Twitter 101 - The Bare-Bones Basics

Twitter Basics 140 characters of pure awesomeness By N ic k A rmst ro ng :: @ImN ic kArmst ro ng h tt p://w w w.IAmN ic kArmst ro ng.com

What is Twitter? One-to-Many instant messaging 140 character messages or less - called a Tweet Each user has a username and avatar (picture) “Follow” users to see their Tweets Messages appear in the Main Feed (AKA Stream, Timeline)

5 Reasons Twitter is Useful 1 - Potential for huge Word of Mouth promotion 2 - Potentially improved customer service 3 - Incredibly fast information gathering 4 - Easier Online Reputation Management 5 - Improved Google Rankings ... but - it depends on how you use it!

No More Excuses... Social media is a participation-based culture. You have to participate to get the most value. But, how much, how often, and how long you participate is entirely up to you. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/furiousgeorge81/177926979/

Only Have 5 Minutes? Yes, you can have a useful exchange using social media tools if you only have 5 minutes. Nobody cares what you had for breakfast. They care about VALUE you contribute. Value is subjective.

Setting Up Your Account

Setting Up Your Account Go to www.Twitter.com Click on “Sign up now” Enter your full name Enter a descriptive username Enter a strong password Enter your common email address Answer the captcha, click on “Create my account”

Sweet! Okay, now what?

Your avatar and username How many characters you have left (140 is the limit!) # of people you are following New tweets since Your last tweet # of people following you the page loaded # of lists you’re featured on The home feed Mentions Username and avatar feed Someone’s username Click on either to go (this is a mention) to this person’s profile Where the Tweet came from The retweet feed How long ago something was tweeted Favorite this tweet (publicly visible!) “New” Reply to this tweet (creates a link) retweet Tweet, of course! But about what?

What’s in a Tweet? @ signifies the next word is a username @’s are used in @ Replies and ReTweets # signifies the next word is a hashtag d and a space, then a user name sends a direct message

@ Replies @ Replies If a Tweet starts with @ - it is an “at reply”. You can click on an @UserName to go to that person’s profile. Whenever your name appears in an @ reply, it appears in your mentions feed (the menu option that has @YourUserName) Example: “@LeoLaporte Hey Leo - caught your show - it rocks!” Only my followers (people who follow @ImNickArmstrong) who also follow @LeoLaporte will see the tweet. If you put more than one username, they will see the tweet too. Example: “@LeoLaporte @AmberMac - Rock on.

Direct Messages Direct Messages sent to you are only seen by you. Direct Messages sent by you are only seen by the person you sent it to. You can send a direct message to only one person at a time. You can’t send a direct message to someone who isn’t following you.

Old-Style ReTweets ReTweeting is sharing someone else’s Tweets with your network. It’s a cool way to show respect on Twitter! “RT” and “via” are synonymous Copy and Paste the text you want to share, and type RT @UserName at the beginning or the end of the Tweet - where username is the name of the original author (@TheVanguard here)

Click here Ron retweeted this to his followers (even if they’re not following me) “New” ReTweets Exposure to Tweeps you don’t know!

Hashtags and Searches When you add # before a word, it becomes a Hashtag. Any tweet with that Hashtag in it appears in the results when you search for that tag. Hashtags (and terms) are searchable on Twitter. If a LOT of people tweet that hashtag (or term), it becomes a trending topic and is listed on Twitter.com and your sidebar. You can Google search to see what a hashtag means.

Enter search term here Searches Like the CIA, only less scary...

Your Home Feed The Tweets from everyone you follow appear here. Your Tweets will appear here, too!

Your Mentions Feed This is the “@YourUserName” menu item. Any tweet that has your @UserName in it will appear here.

When you mouse over a Tweet, three icons appear. One is for replying, one is for “new” RTs the other is for Favoriting. Click on the star to favorite. Your favorites appear in their own feed. These are visible to anyone. You can Favorite Tweets. Come back to them later, share them, make a highlight reel - whatever feels right.

Lists Creates a custom stream of just the users on the list. You can be added to a list without your permission or knowledge. People can follow your public lists.

Create a New List Click on “New List” on the sidebar Give the list a name Describe the list (helpful for SEO) Determine if the list is public or private Private lists are only seen by you

Follow a List Find by clicking on “Lists” from a person’s profile. Follow just like you’d follow a person. Click here to follow

Lists you’re on Lists you’ve made or follow Click here See Where You’re Listed Street Cred++

What list feeds look like Click on the list you want to see from your sidebar

Basic Info Use your real name - you’re easier to find! Don’t change usernames often. People will search for you using your e-mail address, so use your most common one.

Basic Info - Part 2 Put your website into the More Info URL The One Line Bio should have specific keywords you want associated with you - web designer, for example. Use a SPECIFIC location! City and state. You’ll be easier to find.

Add a Profile Picture Your smiling face works best! Try to use the same avatar across all your social media accounts

Be Sure To Change Your Background/Theme! Try http://tweetygotback.com/

Protecting Your Account Only people you approve will be able to see your tweets Not valuable for SEO Harder to gain a following

Finding People to Follow If you know their username, go right to their page and click on the “Follow” button. You can use your existing networks (Gmail, Yahoo!, and AOL) to find Twitter friends. You can also use the Search function by clicking on “Find People”. WeFollow.com, MrTweet.com, Twitter.Grader.com

Managing your Followers It’s okay to unfollow if you get tired of someone. It’s okay to block people you don’t want to follow you. Find a spammer? Click “Report @SoAndSo for spam”! No notifications are sent when you block, unfollow or report for spam. Don’t feel compelled to follow back everyone who follows you. Look for the “Verified Account” logo on celebrities’ profiles. Not there? It’s probably a fake.

Twitter Soft ware Desktop: TweetDeck and Seesmic Phone: Tweetie, TwitterBerry Allows you to organize multiple accounts, see your Home Stream, Mentions Stream, Favorites, and Direct Messages - and any searches you create, all in one screen.

Twitter Websites WeFollow.com People-powered Twitter Yellow Pages Mr. Tweet (MrTweet.com) Recommends relevant people FriendOrFollow.com Easily see who you’re following that isn’t following you back. Twitter.Grader.com Compare your Twitter account with others in your area. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrotcreative/2511539541/

Staying Safe Use a strong password - at least one upper-case letter, one lower-case letter, one number, and one symbol. Don’t click on DM links from people you don’t know (or that look suspicious!) Do not enter your username and password anywhere but the official Twitter site. Any 3rd party sites worth using will use OAUTH. OAUTH is a safe way to use 3rd party sites without giving away your username and password Usually there’s a link on those sites for “OAUTH” - click this pop-up will appear:

Thank You! Tweet me @ImNickArmstrong N ic k Arm st ro ng - @ImN ic kArmst ro ng h tt p://w w w.IAmN ic kArmst ro ng.com

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Twitter 101 - The Bare-Bones Basics

by Nick Armstrong on Aug 12, 2009

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