Twitter isn’t just a social networking tool–it’s also a great resource for a college community! Both teachers and students can use this program to do research, get the latest campus news, and be the first to receive announcements from the library. Here are our top 50 favorite ways to use Twitter:

Research

1. Ask for help – send out questions to the global Twitter community about research and papers

2. Tweetscan – this app is like Google or Yahoo for Twitter.  It’s basically a big search engine that makes it easy to find conversations and keywords

3. Make a mind map - bad memory is the curse of many college students. This tool turns your Twitter stream into a tree so you can easily connect to other people

4. Advanced Search - this application helps you find keywords, people, and conversations from a specific place, day, or time

5. Analyze stats – you can see how reputable your research source is by analyzing their Twitter stats

6. PollDaddy - if you ever need to conduct a survey for a research class, you can use this app to poll your Twitter friends

Group Projects

7. GroupTable - this app makes it easier for students and teachers to collaborate on projects via Twitter

8. Foreign language projects – if you’re learning a new language, you can follow native speakers and translate their tweets in groups

9. Twitter Study Group – Twitter is all about making communities, so they’ve set up this tool where you can learn with other like-minded folks

10. TweetCube - share files, images, videos, and music with your peers

11. Time tracking – do you hate it when you spend much more time working on a group project than the other students? With this app, you can track the amount of time each student puts into a project

12. SavorChat – this tool will connect your Twitter account to your Facebook profile

Class Discussion

13. Swap links - you can use Twitter to share links that you find useful in class

14. GroupTweet – this is a type of instant messaging service that uses Twitter to send out quick messages to your fellow students

15. Send voice mails – TwitterFone allows you to send voicemails from your phone to your Twitter account

16. Pre-tweet - if you don’t want to send a tweet out right away, you can save it and send it later before you forget

17. Submit a question – students can ask a question to their professor or teacher via Twitter if they are unable to make it to office hours

Library

18. Keep reading lists – bkkeepr is a great tool to save and bookmark your class reading list

19. Follow other librarians - stay informed about what’s going on in your campus library with this useful app

20. Announce new arrivals – students and librarians can tweet about the arrival of a new book or journal

21. Notify patrons when time’s up – forget when a book is due? If your time is up, a librarian will send you a quick message so that you can avoid late fees

22. Accept reservations – if you need to make a reservation for a private study room, you can send your librarian a quick message

Social

23. TwitOrg - your campus club or student organization can use this tool to create a spot for messages, announcements, and updates

24. Tweetparty – planning a party? You can use this tool to organize events and check in with friends

25. Organize your contacts – Twitter organizers like TweetDeck can help you make an address book for your online contacts

26. Play games – want some distraction? Apps like Twrivia allow you to play games with your Twittering friends

27. Start a pack – you can start a club with TwitterPacks, a tool that helps you find friends based on shared interests

28. Update your status – let your friends know where they can find you by keeping your Twitter status updated

Study Smart

29. Take notes – you can manage your class notes with TwitterNotes

30. Debate – you can stage debates with your fellow students as a way to study your class material

31. Follow professors – see what your professor is up to by checking their Twitter account. They frequently offer study tips or updates on the class syllabus

32. Share notes – you can swap notes with your friends to make sure you didn’t miss anything in class

33. Ask questions – you can tweet questions to your professors and fellow students and receive a quick answer

Campus Announcements

34. Reveal tweets to prospective students - admissions counselors can add a Twitter wiki to their school’s web page that allows them to post what’s going on in the campus

35. Post job announcements – you can find work-study, full-time faculty positions, and other job announcements here

36. News - you can find campus-wide announcements like closed buildings, parking lot news, and other special events

37. Spy on your school – you can use a service called Twitterholic to find out what other people are saying about your college

38. Stay in contact – you can use Twitter to keep in touch with alumni. You never know who will be able to help you out in the future!

Career Preparation

39. Network with alumni - find tweeting alumni and follow their real-world updates

40. Get a job – yes, Twitter CAN help you find a job! Follow job search engines and learn how to improve your job prospects

41. Post your resume - you can post a link to your website or resume on your Twitter account

42. Explore all kinds of fields – if you’re not sure what career path you’d like to take, you can follow working professionals and different companies to see what the working environment is like

43. Find an internship – there are loads of search engines on Twitter that can make your search for an internship easier

World News and Reference

44. @USATODAYcollege – USA TODAY’s college feed has a ton of news stories and links about the state of higher education

45. @nytimes – the Times is a great source of world news, research, and discussion topics

46. @WSJ – if you’re a business or finance student, you should definitely check out what’s going on in the Wall Street Journal

47. @BigTenTweets - if you’re a student at a Big Ten school like Penn State, University of Michigan, or Ohio State, you can follow the season’s football stats on Twitter

48. @TheCampusBuzz – the Campus Buzz reports on news from colleges across the country

49. @globaljobmarket - you can follow this feed for information on what’s going on in the job market

50. @cnnbrk – if you want the latest news at your finger-tips, you can follow CNN Breaking News here