This document serves as a comprehensive guide to using Twitter, explaining its functionalities, user demographics, and common terminology. It details how to set up an account, effectively engage with followers, and utilize various Twitter features, including hashtags and timelines. Additionally, it provides tips for creating impactful tweets and avoiding common user mistakes.

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This script accompanies the slide presentation, Teaching Twitter.
Slide 1
Welcome everyone to Teaching Twitter.
Slide 2
First, what is Twitter? It’s a free service that allows anyone to say
almost anything to anybody in a text-based post, called a tweet. A
tweet must be 140 characters or less and is displayed on the author’s
Twitter profile page. With the click of a button, a tweet is then
delivered to the author’s subscribers, who in Twitter parlance are called
followers.
Senders can restrict delivery to just friends or, by default, allow open
access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, by
way of text messages on a mobile phone, or external applications.
Technically, Twitter is called a microblogging platform, because it’s a
platform for writing short posts.
But Twitter isn’t the only microblogging platform. More than 15 others
exist, some designed specifically for tweeting within business, but
Twitter is by far the largest, with more than 10 billion tweets sent since
it began.
Slide 3
Who Is Using Twitter?

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Users are about evenly split between genders (male 47% - female 53%)
In terms of age:
• median age of a Twitter user is 31 compared to the
• media age of a Facebook user who is is 26 and the
• media age of a Linkedin user who is is 40
68% make $60,000 or more a year
52% update their status every day
About 55 million tweets are sent each day.
Twitter has 106 million users. This number increases by 300,000 every
day.
Users make about one billion queries on Twitter’s search engine each
day
25% of Twitter users are using the service in order to get information
about a specific brand rather than a specific person.
Slide 4
Why Are People Using Twitter?
1. To let people who are following them know about their status—
about what they’re doing and what they’re thinking (30%)
2. To have a private conversation (30%)
3. To provide links to news and blog articles to their followers (10%)
4. To discuss politics, sports, or current events (6%)

3. 3
5. To give a product recommendation or to make a product
complaint (6%)
6. To provide links to images and videos (3%)
7. To provide links to other web content (3%)
8. Other -- to develop a personal brand, to learn new things, or to
discover reading materials (12%)
Slide 5
What Twitter Terminology Should You Know?
Tweet – When you write and post your 140 characters on Twitter and
hit the “Send” button, it’s called a tweet. You can tell people, “I’m going
to tweet,” so “Tweet” can be used as a noun or a verb.
Handle – This is your Twitter @username, such as @BoveeThill_Blog is
one of my Twitter handles. It can be an individual’s name, a company
name, or anything you want to make up that isn’t currently in use by
someone else using Twitter.
Follow – Adding a person to your list of people you are following, which
enables their tweets to show up on your Twitter homepage.
Slide 6
Replies – When a person writes a tweet directly to your handle --
@samjones -- This is usually considered an invitation to engage with
the follower who sent it to you. All of your followers will see your
response when you send a reply. If you want to send a private message,
send a direct message, or DM in Twitter vernacular.

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DM – direct message – A message that is sent directly to another user.
Note: You can only send direct messages to people who are following
you. This is the best way to have a private conversation with someone
else.
RT – retweet – When you republish someone else’s tweet, it’s called
retweeting. The original tweet along with the author’s name remain
intact. Retweeting is a great way to pass along content to your own
followers which you discovered among the people you’re following.
Slide 7
Hasttag – A hashtag is used to categorize posts (tweets) on Twitter
according to topics. It’s a way to keep track of multi-party
conversations or posts from an event. To add a hashtag to a tweet, you
just preface the relevant term with the hash symbol (#), such as
#buscommconf. This will allow people to search for tweets on this topic
and to see them all.
Timeline – The “timeline” page is the homepage which displays tweets
from all the people you are following.
Twitterverse – The “universe” of Twitter
Slide 8
What Is a Twitter Timeline

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When you log in to Twitter, you'll land on the timeline view of your
homepage.
• This is your "Home Timeline," because it appears on your
homepage.
• Your home timeline is a list showing all tweets from those you
have chosen to follow on Twitter.
• Newest tweets are at the top. You can interact with tweets from
within the timeline by hovering your mouse over reply or retweet.
• Clicking anywhere on a tweet in your timeline pulls open a
sidebar, where you can see photos, videos, and profile
information related to that tweet.
• Timelines can also consist of collected tweets from users in lists
that you've created or as a result of searches that you’ve done.
• When you click on a list, you will see a list of tweets (a timeline)
posted by the users included in that list.
• Similarly, when you perform a search, you'll see a timeline of
messages that all match your search terms.
Slide 9
How Do You Get Started?
1. First, go to Twitter.com
2. Then, sign up for an account
Slide 10
List your name, username you’ve decided on using, password, and e-
mail address.

