Using twitter

Twitter as an English teaching aid may seem unusual and useless for some English teachers, but in I will try to explain why is it useful and convenient.
In a few words Twitter is a kind of a blog, but with several significant features. It is always free of charge. Signing up doesn't take long. As fast as you sign up, you can find your friends or anyone you are interested in by typing their e-mails or names in a special field. Twitter allows you to update the information in probably the fastest and the easiest way. This is the best way to let people know what you are doing or thinking of at the particular moment. Here is a short video about the reasons for using Twitter:



Moreover, I have found a great article about the benefits of using Twitter by teachers. Copying and pasting the whole article is needless, but those nine reasons for using Twitter are quite rational. Here is the article http://mrslwalker.com/index.php/2009/03/29/nine-great-reasons-why-teachers-should-use-twitter, and I strongly recommend you to read it.
In my personal opinion, Twitter can be useful both for teachers and for learners. Teachers can easily find their colleagues, share their experience and explore new methods in teaching English. As for the students, the greatest benefit for them is meeting native speakers or fellow english learners and studying the informal English. Becides, Twitter is a good way to learn about the abbreviations: as a twitter post must contain not more than 140 characters, abbreviations can obviously save some space.
Of course, as any contemporary internet service, Twitter is not perfect. There are all kinds of people, and many of them are rude, agressive or use strong language. We, the teachers, future or present, can contol it in some way. But this is a thing we need to be ready for when we start using technology in teaching English.
This was my point of view about the Twitter. Feel free to comment!