When I learned Dr. Dennen wanted us to use a Twitter account for school purposes, I was a bit surprised. Given recent political happenings in the U.S., I've been a bit leery of going on Twitter at all anymore. As of late, there's been a minefield of personal attacks and hurt feelings on Twitter, and I've not felt up to being audience to it. I figured, I am only to blame for these negative Twitter feelings because the content I see is a result of who I've chosen to follow. I kept my personal account, and decided to open a professional account for a fresh start.
At the moment, most of the accounts I follow were automatically generated by Twitter, based on my interests (which were all professionally related on this account). Oddly, even though I set my preferences, I still see half a feed of controversial posts not related to the professional/educational interests I've expressed.
How is this still possible? Has Twitter become an inherently toxic place? What is it about the format of Twitter that allows this, compared to Instagram, for example?
You don't have to use Twitter in class -- the only "mandatory" tech is blogging and Blackboard, the rest is yours to pick and choose as an adult learner.
ReplyDeleteMy Twitter feed feels delightfully free of the political minefield (I used to see a lot that on FB, actually, but started liking the puppy and baby photos and never ever clicking on political things and the algorithm adjusted). I do have one person (a professor friend) who retweets things about the president, but beyond that I get major network/magazine news headlines, academic organization updates, a bit of humor, and some professional friends. All pretty benign. Or maybe I'm looking past some stuff and just not letting it affect me? I'm not sure.
Ah good to know. I really wanted to give Twitter another try, and I'm glad I did. When I attended CanvasCon in Tampa a few months ago, there was a Tweeting contest so I'm glad I at least have a professional account to use in the future.
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