What the heck is Twitter and why should I care?

Slide 1: What the heck is Twitter and why should I care? twitter.com/ajcann twitter.com/ajcann

Slide 2: What is Twitter? An online common room - a mixture of banter, socializing and practical advice. Answer the question: What are you doing? 140 characters or less, e.g: Anyone read the new Jeffrey Archer? Snowing here now http://tinyurl.com/yorlxm planned walk cancelled. Traffic on M6 stopped, exit at junction 10 http://tinyurl.com/23wrkb twitter.com/ajcann

Slide 3: twitter.com twitter.com/ajcann

Slide 4: I will follow you, will follow me • Your Twitter network consists of the people you follow and the people who follow you. Who should I follow? • Friends of friends (FOAF) • Observe • Search terms twitter.com/ajcann

Slide 5: Manage your network Twitter is only as smart as your network: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small-world_network twitter.com/ajcann

Slide 6: Why should I bother? • Anyone want to go for a beer? • I need a protocol for RNAi in neurons. • Looking for a PhD in Manchester - any offers? • Post-doctoral job in Leicester working on Arabidopsis http://tinyurl.com/32xl9v twitter.com/ajcann

Slide 7: Twitiquette or How to be a good Twittizen • Update your status regularly - how often is up to you. • Don't flood Twitter - set yourself a maximum posting frequency and exercise some restraint. • Discretion: Some things are better left unsaid. twitter.com/ajcann

Slide 8: Beyond Twitter • Many applications are building on the runaway success of Twitter: – TwitterScan – TwitterLocal – Quotably – Hashtags.org – TwitterFeed twitter.com/ajcann

Slide 9: I don’t get it… • You’re not alone… • Web 2.0 is immersive - walk the walk. Give it a try… twitter.com/ajcann

Slide 10: microbiologybytes.com/AJC This talk is on Slideshare: slideshare.net/AJCann Please comment: twitter.com/AJCann twitter.com/ajcann