Journal 5

Still Beth. (2012). Ten surfire ways to destroy your twitter cred. Leading and Learning, 39(6), 10-11. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/20120304?pg=34&pm=2&fs=1

 Summary: Twitter can be very useful in creating a PLN. However, there are some guidelines one should follow if they want their Twitter account to be fruitful for their followers. For example, Twitter users should refrain from using both foul language and text language. Foul language is frowned upon by school administrators, and it represents a negative version of the image you are trying to present. Text language gives followers a feeling that what you are saying isn't important enough to warrant standard English. Twitter users should also avoid posting inappropriate material for their PLN to see. If they desperately want someone to see how much fun they had at the bachelorette party, they can create a secondary Twitter account for their personal life (another suggestion made by the article. Lastly, Twitter users should have a clear profile picture and description for other users to read. People want to fill the PLN with real, useful users, and having both of these features allows them to find effective people to add. 

Question 1: How might using your Twitter account in a PLN incorrectly effect your educational career?

More and more educational specialists (administrators, teachers, etc) are using Twitter to communicate and share ideas. It is allowing the educational world to get smaller and larger at the same time. Reputations on PLN's get around, and if you gain a negative reputation by constantly breaking the rules from above, administrators and other teachers will gain a negative view of you that may or may not be correct. That is why they suggest having a separate account for your followers who are interested in your non-educational life.

Question 2: What is the importance of transparency on Twitter?

PLN's are supposed to consist of real people sharing their real thoughts and ideas. The best way to keep this line of communication open is to be transparent with your followers. When you begin to put up a front and act in a dishonest way, your usefulness to the PLN, and the PLN's usefulness to you is greatly diminished. People stop being interested in what you have to say because you keep everything shrouded.