Some academics and educators on Twitter have and often advocate for account separation, maintaining personal/professional identities on Twitter in addition to accounts for each course taught in a given semester. Reasons for this separation are myriad. For instance, if there is a great diversity of subject matter and focus in a semester, a Twitter account for each course could prevent miscommunication and misunderstanding. Such an account could provide an initial focus for students, too, acting as a kind of localizing agent and guide for who else is in the course and thus should follow. Some also educators have a strong desire for some degree of anonymity online, to keep personal and professional interests apart. Maintaining a private personal account and a public professional account on Twitter is one way to exercise that anonymity.
There are also third-party applications, like Seesmic and TweetDeck, that make it easier to manage multiple Twitter accounts for multiple purposes, but I remain resistant to such differentiation. The accessibility and openness of Twitter make it difficult to keep alternate facets of one’s identity hidden, even if maintaining an invitation-only account. Furthermore, I have a sustained interest in my Twitter use fostering an identity that serves as a model to students of what is possible in terms of appropriate academic engagement within that 140-character limit. Rather than Shaquille O’Neal or Kim Kardashian being the first examples of Twitter use that students encounter, I want students to be witness to the ways in which I take advantage of this microblogging service. I want students to see the diversity in my status updates as well as in those I choose to follow on Twitter. In addition to @betajames, contextual hashtags and Twitter lists are localizing agents for students in the courses I guide.