Have you noticed that unannounced Twitter security updates are causing your account/s to be suspended? This can be very frustrating, especially in a time where communication and community engagement is more important than ever. We have put together steps on how to unlock your suspended Twitter accounts. It may not be initially apparent that your account is suspended, until you try to carry out an action, like following another account, Tweeting, or even accessing your personal information!

Have the recent, unannounced Twitter security updates caused your account/s to be suspended? This can be very frustrating, especially in a time where communication and community engagement is more important than ever. We have put together steps for how to unlock your suspended Twitter accounts. It may not be initially apparent that your account is suspended, until you try to carry out an action. 

Why should you be verified?

Does having a blue tick next to your name on Twitter really make a difference? In truth - no. It is mainly a status symbol, with those accounts that are Twitter Verified able to unlock certain features that the rest of us can’t get. It also shows whether the owner of the account is authentic and not a parody account. Music artists, journalists, politicians and those of significant interest to the public seek to get the iconic blue badge on their account and if you are reading this, you probably want it too.

We have included some steps below to show you how to get verified on Twitter, although this is not 100% guaranteed and we will explain why.

Twitter is the place to be for heads and principals. Don’t take our word for it, this is how TES put it:

“Heads who want to do well at the job: go on Twitter!”

We couldn’t have put it clearer ourselves. If you’re still not convinced, check out what Ann Haydon, head of school at Harrow School, Hong Kong (@HeadHarrowHK) had to say about the matter:

“Love it or hate it, Twitter has changed the way we communicate, changed our ability to communicate! It now has 284 million monthly active users and 300 billion tweets since it started 8 years ago. So why are so many head teachers still rather reluctant to tweet?”

You’ve made it this far! Don’t give up now. You’ve made it to the final stage of your Twitter training!

So, you’ve been tempted by the dark side but have seen the light again. Go forth and complete your training.

Do you know your retweets from your lists? Your pins from your moments? Make sure you’ve brought your lightsaber because this 5-step guide will take you from a #SocialPadawan to a #DigitalJedi.

Let’s continue your training with stage 4.

Stage 4: #SocialSith

You’ve made it this far and are tempted by THE DARK SIDE of Twitter… Put your Twitter in dark mode for Stage 4 of your training, as this is your biggest test yet!

Do you know your retweets from your lists? Your pins from your moments? Make sure you’ve brought your lightsaber because this 5-step guide will take you from a #SocialPadawan to a #DigitalJedi.

Let’s continue your training with stage 3.

Stage 3: #DigitalKnight

At Stage 3, you are at one with the #SchoolStories and the #SchoolStories are at one with you. However, you’re not quite ready yet to take down the Death Star!

As your school's marketer, knowing how to monitor Tweets from other departments is essential. Yes, when it comes to Twitter, you are handing the reins over to your teaching colleagues - but you need to keep them on track, and on brand!

There are plenty of tools to help you with this. Having to watch over 30+ Twitter accounts can understandably be something of a task! This is why you need something to make this as simple as possible.

Enter TweetDeck - our absolute favourite tool for Twitter monitoring. With a small amount of investment and knowledge, you can have TweetDeck set up to monitor and control all of those accounts at your school. It is invaluable!

• Create a list on your main Twitter account and add all of your sub accounts to this list.

• Open up TweetDeck and add this list as one of your columns.

Tweetdeck also allows you to schedule tweets in for next week so you can get out on time every Friday evening, knowing your #SchoolStories will still flow smoothly across the weekend.

It’s as easy as that! If you’d like to learn more, read our comprehensive guide on managing your Twitter accounts using TweetDeck.

Do you know your retweets from your lists? Your pins from your moments? Make sure you’ve brought your lightsaber because this 5-step guide will take you from a #SocialPadawan to a #DigitalJedi.

Missed stage 1? Catch up here.

Let’s continue your training with stage 2.

Stage 2: #SocialDroid

So, you’ve completed Stage 1 of your training and you’re getting to grips with the basics of Twitter. Now, let’s step it up a notch as we battle on in the fight against bad #hashtags.

You’ve sent out your first tweet, now let’s drive engagement even further with these tips:

• Reply to a thread: Try jumping on a current trend/hashtag and adding your thoughts on the topic. How about adding in your hashtag to the conversation?

• Step up your retweets: It’s great to share content from other accounts on your own feed so your followers can see your likes/interests. Now, let’s try adding a retweet with comment. Click the retweet button, and add in your own thoughts and relevant hashtags.

• Share a video: We’ve all scrolled through our phones and landed on a video. Although we may be enjoying the video, we have a tendency to move on as soon as we get bored. The average human attention span is around 8 seconds these days so try to share short, engaging videos directly through Twitter. Twitter has the option to share videos of up to 140 seconds. If this isn’t enough for you, the site allows you to share out video links directly from YouTube on your feed. This is great for longer events such as alumni interviews, student achievements, head’s messages, etc.

• Share a GIF: First day back at school? Last day before the Christmas holidays? Send out a moving image to make the post a little more exciting. Did you know? Tweets with a GIF get 55% more engagement than those without!

• Create a poll: Polls are a great way to drive engagement and see the interests of your followers. For example, we recently shared one on what future topics followers would like to learn about in our future blogs.

• Pin a Tweet: Got an open day coming up or a school event? Has the head just shared a new blog, or has there been a great achievement in the school? Use Twitter’s Pin feature to make sure this tweet always appears at the top of your feed.

With the arrival of social media, we have seen much change in the way we communicate today. Even the language we use has taken direct influence from social channels old and new.

Twitter’s prominence today in pop culture and everyday conversation exemplifies this perfectly. After all, the definition of “tweet” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013. This year we have witnessed one of the most influential and powerful individuals on our planet, President Donald Trump, making regular headline news with the content he shares over Twitter.

But just how did this massive platform come to be, and how has it developed over the years?

The Dawn of Twitter

The first Tweet was published on March 21, 2006 9:30 pm PST when Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, published: