TY - JOUR AU - Chakravarty, Debjani PY - 2020/06/11 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Sociological Tweets JF - TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology JA - TRAILS VL - IS - SE - DO - UR - https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/sociological-tweets SP - AB - Twitter is a unique social media platform, a proprietary eponym for microblogging, and an effective communication device for political, corporate, and civil society entities. Its wide reach and popularity can be difficult to ignore in these times. There are debates about the quality of information/communication that can be captured by 280 characters; about the impact of hashtags in spreading and sharing information. This class activity utilizes the fundamental features of Tweets- quick, concentrated, but not comprehensive information to elicit sociological and logical responses from students. This activity works best in introductory sociology as well as social theory classes. Students create a Twitter handle for theorist(s) covered in class, along with a single Tweet or several Tweets that represent the theorists’ contribution. This contribution can be a key concept, a theoretical framework, or a famous line (to be paraphrased). Sometimes the idea is to capture the imaginary Eureka moment for a theorist when they came up with an idea for the first time (e.g. Marx’s alienation; Mills’ sociological imagination; Hochschild’s emotional labor; Crenshaw’s intersectionality) that they wanted to share with the world. For sociologists with current Twitter accounts, students can engage in a back and forth with them to clarify, challenge, or respond in a meaningful way. This exercise is done on paper—no Twitter account required. Whether or not students like or use Twitter, the goals of this exercise would be to apply sociological theory, practice concise (and correct) writing, and become familiar with social media communication/ customs. This is a group activity which encourages theoretical discussion, creativity, and collaboration. ER -