witch Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 One of our new keen governors thinks that we, a Junior school, should be on Twitter - can anyone tell me if they use it and if so why and how? Any positives and negatives gratefully received. I can't see why we would want to be on it - we have a website with a daily blog as it is. All ideas gratefully received
tommej Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 We have claimed the pages but they remain blank for now, this may change soon though. Maybe just update the feed with links to your blog posts, could be automated just to keep them upstairs happy!
featured_spectre Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 I can see it being beneficial in the sense that small updates such as "Newsletter sent home with the children" or "SATS Results in the post" etc would be a good thing. Just need to be careful that you don't accept russian brides etc! (I have been spammed to death by them!)
FN-GM Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Yes. Twitter is well used. Parents can see announcements via the feed. Allot of the will probably not remember to look at the school website but if they can see them in twitter there is a greater chance they will be seen.
localzuk Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 One of our new keen governors thinks that we, a Junior school, should be on Twitter - can anyone tell me if they use it and if so why and how? Any positives and negatives gratefully received. I can't see why we would want to be on it - we have a website with a daily blog as it is. All ideas gratefully received It depends on your idea of publicity really. We have a twitter account here, but my old school doesn't. Personally, I think a twitter feed is just another way to get info out, so why not? Why not just post headings and links to the articles on your website every time something is posted, making it kinda an RSS feed. It means that anyone who wants to follow on twitter can do.
witch Posted January 31, 2012 Author Posted January 31, 2012 What about replies though - allowed or not?
synaesthesia Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 I've seen twitter put to great use for all sorts of reasons. Look up #northantsblt #hetup etc for some great examples of it's inter-school and other use - I am often fascinated by the discussions held. 1
IrritableTech Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 We are on it as a school. In fact we have now created accounts for all our departments. Our main school account tweets about general school news, school closures, music performances etc. Our ICT Coordinator sees it as an easy way to inform large amounts of people very quickly. Getting pupils and parents involved with school life on a platform they already use. I was very sceptical to be honest. I hadn't had much dealings with twitter. However after being on there for a few months, I now love it. It's been fantastic for my own needs. I've connected with some really interesting people and found some fantastic resources. There are some brilliant networks on there. We have created a policy here at school for staff use. It says things like remain professional at all times. Do not follow students or staff (and therefore they can not direct message either). Don't simply retweet; quote and comment. Anything you post on the internet is permanent. Number ten has an interesting policy on replies. Its says something like... "we can't possibly reply to questions of a political nature within 140 characters".
X-13 Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 What about replies though - allowed or not? Personally, I'd say no replies. It's too easy to start relaxing with how you word things or how you deal with parents. Before long you could end up being "too friendly" and if you're not careful you can end up saying something you shouldn't. The school is a business [of sorts] and should remain professional.
matt40k Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 School Closures is good, a number of schools closed when it was snowing because parents had posted on facebook\twitter that the school was closed when in fact it was open.
mthomas08 Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 We have some one who updates twitter, this is currently linked from our website and will be linked from our new frog. I have tried adding the HTML code for a little twitter widget but struggling to get it to work. Also no one can comment on it but they can follow of course
BassTech Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 We are looking at a Twitter account, also wondered about an official facebook group for the School - does anyone else do this?
mthomas08 Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 We are looking at a Twitter account, also wondered about an official facebook group for the School - does anyone else do this? We currently have a School page which doesnt get updated/not many joined this. PE Department page this is updated by a member of staff, this has a good amount of liked people.
RichCowell Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 We are looking at a Twitter account, also wondered about an official facebook group for the School - does anyone else do this? We have a School Facebook Page... it's quite popular and works well, we get pupils and parents asking questions through it...
SteveBentley Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 What about replies though - allowed or not? It's a conversation, not a broadcast. If you're not going to engage, you have no business being on Twitter, IMO. However, iff you are doing an automated feed from a blog or RSS, make sure your profile clearly states that it's unattended and you're not monitoring @replies, and give a link to a web page stating your preferred method of contact. Other advice - whoever is going to look after the official account should get a personal account and run that for a few weeks first just to get a feel for how Twitter works, and make their mistakes and faux pas there rather than on behalf of the school. 1
X-13 Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 We currently have a School page which doesnt get updated/not many joined this. PE Department page this is updated by a member of staff, this has a good amount of liked people. We have a School Facebook Page... it's quite popular and works well, we get pupils and parents asking questions through it... School facebook/twitter accounts are one of those things that either work fantastically or fail hard. There is no middle ground. I've heard of a few schools around here that have facebook/twitter and see it as a waste of time as no-one follows it. And others that think it's the best thing ever, because a large majority of the parents have added them and are using it. Send out a newsletter or 2 [or 3... we all know how easily children lose letters.] telling people about it, make the account and see how it goes. If it isn't sucessful, at least you can say you tried.
SteveBentley Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 The school is a business [of sorts] and should remain professional. Because ignoring feedback, comments, questions and complaints from stakeholders is a good professional way of doing business?
plexer Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 How do you dissallow replies on twitter anyway? If someone replies to @You_twitter_account it's going to be a reply isn't it? I guess you should post some guidelines on the interataction i.e no personal enquiries but I think it's a good tool to use especially with people being so reliant on mobile technology it's easier to check a twitter feed from an app than visit a website especially if no mobile version is available to find the piece of information you're looking for. Ben
X-13 Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Because ignoring feedback, comments, questions and complaints from stakeholders is a good professional way of doing business? I didn't say ignore. I said don't reply. Say what you need to say, read comments/feedback, impliment changes as necessary. As for questions I would [depending on what it actually was] either make a statement [if the same question comes up a lot], get in touch with the parent officially through the school itself, grab them at hometime/before school if they pick up their children or set up a meeting if it's about serious business.
DrCheese Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 I can't see why we would want to be on it - we have a website with a daily blog as it is. You do, but people have to go to your website to view that & check for updates. Most people won't bother unless they have some info they want. Whereas if you have twitter, your tweets are automatically "pushed" to your followers so they'll see them without doing anything on their part. We use it whenever we post up a new news item or photo gallery. Our traffic to these increases a fair whack after we do, as people are aware that we'd added it whereas before they wouldn't know unless they check our website often. As for replies, no you can't disallow those. But why would you want to? They aren't publicised to anyone unless they go out of their way to search for them. If someone wanted to moan about the school, they could anyway. All an @ reply does is alert the account specified, nothing says that you have to reply.
witch Posted January 31, 2012 Author Posted January 31, 2012 Thanks. I can see the issue is going to be the time for someone to do the updates. Might suggest the automatic feed etc.
mavhc Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Twitter: RSS that normal people can work out how to use 2
SteveBentley Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) I didn't say ignore. I said don't reply. Arguably the same thing. If somebody asks a question through Twitter they expect a reply through Twitter. If you don't feel it's appropriate to reply that way (because they want to discuss something that isn't appropriate in public or that you can't do in 140 chars) then reply asking them to get in touch in a different way or stating that you'll be in touch (if you can identify the person, often you can't). Interestingly the ICO's opinion is that a tweet can be a valid FoI request My view is that you either commit to fully engage with Twitter or don't bother. Edited January 31, 2012 by SteveBentley typo 1
36Degrees Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Very timely discussion! Our HT has just created a school Twitter account so it will be interesting to see how that goes.
witch Posted January 31, 2012 Author Posted January 31, 2012 My view is that you either commit to fully engage with Twitter or don't bother. The problem is that in a busy school with admin staff already overstretched there is no way that someone can spend time on twitter answering questions. Yes, the person may ask via another method anyway but I think you will get a lot of 'casual' questions that wouldnt occur otherwise.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now