Using TweetDeck to Manage My Twitter Time - Round TWO

I follow over 9,000 educators on Twitter. When I started following 300 or so, I was still looking at my feed every morning, trying to "catch up" (HAH!), and Karen Liernman from British Columbia, Canada, helped me out. I still remember the story of seeing her tweet with a photo of the Chicago River - she was only the second person from Twitter I'd met face to face - and during the dinner where my husband and I pieked her up (she willingly got in our car!) she said, "You're still following your feed? Oh, no. You need to watch hashtags." (More to this organization in this post here.)

Then I created LISTS. (Detailed in the same blog post as above.) This helped some more. I now have tons of lists...

Over the past few years, I've learned how to mute a conversation, how to block spammers, how to stay with my WHY as I created my own Twitter rules for myself, that it's not about the numbers (here and here), how to be grateful in a more genuine way, and of course, I learned a long time ago that it's not about TWITTER. It's about the PEOPLE.

Over the last year or so, I've lost touch with some educators I used to "chat" with all the time. Those people that I used to connect with on a regular basis. I've added new ones, for sure, and I think that may be what this tool does for you - provides the people you need when you need them... I'm not sure. What I DO know is that I'd like to keep being connected. I've learned that when I'm more connected with one person, the relationship develops, and I can reach out more, feel more supported, and truly care about the person behind the photo. I don't want to lose those relationships.

So... I decided to create MORE lists!

Here is a video explaining what I'm writing:



My NEW (added) lists go something like this:

Sunday Tuesday Thursday - those educators who are so very kind, share their messages in kind and caring ways, and those educators who I like calling "friend" - I've broken bread or had a beverage or two with them, and I truly enjoy their company.

Monday - those educators who I believe are "sensible." They'd start my work week off on the right foot.

Wednesday - those educators who are always supporting me. How do they do it? How do THEY organize their myriad connections? I want to provide support back to them.

Friday - those educators who I probably SHOULD keep up with, but normally don't. Fridays are my busy mornings, so I don't spend as much time on Twitter as I normally do this day.

Saturday - those educators who are constantly sharing useful resources (that I often miss). This way I can share them out on a day I can actually take time to LOOK at what those resources are, and maybe even play with those resources.

**Note - Many of the educators on these lists overlap these categories. AND they are on other lists of mine, as well (met f2f, geniushour, my district friends...). I only put them down for one of these new lists, so I'm still catching up with them, even if it's not every day.

I know this won't solve all my issues with managing Twitter. That's okay. I guess we let some connections go when we make other connections stronger. There's only so much we can do - along with teaching!

Do you have a way to organize your Twitter life? I'd love to know what it is!! Please use the comment section below so that future readers can learn from YOU, too!