Urgent : Secure Your Twitter Account.

Today as i was cheking my mail i found out one coming from a site i am subscribed to. It is callled Total Defense and is a global leader in malware detection and anti-crimeware solutions.. As an educator and technology enthusiast i am so much interested in  issues such as cyberbulling and cybercrimes. I use technology in my teaching and blog about it too and the security of our kids when they are online is one of our utmost responsibilities that is why being sibscribed to Total Defense will keep you abreast of the latest updates in the field of cybersafety and online security. I do recommend it for you.
Now back to our ship. The email i got from Total Defense was about how to keep your twitter account safe. Guess what ! as soon as i finished reading the article i discovered that i was a victim of a " cyber crime" that is why i am trying to draw your attention to this kind of fraud. If you are a twitter user and i know most of you are then be aware that there is a spam email that is being automatically delivered to many users in the form of "Tabitha Sanchez (peacefulslick80) is now following your tweets on Twitter” 

This girl that is following your tweets is noone else but a freak so watch out Tabitha does not exist and she is only a robot. curiosity would drive you to inquire about the people who follow  your tweets and honestly speaking i always try to inquire about my followers because i hate to be followed by someone who has nothing to do with what  I write about , i know those people are just spaming you. As soon as you click on that link you will be redirected to an adult illegal meeting website.

 This is just a trick to get people to sign up with this dirty site now imagine it was one of our kids who got the spam?  This is the real danger , we as educators need to pay so much attention to what we tweet and what tweets follow us. Never trust those nice worded emails coming from unknown senders.
The Total Defense Research Team has recommended the following preventive measures:
"

• Never trust every message coming from social network. A good deal of skepticism is the best practice.
• Never click on the links obscured by TinyURL or similar tools if you do not know the source of the message. In this case we have been lucky because we have been redirected to an adult website. What if the referring website was a malicious site hosting malware?
• Consider implementing an additional security layer such as parental control software." Taken from Stay Safe With Your Twitter Account.

• 
  

TwitTV- watch twitter trending videos easily

TwitTV is a cool video site . It allows its users to watch trending videos that are being shared on Twitter. Just imagine how hard it can be if you want to select a video from the thousand links that are daily shared on twitter. It is almost next to impossible to get pertinent results. TwitTV has been designed specifically to solve that problem.

 

 

Once you visit the site TwitTV automatically begins the playback in a video area that expands according to your browser’s dimensions. It allows you to either filter videos based on the tweets of a particular region or country or you can filter them according to hash tags ( A tag embedded in a message posted on the Twitter micro blogging service ). It also lets its users skip video topics or move on to watch other videos of the same topic.

What i really like about TwitTv is the fact that once you start playing it you just sit back and watch , you do not need to do anything , videos are being played by themselves giving you a totally different Tv experience you might have never felt before.

Here is a snapshot of what it looks like:

A List of Some of The Best Twitter Tools and Apps

Twitter has proved to be one of the best online  socialising tool. Millions are using it everyday. some use it to make friends, follow intersting topics, and others use it to  create learning communities and even promote thier websites. I know you know all of this and i also know that many of you have already registered there and some of you are even active participants there. The questions is : do you know that there are practically useful tools and apps designed solely for Twitter. With these apps and tools you can be able to do many more things easily and instantly way better than you have ever thought.

As educators, we do need to be aware of such tools and this is exactly why i am introducing you today to a collection of the best Twitter tools that you can use in your classroom or for personal purposes as well. Don't forget you can follow me and stay updated about my latest tweets at @medkh9.
Tweetcaster: a great twitter app for your mobile
Twinslator : Free tool to translate your tweets
Twiducate : Social Networking in Education
Twitter Search : You eye on the net
Paper.li : an outstanding tool for educators
A great functionality to improve  Twitter in Education

Tweetcaster – a great Twitter app for your mobile

Tweetcaster is a great mobile app. It features Twitter “Lists” and searches tweets from Tweets near you. Tweetcaster is the number one twitter app with thousands of downloads in the Android Market. Most of us has a twitter account and some of us uses Twitter even more than Facebook. To make sure you get a full access to Twitter services on your mobile you need to install this handy app.

 

Some features of Tweetcaster

Here is a list of the main features that Tweetcaster offers to its users:

• It is free


• It is easy to use


• It has a stunning user interface


• It is loaded with the coolest features


• It lets you post to Facebook and Twitter simultaneously


• It allows you to open multiple Twitter accounts


• It supports multiple widgets


• It offers customized Twitter notifications


• It has an enhanced search functionality

How can i get started using Tweetcaster ?

