Pros and cons of using Twitter in the classroom

I have come round to using Twitter at least in an educational sense. I have always been sceptical of it, viewing it as a rather narcissistic and self-promotional tool rather than it having any real pedagogic value. However, in today's session I saw the value of being able to view different threads immediately and can see how it could work in the classroom. For example, we have recently been reviewing different ways of presenting language in the classroom, e.g. via task-based learning, dogme, presentation via an audio etc. Learners could search for different views on these approaches. It saves time having to google everything and it is interesting reading different people's views on the topic. Learners can post comments immediately and feel part of a community. On the negative side, it doesn't suit all personalities. Some learners are afraid of posting their opinions online for fear of being 'trolled' (can it be used as a verb?). Twitter has had a bad press as we think of celebrities posting vacuous comments about themselves. I can see it being a more accessible and convenient tool than learners always having to log into New Learning, our Virtual Learning Environment. This has its value (as a store of more permanent resources)but is not a real-time source. Twitter has been criticised as it may encourage learners to write badly and distract them in the classroom but, overall, I can see that, used in a sensible way, it can be a useful educational tool.