Slides from a 10 minute overview of using Twitter. Aimed at graduate students.

1. for researchers

2. What is Twitter?
• A social network to exchange public messages
or ‘tweets’ of 140 characters or less
• Tweets can be just text, or contain images,
video, and links
• The point of Twitter is to engage with people -
not to speak at them

3. Why use Twitter?
• To keep up to date with
developments in your field,
and with what’s being
discussed at conferences
and events
• To publicise what you’re
doing e.g. your publications,
blog & talks
• To ask questions about your
research
• To share resources
• To build a scholarly network

4. Getting started
Go to www.twitter.com and register for an account

5. Getting started
• Have a short and sensible username – the
longer yours is the harder it is to retweet you

6. Your bio
You have 160
characters
Always replace the default Twitter egg with your photo!

7. The jargon
HASHTAGS
Handle = your username
@ = precedes any username. People will use it to
mention you in Tweets or send you a message.
Feed = the stream of tweets you see
Mention = when a @username is in a tweet
RT = retweet. A Tweet you forward to your
followers
MT = modified tweet
DM = direct message. A private message.
HT = hat tip
Trend = A popular topic on Twitter
A hashtag, or #, denotes a keyword or topic
on Twitter. It’s any string of characters or
words without spaces.
They can occur anywhere in the Tweet, at the
beginning, middle, or end.
Connects Tweets on the same topic
Tips:
• Don't overuse in tweets
• Make use of capital letters to avoid
confusion (when joining words together)
#Nowthatchersdead
• Check it’s not already in use
#

8. Home – Tweets and retweets from
accounts you follow

9. Notifications – mentions, retweets,
follows
Check your
Notifications
tab regularly
so that you
can respond
quickly to any
mentions

10. How does Following work?
Find a Twitter user you like
Their Tweets appear on
your home page

11. Who to follow
Search for keywords to find
interesting people or communities
tweeting about those keywords
Twitter will suggest accounts to
follow based on who you follow and
the accounts that they follow
When you click the Follow button
you will immediately start following
that user – you don’t need to be
accepted except for Private accounts

12. Sending a Tweet
• Click Tweet button in top right corner
• Tweets can include up to 3 photos, a media clip or
URLs
• Tweets appear in your followers’ news feed
• Tweets can be deleted – but may be too late!
• Remember anything you post will be public and
searchable!

13. Tweeting tips
• Tweet when you have something to say, and don’t when you
don’t!
• Share thoughts and ideas related to your research area.
• Ask questions related to your research area
• Tweet links to your latest publications
• Tell followers about the next event you are speaking at or
attending. Find out if there is a hashtag and reach out over
Twitter to the speakers.
• It’s OK to tweet things multiple times

14. Retweets
• Click Retweet to
share a Tweet with
your followers
If you want, you can add a comment to
your retweet
Your comment will appear above the
retweet
Indicates appreciation of the original Tweet

15. Likes
• Used to bookmark or show endorsement
• User will be notified that you have Liked their Tweet
• Can view Likes on your profile
• Can Undo Like by clicking on Like icon (heart)
Click the heart
icon to add a
Tweet to your
Likes

16. Consider using a social media dashboard
Download Hootsuite from:
http://hootsuite.com
You can see you timeline, mentions,
DMs from one screen and send
tweets.

17. Any questions?
@Lewylib