What in the World Have I Been Writing About?

Yesterday, I noticed I had pushed the number of tweets in my account to 54,000 tweets. Holy smokes! What the heck have I been writing about? (Just a bit of math on the writing blog: That means, given the 140 character limit, that I posted 7.6 million characters on Twitter.  Ahem. I won’t vouch for the character of those characters … some are good, some are bad, some are meh. A scant few might have been gems.)

Well, I write about teaching, about writing, about collaboration, about Connected Learning, about comics, about digital literacies, and, yes, a lot of other stuff that often seems ancillary to my identity as an educator. Twitter is one of my go-to platforms to engage with others. Despite all of the reasons why people may not like Twitter (some of which are very valid), I still find it valuable for discovering new ideas and reflecting with others on the journey forward.

Still, 54,000 small bits of writing? That sure seems like a lot.

I wondered what my 54,000th tweet actually was. I think it was this one:

tweet number 54,000

Shoot. I can live with adding more debris of words to the world if it means being part of something like the #HaikuForHealing project that Mary Lee Hahn and others have been engaged in for the past month or so, as a way to grapple with the fallout from the election and the emerging chaos of the Trump years to come. Some days, it feels as if words are all we have. And Twitter is made for Haiku.

Interestingly, Twitter also has a tool that allows you to go back in time to find your very first tweet. Here’s mine.

first tweet feb2008

That was nearly nine years ago. That was before Obama even took office? Time sure flies. Gotta run. I have another haiku to write. See you on Twitter.

Peace (writing it over and over),
Kevin

2 Comments
  1. I only have 27,700 Tweets. I started in June 2009. I use social media for a purpose, to expand the network who work to build and sustain programs that help at risk youth move through school and into careers. Thus, I have been interested in mapping tools that show who I’m connecting with, and who they are connecting with. Or how does a message travel from me, to the world. Here’s an article I wrote last year about one network mapping tool. http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com/2015/09/mapping-social-media-networks-nodexl.html

    When I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 I started with a “what are all the things we need to know, and do, to make great non-school programs available in more places where they are needed”. That’s a really expansive question, because it turns out there are a lot of things you need to know, that don’t seem obvious.

    Thus, my Twitter network, and Facebook networks, keep expanding, as does my web library.

    Unfortunately, while I point to over 2000 links in my web library, and more than 200 Chicago area non-school programs, a very small percent of them are even following me, much less actually engaging the way you and others from #clmooc are engaging with each other, and have allowed me to join in.

    Maybe with my next 27,000 Tweets I can find ways to change this.

    Happy Holidays to you.

    • Thanks, Daniel. You know I appreciate all that you share out to me. Sometimes, things stick. Sometimes, they don’t. It’s hard to tell what will resonate with “the crowd” of the world we hope to engage.
      Kevin

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