ABSTRACT
The action of digressing from a topic is a rare phenomenon on teachers’ Timelines due to the short length of the conversations. When it occurs, we argue that it reflects the teachers’ awareness that they have to redirect the focus of the conversation to the first topic. Even though topic digression rarely takes place, teachers do engage in two types of digression: comprehension-securing digression and spontaneous digression. A comprehension-securing digression may take the form of an example to help clarify a stance. Insertion and the continuation of the new topic may be carried out in a humorous and playful way. When the continuation of the new topic is done in a humorous way, a successful return to the old topic might be determined by the level of seriousness reflected in the Comments that attempt to redirect the focus of the conversation to the previous topic. Greater interest in the new topic might end the old topic, even though an initiation to return to the old topic has been made.
