Twitter

When comparing discussions on Twitter and Blackboard, it is important to realize that there is a 280 character limit on Twitter. Discussions on Blackboard can involve a thread of a few posts that might be more descriptive and more detailed as there isn't a character limit. People can expand upon their points and provide multiple sources of evidence to support an argument in one post, which might not be possible on Twitter. The good thing about Twitter is that a discussion can be viewed by people who don't follow you through the use of hashtags. If someone retweets or likes your tweet, your tweet will appear on the timeline of that person's followers, thus increasing your reach.

There are also some similarities between the two, however. Both discussion boards follow the format of a thread, where contributors can reply to any post in the thread. The discussion boards also allow for the inclusion of links, pictures and videos. Even though you can change settings to receive notifications on Blackboard when someone replies to your post, the notifications aren't as quick and instant as they are for Twitter.