One of the great things about Twitter is that you can quickly communicate with hundreds or thousands (or millions if you’re Ashton Kutcher) at once. But what if you want to keep a small, private, group of people updated throughout the day, Twitter might not be your best option. Present.ly provides a platform for creating your own private micro-blogging community.

The free version of Present.ly lets you create a community based on your email domain. For example, if I had other people using freetech4teachers.com as their email domain, I could establish a Present.ly community just for people with that email domain. (Since I’m the only one with an at freetech4teachers email address, it would be a boring a community).

Here’s a good video introduction to Present.ly

Applications for Education
I’ve mentioned in the past that Twitter can be good for getting instant feedback and taking informal surveys of a class. The problem with using Twitter is it’s too public for some school settings. Present.ly provides a free place to get the same type of feedback as you’d gather on Twitter, but in a closed setting.

Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
Two Great Videos About Technology in the Classroom
50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom
Kitzu – Find, Learn, Create