To Tweet or not to Tweet? That is indeed the question many school district administrators are asking themselves in this new age of social media.

If you are new to the "Twitterverse," you may find much of the language and interaction that happens on Twitter to be silly. Do not immediately dismiss the service. To many, bottled water and mobile phones also seemed like silly ideas in the beginning.

By definition, Twitter is referred to as "microblogging." Microblogging sites allow users to instantly share short updates (140-character limit), which often include links to photos, videos or online sources. To post an update on Twitter, or a "Tweet," all users need is Internet access or text-messaging capabilities on their phones. The technology's applications are broad, but many businesses are using Twitter in their marketing and public relations strategies. More than 18 million users access Twitter at least once a month.

Twitter is a free service, so the only associated cost is your staff's time in training, strategy and posting. The downside to Twitter (as with any free service) is that there are a large number of spammers and Internet marketers crowding the virtual space. However, similar to managing your email account, you can manage these annoyances with blocking settings.

Now that you know a little bit about the service, let's discuss some practical applications of Twitter in your school district.

Soliciting feedback. Twitter can be a great way to gather feedback from the community or from staff and students. It's not a perfect method, though. Twitter is a public site, so replies might come from outside your target audience and dilute your results.

Advice: Try Twitter as a feedback tool, but regard your results as informal.

Spreading the word. Twitter is an excellent tool for broadcasting information. Tweets could range from school closings (at the district level) to field trip reminders (at the school level).

Advice: Twitter should be part of your public relations strategy.

Branding school leaders. School leaders, such as superintendents and principals, could be excellent ambassadors for your district on Twitter. I would caution you against having someone else write posts for an administrator, because inauthentic communications, when discovered, can backfire. If a school leader cannot commit time to communicating on Twitter, an alternative would be to create a general account for the district or school so that multiple individuals can Tweet on behalf of the organization.

Advice: Be sure to have a transition plan in place if the school leader should change jobs.

If you still aren't sure whether you should add Twitter to your communications plan, you can review a list of school districts, officials and agencies on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/morate/schools. As with any new tool, there will be a learning curve for your staff. And you'll need to consider how Twitter fits in with your communications goals. Is this the right technology to reach your target audience?

Good luck! And feel free to send me questions, comments or suggestions for future columns.

TERRY MORAWSKI is the assistant superintendent of communications and marketing for Mansfield ISD. He is also the incoming president of the Texas School Public Relations Association. He can be reached at terrymorawski@gmail.com.