The Dynamic Roots of School Leaders’ Twitter Use

Abstract

Some postulate that social media tools, such as Twitter, might be used to support educator professional learning. Drawing upon interviews and tweets from 17 school administrators, this study examined the factors and consequences of administrators’ Twitter use. It finds that administrators’ understandings and uses of Twitter changed over time, subject to influences such as interactions with colleagues, one's sense of online visibility, and abilities to develop workarounds for Twitter's limitations. The discussion explores issues relating to the future of educators’ social media use, as well as how to theorize about the implementation and adoption of technologies in education.