks to all who have replied

   Steve