Tweeting as a New Literacy Practice
The Educational Forum, 76: 464–478, 2012 Copyright © Kappa Delta Pi ISSN: 0013-1725 print/1938-8098 online DOI: 10.1080/00131725.2012.709032
Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New Literacy Practice
Christine Greenhow and Benjamin Gleason College of Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Abstract This article defines TwitterTM; outlines the features, affordances, and common uses; and conceptualizes “tweeting” as a literacy practice, comprising both traditional and new literacies, and impacting both informal and formal learning settings. Also provided is an overview of traditional and new literacies, and insights from a scan of the research literature to date on tweeting as a literacy practice. The authors outline areas for inquiry and the challenges to conducting such research.
Key words: digital literacies, micro-blogging, new literacies, social media, tweeting, Twitter In March 2012, The New York Times headlined a feature story with the implied question: “If Twitter is a work necessity …” (Preston 2012). The article argued that digital literacy is becoming a required skill as employers increasingly want employees with social media savvy. If knowing how to build a community on Twitter®, present yourself on Facebook, engage with public issues via YouTube®, network on Foursquare®, and share your creations on Instagram are among the literacies that some employers expect people to have to secure a job or advance their careers, educators and educational researchers ought to play a role in helping people critically evaluate and cultivate best practices. Better theorization and study of the forms and functions of social media communication, and their relationship to the existing literacy curriculum, are needed to define and model promising digital literacy practices for our students. This article advances a step in this direction by focusing on one popular form of social media: Twitter. We consider tweeting practices through the lens of new
Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New Literacy Practice
Christine Greenhow and Benjamin Gleason College of Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Abstract This article defines TwitterTM; outlines the features, affordances, and common uses; and conceptualizes “tweeting” as a literacy practice, comprising both traditional and new literacies, and impacting both informal and formal learning settings. Also provided is an overview of traditional and new literacies, and insights from a scan of the research literature to date on tweeting as a literacy practice. The authors outline areas for inquiry and the challenges to conducting such research.
Key words: digital literacies, micro-blogging, new literacies, social media, tweeting, Twitter In March 2012, The New York Times headlined a feature story with the implied question: “If Twitter is a work necessity …” (Preston 2012). The article argued that digital literacy is becoming a required skill as employers increasingly want employees with social media savvy. If knowing how to build a community on Twitter®, present yourself on Facebook, engage with public issues via YouTube®, network on Foursquare®, and share your creations on Instagram are among the literacies that some employers expect people to have to secure a job or advance their careers, educators and educational researchers ought to play a role in helping people critically evaluate and cultivate best practices. Better theorization and study of the forms and functions of social media communication, and their relationship to the existing literacy curriculum, are needed to define and model promising digital literacy practices for our students. This article advances a step in this direction by focusing on one popular form of social media: Twitter. We consider tweeting practices through the lens of new