Integrated Strategic Communication: COMM 306
syllabus | schedule of events | student blogs

 

Step One: Learn about Twitter
Some resources you might find useful in discovering Twitter:

• Twitter for Business (an online presentation by Marketing Prof. Laura Fitton)
• “Why I Tweet” (my thoughts on Twitter)
• 10.5 Ways for PR Students to Get the Most Out of Twitter (a post by PR Prof. Barbara Nixon)
• Twitter 101: a student e-book (by Tech Academy’s Andrea Michnik)
• Speaking and Learning in Tweets: a field guide to Twitter language (my presentation on Twitter language)

Step Two: Join Twitter

1. Login to Twitter
2. Create a username and password. Best practices suggest using some derivation of your first and last name for your Twitter ID.
3. Upload a photo for your avatar (Click on settings, then profile).
4. Write your 160-character bio (Click on settings, then profile). If you’re doing this simply for the class assignment, you can write that you’re an integrated strategic communication student. You can also add your website here. Feel free to use your class blog.
5. Tweet this: “I’m tweeting this week as a student in @JAMcArthur’s #COMM306 class @QueensUniv.” After I see this tweet, I’ll know you’ve begun the lab.
6. If you tweet something related to the course of interest to all students, use the #comm306 hashtag in your tweet.

Step Three: Follow Someone

1. Choosing people to follow can be a daunting task. Here are my thoughts on it. I have a couple of resources to help you get started:
   1. Conversation starterpack: a list of interesting people/accounts on Twitter.
   2. Integrated Strategic Communication starterpack: a list of strategic communication and/or social media experts and thinkers.
   3. Our class list: links to your classmates in #comm306 who have tweeted so far.

Step Four: Tweet for a Week

1. Send at least 21 original tweets this week (3 per day). Choose what you tweet. This is not a facebook status update. Instead of informing your followers about your lunch plans, think about things that might be interesting. Better yet, teach us something, ask us a question, or link us to something cool online.
2. In addition to your 21 tweets, use 7 tweets (1 per day) to respond to your classmates’ tweets. Use an @mention to signify your response (like @JAMcArthur).
3. Optional: if you see interesting items tweeted by others, you can re-tweet those tweets. These won’t count toward your 28 above, but they do provide interest to your readers.
4. Optional: you can connect Twitter to your class blog using a sidebar widget or a Twitter widget.
5. Optional: you can publicize your blog posts on Twitter through your blog platform.

Submitting the Lab

This lab will run for one week, starting on the lab due date. To submit this lab activity, create a blog post titled “Lab 04: One Week of Twitter” and embed your first tweet into the blog post. This will connect us to your twitter feed. I will assess your participation in this lab after the week is over.

Need help embedding a tweet in WordPress?

Questions?

Send me a DM on Twitter or @mention me with questions.

This lab was modified, with permission, from an excellent example created by@BarbaraNixon, available on her website.