Microblogging sites such as Twitter, Plurk, Tumblr, etc. are excellent resources for educators to use to communicate with students and parents. In many cases, users can elect to "follow" a user and have that user's posts be sent to a mobile device or email address. In the case of the popular site Twitter, a teacher can create an account and "tweet" daily updates such as assignments, due dates, and reminders. A student or parent can follow the teacher and receive these updates on their mobile phone. Staff members that choose to use such services should consider the following:

• Let your administrator, fellow teachers and parents know about your microblogging account/site.
• Link your microblogging account with your district email. Any direct messaging will then be sent to your district email and can monitored and stored for your protection and the protection of the student/parent.
• Post only what you want the world to see.
• Do not discuss students or coworkers or publicly criticize school policies or personnel.
• Do not say or do any thing that you would not say or do in as a teacher in the classroom. (Remember that all online communications are stored and can be monitored.)
• Have a clear statement of purpose and outcomes for the use of the networking tool.
• Do not post images that include students without parental release forms on file
• Do not use the microblogging site as your sole source of communication. Messages that you send via a microblogging site should also appear on your teacher webpage.

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