This is the fourth post in our online learning resources series.

If you’ve never used Twitter, you will need an introduction to Twitter before you can begin to use it as a resource for learning. Our white paper, Twitter for Beginners, is a great place to start.

I can hear your objections: I don’t have anything to say. I don’t have time for social media.

To use Twitter as a source of learning, you don’t have to say anything, unless you want to. You don’t even have to make many connections in order to benefit from Twitter as a learning tool.

Once you have a Twitter account, you will want to download a third-party application. I prefer Tweetdeck.

Once you have installed a third-party application, spend some time getting to know what Twitter is like. Use wefollow.com to search for people who share your interests. Follow a few, and find out what they are tweeting about.

My Best Tip for Twitter as a Learning Tool

Even before you’ve followed a single person on Twitter, create a search on Tweetdeck to look for learning resources in your field of interest. For example, you could search for “#leadership” to bring up all the tweets, in real time, that include the word leadership: quotes, links to blog posts, questions, and conversation. Be sure to include # (a hashtag) with your search term, and be patient. It may take a few minutes for tweets on your topic to appear.

As an experiment, spend ten minutes reading this stream of information. Choose a blog post or two to read. By doing this, you may find a blog that you really enjoy. Add it to your bookmarks or subscribe by RSS feed or email.

My next post in this series will include advanced tips for using Twitter as a learning tool.

Join the conversation!

If you are not using Twitter, what prevents you from doing so?

If you are using Twitter, how much of your time is spent using it as a learning resource?

This was originally posted at Mountain State University LeaderTalk and is reposted with permission.