Chatting with Professionals via Twitter

I have never used or even heard of Twitter chats before and to be honest, I was not excited to try it for the first time. I'm not really sure why I wasn't interested at first, it just seemed contrived, like only well-known educators trying to get people to side with their beliefs. I was pleasantly surprised to find that many different people participate in #edchat. Administrators, college professors, k-12 teachers and other people who are simply interested in the topic.

Last week, rather than participating in the chat, I acted as a bystander to see how it works. I was a little nervous this week that I wouldn't have much to contribute. It is easy to see which tweeters regularly participate in this chat as they get the chat going by posing discussion questions. The focus of this #edchat seemed to be "innovation." This wasn't necessarily a topic I would have preferred but I was surprised to find that I did enjoy it. I don't have many opportunities to communicate with professionals in my field, especially in such a casual setting. I also enjoyed that not only did I tweet with teachers, but  also principals, one followed me! I thought the chat was a little limiting because not everyone tweets back and it can end up as a one-sided conversation. Another limitation was that tweets were coming in so fast that it was hard to try and read them and reply, but that could be viewed as a plus. As an undergrad, I don't think I will use Twitter chats again. I don't like to spend a lot of time on social networks, this semester is extremely busy and next year I will be student teaching. I can see myself participating in chats as a professional because I like getting different perspectives from people I'm not closely connected with. I also think if I participate often, I would benefit because each week there seems to be a different focus.