Here is a short video tutorial to show you how to use this this little handy app

That’s it about Tweetcaster – a great Twitter app for your mobile.

Twinslator : Free Tool to Translate your Tweets

Back again to Twitter . This social website which has created such a big buzz in the virtual world has never stopped from amazing us with stunning applications its developers produce now and then . Given the importance of Twitter as an educative tool in education , and given the importance of its communicative role for educators , i would like to keep you updated about Twitter latest applications that we can use with our students and in our classrooms . The purpose is to enable both teachers and students to educatively benefit to the maximum from Twitter .I have already covered some of its apps in later posts namely :
Paper.li :an outstanding web2.0 tool for educative twitters

A GREAT FUNCTIONALITY TO IMPROVE TWITTER IN EDUCATION

Today i am introducing you to Twinslator . This is a real time tool that makes us able to translate tweets we like into different languages.I am glad twitter has finally published this tool for i have always wanted to translate tweets into German and now i can.

 

How can i get started using Twinslator ?

Log on to Twinslator main page

1. Paste the Tweet into the first box


2. Select the language you want


3. Hit translate

I know it is very simple to use and i am quite sure many of you would love it .
Do you use Twitter so often ? Do you want to keep track of what i publish here in my Educational Technology Blog ? Follow my twitter at @medkh9 .
That’s it about Twinslator : Free Tool to Translate your Tweets .
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Twiducate ;Social Networking in Education

Twiducate is a great website that allows teachers to create personal micro social networks .You can create your account and administer students accounts in such an easy way that students will enjoy it just the way you do . If you are looking for a far wider interaction with your students and know in what pace they are learning then create your own social network and invite your students to join in and start the journey right from there .

Some features of Twiducate

Twiducate offers several features to its users among which are ;

• It is free
• It has a twitter like format and a user friendly interface
• It allows you to post discussions , deadlines and homework
• You can embed your pictures , videos and links
• You can provide feedback
• It also lets you connect with students outside the classroom
• It is very safe and secure .

How can get started using twiducate ?

Head over to Twiducate main page and sign up for a free account
Watch this tutorial video to learn how to use Twiducate

Applications of Twiducate in Education

There are several ways we can use Twiducate in education . We can for instance use it to ;

1. Create classroom networks reserved  just for your students
2. Post homework and assignments for your students
3. Post feedback and direct messages to your students
4. Stay in touch with your students parents
5. Students can engage in an interactively educative  messaging with each other
6. Teachers can share their ideas , tutorials , readings and many more with their students

That’s it about Twiducate ;Social Networking in Education

Here are all the educative web2.0 tools i have covered so far in this blog .I have organized them into different categories , select the category you want and explore the tools

1. Presentation/Mapping Tools

2. Organizing / Collaborative Tools

3. Google / ResearchTools

4. Audio/Image/Music Tools

5. Converting/Writing/Storytelling Tools

6. Video Tools

7. Teacher Resources

8. Best of The Rest

Twitter Search ; Your eye on the net

It seems everyone is using Twitter these days . Twitter has become one of the most reputed social media tool online . Either you want to share links of your favorite websites or keep up with what your friends are posting , Twitter is always there to tame the power of information in such a drowning digital age . I know many of you use twitter on more or less a daily basis and therefore familiarity with this tool is not an issue now and yet I would include a video explaining what twitter is all about at the end of this post but for now I will introduce to you Twitter Search , which is an effective tool to keep up with what is happening around you and even beyond your timeline . it captures and organizes every tweet so that it is possible to find people and specific information in real time .

Twitter search is also great to learn about news and again in real time , you can also track trends and join communities and all in one platform . I think that we , as educators, need to have recourse to this great functionality . You can now keep updated of the most discussed topics in education and find in seconds what other people teach the same you teach .
if you want to keep track of what Educational Technology blog is posting everyday then you can follow my twitter profile or  at @medkh9
Give Twitter Search a try and see by yourself . For now I will let you watch this Tutorial video to learn what Twitter Search can do for you and how you can use it ,

This is a video for those are not yet using twitter , watch the video to learn what Twitter is all about

That’s it about Twitter Search ; Your eye on the net

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Paper.li :an outstanding web2.0 tool for educative twitters

