The Power of the #Hashtag

Hashtags are integral to the way we communicate online, and it's important to know how to use them.  Plus, they can be tons of fun!

The pound sign (#), or hashtag, turns any word or phrase that directly follow it into a searchable link. This allows you to organize content and track discussion topics based on those key words.  So, if you wanted to post about HPU's Easy Ed Tech Twitter chat, you would include #HPUEasyTech in your tweet to join the conversation.  Click on a hashtag to see all the posts that mention the subject in real time.

Educators can use hashtags to find innovative ways to engage students or integrate technology into the classroom.  Educators can learn about the latest ways that other educators are creating dynamic lessons and challenging students by following teaching-trend associated hashtags.  Some of the most popular hashtags for educators are:

#Blended Learning    #EdChat     #EdTech

Even celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, Jonah Hill, and Justin Timberlake use hashtags as inspiration for skits on the late night television show, The Tonight Show on NBC.

Hashtag with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake

Hashtag 2 with Jimmy Fallon and Jonah Hill

Most social media platforms support the use of hashtags.  Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr all have a hashtag feature allowing you to organize and view similar posts with the same hashtag. You can use multiple hashtags in one tweet, but do not go overboard!  One to three hashtags per post is considered acceptable.

Like Fallon, Hill, and Timberlake, hashtags can help your craft your voice.  Hashtags can provide colorful commentary as a sort of "muttered into a handkerchief" aside, to give context and to convey humor or sarcasm.  Using hashtags allows you to make an impression on a wide social media audience.  Unlike these celebrities, educators must make sure they are sharing quality content to make the right impression.

Twitter is to Tweetdeck as the Information Highway is to the HOV Lane

Twitter as Your PLN

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you to send out short messages called tweets. Tweets contain up to 140 characters and may also contain media like photos or videos.  Twitter is about broadcasting short burst messages to the world with the hope that the messages are useful and interesting to someone.  Twitter is also about discovering interesting people online and following their tweets for as long as they are interesting.  

Twitter's big appeal is how rapid and scan-friendly it is.  You can track hundreds of interesting tweeters and read their content at a glance.  Twitter is also about discovering people around the world and building a following who is interested in you and your work and then providing those followers with some kind of knowledge they value everyday.

For educators, Twitter provides access to thousands of other educators around the world with rich backgrounds and experiences that can contribute to your professional growth.  It's about connecting with like-minded educators for personalized and ongoing professional development.

Use Tweetdeck to Organize and Optimize Your Twitter Chat

Twitter chats are one of the best ways for educators to connect with other educators, exchange and debate ideas, ask for help and provide assistance, and find new resources and take action.  The challenge is that Twitter chats can be overwhelming and confusing for educators new to Twitter because they can be fast-paced.

Twitter chats are where educators meet at a set virtual meeting time to engage in conversations by sending out tweets on a topic using a designated hashtag during a specific time on a certain day. Most Twitter chats last for an hour.

During the Twitter chat you'll see educators tweet their responses in real time.  The best way to participate in a Twitter chat is to set up a Twitter search for he hashtag using TweetDeck.

TweetDeck is one of the most popular social media management tools on the web people can use to manage their social web presence.  It is a web tool that helps you manage and post to your social networking profiles or pages.  

TweetDeck gives you a dashboard that organizes and displays separate columns of activity from your Twitter or Facebook accounts.  By adding columns for tweets, you can easily watch tweets from people you follow in real time and easily interact with followers.

Join the HPU Twitter Chat for Education Majors @ #HPUEasyTech

On Thursday, March 30, 2017, High Point University doctoral students from Cohorts III and V joined Dr. Jane Bowser for a Twitter chat to share easy instructional technology resources to integrate in any classroom.  Dr. Heidi Summey met with new teachers in Room 120 in the School of Education while simultaneously holding a virtual class via WebEx.  Doctoral students participated in both the WebEx and the Twitter chat.

Doctoral students used TweetDeck to organize the tweets for the event (see photo right). Dr. Bowser first tweeted "What's your favorite technology tool?"  It appeared in the #HPUEasy Tech column as did all other tweets denoting that hashtag.  Then the deluge began, Twitter chat participants' response tweets began to pour in.  I tweeted that easel.ly and Blendspace are my current favorite tech tools in the elementary classroom setting.  My Union County School colleagues quickly responded that Google Classroom is key for teachers and K-12 students in their district. Justin Marckel tweeted that Google Forms are paramount in his Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School.  Dr. Bowser quickly changed topics when tweeting "Have any of you heard of superteachertools.us?"  And, I for one, opened a tab, searched the address, and explored the possibilities.

Get the Most Out of Twitter Chats

In order to get the most of Twitter chats, it's important to dedicate yourself fully to the conversation.  Instead of multi-tasking during the virtual dialogue, leave your phone on silent, shut off app notifications for the length of the chat, and simply immerse yourself in the Twitter chat community.  Use your time to craft epic answers, and more importantly, have conversations with people with whom you really want to connect.