Here are the key steps to using Twitter summarized in 3 sentences: To tweet, enter text in the text box on your homepage and click "Tweet"; to delete a tweet, scroll over it and click "delete." Retweeting allows you to share another user's tweet by typing "RT" and their username. Direct messages allow private communication with other users by starting a message with "D" and their username.

1. How to Tweet

2. It’s Easy to Tweet! Just click on "Home" to come back to your account homepage. Enter into the text box the message you'd like to convey. Then click “Tweet."

6. Using the @ sign before someone's name will also create a link to their profile. Note that the @ sign is not for private messaging - that is what the next symbol, DM, is for.

8. Click on the Direct Messages link in your side bar. Select the person from the drop down box that you want to follow. Write a message and then click "send.“

10. Go.USA.gov is another URL shortener, but it requires the long URL to be a .gov or .mil domain.

11. Copy and paste the address of the webpage that you want to send your followers to.

12. Go to bit.ly or Go.USA.gov and paste the link in the box.

13. Click "Shorten.”

14. Your short link has been created and can now be used in your tweets.

17. Major General Jones used bit.ly to shorten a link in his tweet. Armed with Science used Go.USA.gov.

19. To follow a user (in this case US Army Africa), search for the user here. Once you get to their page, you can click on the "Follow" button, shown to the side.

22. A hashtag is simply a mechanism for tagging tweets. A hashtag is created by adding the pound sign (#) to a keyword or a key phrase (Afghanistan, military), the end result being #Afghanistan or #military.

23. Why use a hashtag?

24. The use of a hashtag allows those interested in the topic to easily find related tweets through Twitter's search feature. These hashtags should be simple and intuitive so they are more easily found in Twitter search.

25. #Oilspill or #Afghanistan, for instance, are intuitive to users who are searching for anything about the oil spill or Afghanistan.

26. Searching with Hashtags

27. Type "search.twitter.com" into your browser. Type in #afghanistan and click Search.

29. It is not necessary to tag every single tweet. They are most useful when tied to current events, holidays, or presidential and secretarial visits.