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Twitter: a re-evauation — ICT & Computing in Education
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Not sure, by Terry Freedman

Not sure, by Terry Freedman

Twitter: a re-evauation

December 22, 2020

This is quite timely. On 22 December 2010 I evaluated Twitter, and came to this conclusion:

Ten years later, I feel the same way — but I’ve had to really think about it. I find Twitter useful for getting the word out about my blog posts and other writing or activities, and I especially like it for hearing about other people’s blog posts, if I’ve missed them on my RSS feeder, and news that I’ve missed. (As I commented in the most recent issue of my newsletter, I pick up a fair amount of ed tech news I’ve missed by following Tony Parkin.)

However, I’ve noticed that there seem to be many more nasty people on Twitter, and more people making nasty comments. I’ve also commented on how these days lots some people on Twitter are experts on everything: Brexit, epidemiology, how to manage a pandemic — and that’s all beside their day job.

So, I imagine I’ll be on Twitter for a while yet, but I do find myself spending less and less time on it, and engaging in conversations less and less. A shame really.

Meta note

(I think that whenever I comment on a technical aspect of a blog post within that blog post I’ll call it a ‘meta note’.)

The quote box above was created using QuoteBacks, which I discovered through Stephen Downes’ newsletter OLDaily: Quote, reply and converse across the open web. It works quite well, and encourages people to quote others and cite the source. I doubt I’ll be using it again though, at least on this blog, because the Squarespace editor already incorporates something called a Quote Block, which looks like this:

“There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
— Oscar Wilde https://quotesnsmiles.com/quotes/70-brilliant-oscar-wilde-quotes/

The Squarespace version doesn’t have quite as much functionality as QuoteBack, but it’s right there at my fingertips. If you don’t have a Quote Bloc in your blog post editor, give QuoteBack a whirl.

If you found this article interesting and useful, why not subscribe to my newsletter, Digital Education? It’s been going since the year 2000, and has news, views and reviews for Computing and ed tech teachers — and useful tips.

In Reflections, On this day Tags Twitter, quote, QuoteBlock, Stephen Downes
← Is It Always Better To Use A Computer Than Pen And Paper?16 articles and resources about fake news →
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