Is there educational value behind Twitter?

Often, when we hear the name Twitter, we think of anything from something a bird would say to the newest rant from Charlie Sheen.  People have no problem sharing what they had for breakfast to what they did the previous weekend.  But is there an educational value for Twitter?

I believe that there can be an educational value for Twitter.  Twitter gives you the ability to not only post a small piece of text, but also reply.  Could Twitter involve a collective group of trainers and trainees that would create conversation?  Maybe it could continue conversation from a previous discussion?  Maybe reminders could be sent out about deadlines that need to be completed.  And even more importantly, resources could be shared.

For example, lets’ say you are involved in a leadership training program.  The trainer can utilize Twitter to easily sound out an article by a well-known author on leadership such as James Maxwell.  Trainees can that respond to that tweet with their own thoughts from the article.

So, we can go beyond the newest rant from our favorite celebrities or what we had for breakfast that morning.