An article at Tallahassee.com titled “School districts turning to Twitter to speed up communications” discusses how school districts are using the social networking tool to communicate with parents and students.

According to the article:

Some technology experts say Twitter is worth considering in the education world since it can lead to other opportunities to reach parents and students.

Leon and Taylor county school districts are now “tweeting,” which refers to posting short alerts, on happenings that range from board meeting reminders to kudos when schools and students get noted recognition.

Other Florida school districts, such as Broward and Volusia, are also using Twitter to get their message to parents, students and anyone who’s interested.

It is good to see schools embracing the latest internet technology to improve communications. Twitter has become a household name, partly through the press it has gotten in the mainstream media. Oprah recently had a show about Twitter and Ashton Kutcher created some buzz by reaching over 1 million followers.

Twitter is useful to school administrators because it can distribute a message, almost instantaneously, to everyone that is subscribed to receive updates. Unlike email, Twitter updates are public and can be received as a text message. Since nearly everyone has a cell phone, it can reach people where ever they are which can have many useful applications.

For instance, if the principal of a school had a Twitter account, he could quickly communicate to teachers and students at the school during an emergency situation.

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