Twitter is a free microblogging service that allows users to post short text updates called tweets. Tweets are limited to 140 characters and can be posted via websites, text messages, or third party applications. Users can follow other users and see their tweet updates in real-time. Popular uses of Twitter include sharing updates, promoting projects, networking, and discovering trending topics and news.

1. An introduction to a little micro-blogging site called Twitter www.twitter.com Brought to you in part by Tessa Horehled

2. What is micro-blogging? Micro-blogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief updates (most often text & usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed publicly or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These updates can be submitted by a variety of means including text messaging, instant messaging, email, mp3 or the web.

3. That’s nice. So what is Twitter? A free micro-blogging service Allows users to send updates, commonly known as “tweets” Tweets are text-based posts, up to 140 characters Tweets are posted to the Twitter website via sms, im or a third-party application.

4. Twitter, Inc. was born March 2006 & launched in July of 2006 by a start-up called Obvious. They are based in San Francisco, CA. Twitter is written in Ruby on Rails. Twitter won the Web Award in the blog category at the 2007 South By Southwest Conference. In May 2007, an article counted a total of 111 Twitter-like sites internationally. See a trend? What’s their story?

5. What do you do with Twitter? Communicate. Ask questions, advice, directions or for feedback Promote your projects, products and updates Personal Branding Drive awareness to something of interest to a larger community Update many people all at once Offer resource information to peers A channel of discovery: trends, sites & breaking news On-The-Go Sketchpad

6. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The user has the option restrict delivery to those on their friends list (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, im, sms, rss, email or through a third-party application. Hmm. How can I check out someone’s updates?

7. What are you doing?

8. How to find friends on Twitter Source: Twitter FAQ

9. How to follow friends on Twitter Source: Twitter FAQ

10. Who is hip to this thing? Presidential Candidates (& Ex) News Networks, Shows & Sites, Magazines Techy Sites, Tools & Blogs Entertainment & Retail Borat Geeks

11. It’s all the rage Source: Alexa

12. Tweet Tips Use TinyURL.com or a similar service for URLs. This takes up less of your character limit. @username will send a reply to the user & appear on their Replies tab d username will send a direct, private message to the user

13. Twitter Etiquette Discretion: Some things are better left unsaid. Impersonation: Users posting as someone else. Profanity: They’ve developed a site for your type. 1 Round-The-Clock Updates: “I draw the line at Twittering while on the toilet. Not gonna happen.” Quality vs. Quantity: Twitter & IM are not the same thing Spam: If you choose to promote something on Twitter, give those who follow you personal updates as well. Source: Twitter Fan Wiki

14. Twitter Account Management Good Twitter Hygiene: Remove all those Twitter news feeds from your friends list. It often becomes too much. This Vs That: It is very easy to feel overwhelmed by Twitter. Phone updates are the first thing to cut. Next is RSS. Then IM. Source: Twitter Fan Wiki

15. Quick Things To Remember No HTML – plain text only. Twitter will automagically hyperlink your URLs. You cannot edit a tweet after you post it. You can only delete it. At the bottom of the right hand sidebar on every profile page, there is a block link to block users. The star at the end of is a way for you to mark a post as “favorite”.

16. Why bother? Stop freaking out! You don’t need to read every single update that rolls across your screen. Let it roll past like a stream. Use the replies tab & direct messages. This will help you follow conversations and individuals. Repeat: I do not have to read everything. Twitter when you can. Don’t when you can’t. This is where “the conversation” is happening.

17. It’s cheaper than joining a cult

18. Okay. This makes sense. What else can I do with Twitter?

19. KEYWORDS

20. Tracking keywords on Twitter Tracking is an SMS or IM only feature that allows you to receive all tweets that match a keyword you would like to key an eye on. For example, if you send track Tessa , you will receive all updates that match “Tessa.” All updates you receive from tracking will contain your keyword in parentheses. To stop getting these messages, just send untrack Tessa to Twitter.

21. Compare keywords on Twitter Source: Tweet Volume

22. GEOTARGET

23. Search by location or username Source: TwitDir

24. See live public Twitter updates Source: TwitterVision

25. See live public updates by location Source: TwitterMap

26. Subscribe to RSS of updates by location Source: TwitterWhere

27. INTEGRATION VIA THIRD PARTY APPLICATIONS

28. Like all the cool kids, Twitter is on Facebook

29. And your iPhone Source: New York Times

30. Where the mega-addicts flock

31. TRACKING

32. Keep up with top Twitter users Source: Twitterholic, Twit Rank, Tweeterboard

33. Hashtags Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They're like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag . Hashtags is an opt-in service. You must follow @hashtags for the service to index your tweets. Example Uses: Events or conferences : i.e.: "Tara's presentation on communities was great! #barcampblock" Disasters : "#sandiegofire A shelter has opened up downtown for fire refugees." Memes : "My #themeword for 2008 is conduct." Context : "I can't believe anyone would design software like this! #microsoftoffice" Recall : "Buy some toilet paper. #todo"

34. APPENDIX

35. Create an account with TweetChannel. The Twitter user will be added to your friends list By adding #channelname in front of your tweets, your tweet will be listed in the channel discussion on TweetChannel.com. Create a Twitter channel Source: TweetChannel

36. Host a Tweetup Source: sxswtwitter

37. Twitter Lifehacks Source: Tweet What You Eat, OutTwit, TwitterFox

38. Create a flash character for your profile Source: twitter.com/celly

39. More Reads Marketing Profs What Web Marketers Should Know About Twitter Marketing Profs Daily Fix 7 Ways Marketers Can Use Twitter New York Times Campaign Reporting In Under 140 Taps