Schools turn to Twitter to get news to parents

What do pop star Ashton Kutcher and a bold group of high-profile Georgia public school image-makers have in common?

They tweet.

Twitter, the free social networking service, is being used by celebs, CEOs, soccer moms and now even tech-savvy school districts to keep the public informed about important, and not so important, daily events.

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From the banal to the braggadocios, “tweets” about student achievement, homework, school plays and school boards in Georgia and across the nation are being sent to cellphones like breaking news bulletins interrupting network programming.

The headlines, up to 140 characters, are shared with “followers” — mostly parents and educators — who sign up to get messages.

School tweets are not exactly fodder for watercooler gossip like Kutcher’s recent tweet announcing that he would be chatting with his spiritual guru about Kabbalah, but they can be pretty darn interesting.

And hundreds of parents are logging on to read them as Twitter’s popularity spreads. According to Web watchdog comScore Media Metrix, 9.3 million gawkers logged onto Twitter.com in March — that’s 5 million more than February.

“It’s a very cost effective way to communicate directly to people who basically want to get the content,” said Dana Tofig, Georgia Department of Education spokesman, leading the state public school tap into Twitter. “We can throw pictures up … [link to] press releases and recordings. I think it’s a great tool in the toolbox.”

The state DOE on Wednesday had 62 followers of its breaking “news” tweets — about 20 more than last week.

Forsyth County Schools, which debuted as the first metro Atlanta public school on Twitter in March, has 300 followers. That’s more eyes glued to its posts than the nation’s largest district, the New York City Department of Education, which only has 220.

“We are trying to look for ways to push information out to our stakeholders,” said Jennifer Caracciolo, Forsyth’s spokeswoman. “In middle and high schools, parents want information quick.”

Forsyth used Twitter to keep parents informed about its effort to win state approval for the district’s flexibility plan seeking more local control over education. “Instead of having to wait for the next day to read about it in the newspaper, people could get the information instantly,” she said.

Forsyth also has a LinkedIn account and a fan site on Facebook. Electronic communication, including news bulletins sent to e-mail groups, could eventually replace printed school newsletters, Caracciolo said.

For the cutting edge, Tweets and IMs could even retire the dreaded handwritten naughty note informing parents about bad behavior at school.

On Twitter, naughty notes could be shared in real time.

“Twitter has a private message function which could be used for something like that,” explained Amanda Lenhart, a researcher with Pew Internet & American Life Project. “Some people certainly do use Twitter as a main inbox. Twitter, however, is generally used for public conversations. Having it makes your district appear forward-looking and technology savvy.”

Fulton County Schools opened a Twitter account last week. District spokeswoman Susan Hale says she’s studying “Twitetiquette” and vocab. “Some say don’t tweet more than 5 times a day, no one wants to be spammed,” Hale said.

A recent tweet from Hale: “Concerned about swine flu? Fulton County Schools has facts and resources.”

Florida’s Broward County Schools has one of the most popular followings on Twitter for a public school — about 900 people. Its district office tweets, so does its schools and school board members.

“Board members put out messages informing people that they are sitting at meetings … schools are announcing early release days and awards. We put out information on the history of Broward Schools,” said Jarret Streiner, district spokesman. “We’re adding almost 200 [followers] a week.”

Twitter is still catching on among Georgia parents, though.

“We are nowhere near the 1 million followers Ashton Kutcher has,” Hale says. “We haven’t gotten any tweets back. People are not realizing that it can be interactive. Many parents are just as new to Twitter as we are.”