This is a follow up post to Improve Twitter in Education . In my previous post , I have talked about the Advanced Search Functionality in Twitter and how it helps users to narrow down their search queries and find the exact tweets they are looking for .If you haven’t read it yet then snatch a quick look at A Great Functionality to Improve Twitter in Education .
In today’s post I will be talking about another tool that is just as important as Twitter Advanced Search. Paper.li is a web 2.0 application that “ organizes links shared on twitter into an easy to read newspaper style format . Newspapers can be created for any twitter user, list or # tag

Some features of Paper.li

Here is a set of features that Paper.li provides :

• It extracts all tweets that include urls
• It extracts all the content contained in these tweets such as text , blog posts , articles , photos , and videos.
• It analyzes the extracted text for topic
• It also surfaces the day’s most relevant articles
• It constructs a newspaper front page using the filtered articles , photos and videos.
• It also allows its users to embed your Paper in a blog or a site.

All of these features have been taken from Paper.li FAQ page .

How can I get started using Paper.li ?

First go to Paper.li main page and sign in with your twitter account . Once you are there , click on “create a newspaper” and choose from the options you have . You can create a paper based on :
            Your Twitter account



         A Twitter # tag



     Twitter list



Facebook paper



Custom paper


Once you created your paper , you can customize it by clicking on the “ settings” button.
You can see an example of the paper I have created

Application of Paper.li in Education

Teachers can use Paper.li to organize their tweets into neat and readable papers with magazine styles . They can make papers based on their course elements and give it to students to keep up with their teachers tweets.
Students can also use it to collect tweets of relevant interest to what they are studying . I would recommend creating papers based on hashtags for students, in this way teachers will make sure students are reading the targeted tweets and not whatever.
That’s it about Paper.li :an outstanding web2.0 tool for educative twitters

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• A great functionality to improve twitter in education
• Alphabetizer : organize students' writings
• Web2.0 the machine is using us
• The 21st century skills teachers should have
• The 21st century pedagogy teachers should have
• EmbedPlus :The educative way to use Youtube videos
• Soshiku: a great organizational tool in education
• TrackClass : the best way to organize your students' work
• Voki : a fun and free animated avatar tool
• The 21st century teachers should have
• Alarmtube and schooltube in education
• QuiteWrite: a quite place for writing
• Multiurl : combine multiple urls into one short link
• Dushare : unlimited file share in education
• Weblist : teacher's dynamic content sharing site
• TrackClass : the best way to organize your students work
• SymbalooEdu : a student-friendly web2.0 tool

A great functionality to improve twitter in education

I know many of you read several tweets everyday . Some even have problems in sifting through the large bulk of tweets they get. This is what I concluded from reading all the emails I received from many persons asking me for help with different twitter options .So I decided to have recourse to my “ magic key “ which is web2.0 to find solutions. The following are two important tools that will make your twitter experience much more easier and enjoyable.

1- Twitter Advance Search

Twitter has become such a very important element in our life that we ca not imagine internet without it. We use Twitter to keep up with interesting news and people we care about, but what if we want to search, filter and interact with the flooding volumes of news and information being transmitted to Twitter every second ?
You will definitely need a powerful search application to do the job .Twitter Advanced Search is your answer . It will help you filter all the real-time information coursing through twitter.
Some features of Twitter Advanced Search
Twitter Advanced Search has several features that will narrow down your search to the exact query you are looking for in tweets. Among these features we can site :
                                   Search for tweets by topic

                         Search for tweets of specific people



                            Search for tweets by city



                         Search for tweets by dates

                         Search for tweets by attitudes



                        Search for tweets containing links


Watch this tutorial video to learn more

twitteradvanced search tutorial

I hope you would try this twitter functionality with your students .You will need to familiarize them with the different options it has and give them an example of how it works and get them going . I am quite sure they will find it very useful .

2- Paper.li

This is a very important tool that you can use to organize your tweets into a magazine like front page ,Learn more in Paper.li : On Outstanding Web2.0 Tool for Educative Twitters

You might also like :

• Web2.0 the machine is using us
• The 21st century skills teachers should have
• The 21st century pedagogy teachers should have
• EmbedPlus :The educative way to use Youtube videos
• Soshiku: a great organizational tool in education
• TrackClass : the best way to organize your students' work
• Voki : a fun and free animated avatar tool
• The 21st century teachers should have
• Alarmtube and schooltube in education
• QuiteWrite: a quite place for writing
• Multiurl : combine multiple urls into one short link
• Dushare : unlimited file share in education
• Weblist : teacher's dynamic content sharing site
• TrackClass : the best way to organize your students work
• SymbalooEdu : a student-friendly web2.0 tool