I’ve mentioned Storify on this blog in passing as an easy way to display “tweets.” In fact, I did just that in my post, Using Storify For “Poverty Matters When…”, when I displayed multiple tweets that began with that phrase. I had thought its use was pretty limited.

Yesterday, though, Storify announced some major changes, and its now one of the easiest tools to use to create a multimedia digital story. You can search the web for just about anything, including images, tweets, webpages, photos and videos, and use their “drag-and-drop” interface to add your own text and create a story (or a collection of labeled images, or just about anything). It’s really become quite versatile, and it would be difficult to find a tool that’s easier to use. You can also read this post from Read Write Web sharing other uses for the tool.

I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Create Online Slideshows and to The Best Digital Storytelling Resources.

This is an all-in-one post on Twitter:

First, I’ll be a guest on #urbaned Chat on Twitter next Sunday at 6:00 PM Pacific/ 9:00 PM Eastern time, and will be discussing motivation.

Second, if you want to know how to participate in a Chat on Twitter, Read Write Web just posted How to Get Started With Twitter Chats.

And, thirdly, 10 New Twitter Tools That Will Get You Tweeting is a useful post worth checking-out.

I’m adding the last two resources to The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About.

“What’s Up” is a fascinating tool that lets you easily explore the most popular subjects on Twitter for any day or for any hour of that day. The Information Aesthetics blog has more information about the site.

I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About.

In addition, I’m including this post in a category where I list web tools that help you identify “most popular” items on the Web.

Twijector displays tweets using a particular hashtag on an attractive screen that can be displayed at conferences. It can also be used by people who just want to view tweets using a hashtag, like in one of the many educational chats.

I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About.

With Twtrland, all you have to do is type in a Twitter username and you get back a pretty neat profile of the person, their tweets, how many times they’ve been retweeted, and a bunch of other info attractively displayed.

I’m adding it to The Best Third-Party Twitter Apps That Don’t Require Your Password.

Type in some words into Tweetolife and in return you’ll get a visualization comparing how men and women use them on Twitter.

I’m adding it to The Best Third-Party Twitter Apps That Don’t Require Your Password.

Thanks to Flowing Data for the tip.

Hastagify is a neat Twitter app that lets you visualize connections between hashtags, as well as seeing all the tweets connected to a particular hashtag.

I’m adding it to The Best Third-Party Twitter Apps That Don’t Require Your Password.

Thanks to Information Aesthetics for the tip.

As most teachers who have students writing blogs know, kids get very excited when people leave comments on their posts. Of course, we all appreciate it when people respond to our writing, and nothing beats having an authentic audience.

Today, I learned through Paula Naugle, a teacher in New Orleans, about the ability to solicit comments on student blogs through Twitter by using the hashtag #comments4kids. She relates in her blog post that her students received over 1,500 comments this year. And she told me separately that 70% of them were generated through use of that hashtag.

I think that’s amazing. The hashtag idea is brilliant, and I’d love to give credit to whomever came up with the idea. Let me know if you know who did.

(Paula writes that “The creator of the #comment4kids hashtag is William Chamberlain. There are teachers and student bloggers all over the world who are so thankful to Will for this innovative idea.”)

I’m adding this information to The Best Sources For Advice On Student Blogging.

I periodically post “most popular” lists of websites (and books) that I think educators might find useful. Of course, there are a number of ways to gauge “popularity.” I just view these lists as opportunities to check-out some new sites, and find it interesting to see which ones might be particularly “popular.”

You might be interested in The Best Places To Find The Most Popular (& Useful) Resources For Educators –2010.

Today, I’d like to share about a site called “What The Trend.” It monitors thousands of “hashtags,” the words following the “#” sign, on Twitter. They are used to help Twitter users follow all tweets on a particular topic. What The Trend will help you understand what particular hashtags mean, which are the most popular at any given moment, and which are popular in what country. It actually looks pretty interesting.

Thanks to 10,000 Words for the tip.

Type in a user name into Tweet Topic Explorer and you’ll get a multi-colored word cloud in “bubbles.”

I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About “Word Clouds” and to The Best Third-Party Twitter Apps That Don’t Require Your Password.

Thanks to Flowing Data for the tip.