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Slide 11
Go to Settings. Note the seven tabs – Account, Password, Mobile, and
so forth. Here is where you’ll be asked for personal information, the
type of background you want to show on your Twitter page, and your
brief biography. Once you create a biography and upload your picture,
you can select a background from the choices provided. If you wish, you
can add a custom background, such as my coauthor and I have done
that you’ll see shortly.
After you written some tweets and posted them, start following people.
Slide 12
You can use Twitter with your mobile phone and post tweets without
ever being at your computer.
Slide 13
This is the page where you indicate where you want notices sent to
you.
E-mail telling you about new followers
E-mail containing direct messages
Slide 14
This is the page where you fill out your profile information. You should

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list your name, location, web address, and bio.
Slide 15
This is the design page where you indicate what background you would
like on your Twitter homepage.
Slide 16
Here is Bovee & Thill’s Blog Twitter “Profile” page, which we just
recently started. On the left-handside of the page is the “Timeline,”
which we described earlier. On the right-hand side, you see the total
number of people we’re following, and on the right-side of that, the
total number of followers, who are people following us.
Slide 17
On the left-hand side of the page, by clicking on the “Following” tab,
there’s a list of the people we’re following.
Slide 18
On the left-hand side of this page, by clicking on the “Follower” tab,
there’s a list of the people following us.
Slide 19
What happens if you click on one of the individuals who is a follower.
As you can see here, on the right-hand side of the page, the followers
Twitter profile appears, so you can find out more about person.
Slide 20

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By clicking the “List” tab shown here, you’ll be given two options: (1) To
see the lists of other people who include your name, or (2) to create a
list of your own.
Slide 21
This is the page that shows people who are both followers and are
being followed, which is a requirement in order for you to send them a
direct message. And this is the page for sending direct messages, as
noted from the box on the upper right-hand side of the page.
Side 22
If someone mentioned you in a tweet, here is where you’ll see a list of
those tweets – called “Mentions”
Slide 23
If you click the “Who to Follow” tab at the top of the page, Twitter will
provide you with a list of people who they have determined might be of
interest to you in following.
Slide 24
What Is the Best Way to Use Twitter Effectively?
1. Focus on quality, not quantity, when you tweet

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2. Make connections with people in your field
3. Show that you are knowledgeable and demonstrate your thought
leadership.
4. Use Twitter to get real-time information about an organization,
people, products, or a brand. Companies often use Twitter to
monitor their products and brands to try and protect them.
Slide 25
5. Promote your ideas and your blog posts, if any.
6. Interact with people.
7. Proofread. Once a tweet is posted, it cannot be edited.
8. Learn to use URL shortening tools like Bit.ly and TinyURL, so when
you use a URL in your tweet, it takes up a minimal amount of
space. For example, if you go to Bit.ly.com, and you enter a URL, it
will give you a shortened version that you can use in your tweet.
Then you can go back to Bit.ly to see how many people actually
clicked on the shortened URL that appeared in your tweet.
A couple of other items not on the slide include these:
Mesh Twitter with other applications, including Facebook and
LinkedIn, but note, do NOT link to your Facebook profile unless
there is nothing on it you wouldn’t show to the public.
And, remember to include your handle in your business cards,
e-mail signature, and website, if you have one.

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Slide 26
What Should You Tweet About?
a. Answer the question, “What has your attention.” This will
usually provide the basis for a good tweet.
b. Share links to articles, videos, and websites
c. Ask questions to stimulate a discussion. Twitter is great for
getting opinions.
Slide 27
d. Tweet about other people’s material that you see on Twitter –
another person’s comments, blog post, video, or website
e. Retweet other people’s useful tweets
f. Read news tweets
Slide 28
g. Read or give event updates
h. Provide live coverage to an event
i. Crowd-source questions and answers—Twitter is excellent for
getting feedback
The bottom line is to provide value to your follows as often as possible.

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Slide 29
Are There Any Twitter Apps?
Yes, there are literally several hundred.
There are desktop apps, web apps, and mobile apps.
Slide 30
Let’s look at just a few:
Tweetdeck acts as your desktop dashboard to help you organize your
incoming and outgoing tweets.
Twitter Grader is a tool that checks the power of your Twitter profile,
and your Twitter influence, compared to millions of other users who
have been graded.
Twitlonger is a way to let you post to Twitter when 140 characters just
isn't enough. With Twitlonger, you can write what you need and a link
to what you said will automatically be posted to your Twitter account.
You can find more Twitter apps by Googling “Twitter apps.”
Slide 31
How Do You Know Who to Follow?
1. Use the Twitter search engine to find names and brands

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2. Use directories like Twellow.com to find people with interests and
hobbies similar to yours
Slide 32
What Five Tips Will Help You Get More Using Twitter?
1. Tweet excellent content as often as possible. (Some people tweet
several times day.) Your follows will appreciate the material you
provide in the form of new content and retweets.
2. Reply to conversations.
One of the best ways to get engaged with those you follow is to
join conversations, where appropriate, and to offer answers and
suggestions. Many tweets are questions from people looking for
help. When you answer these questions and provide solutions to
the questions and problems posed in the tweets, you
automatically become engaged and demonstrate your own
knowledge, expertise, and willingness to help. When you answer
questions, you should focus on conversations that are related to
your industry and field of expertise. This way you can build a
reputation around topics that matter to your objectives.
3. Retweet other people’s content. This is a way to acknowledge
other people’s good content and at the same time do your
followers a favor by sharing good content with them. However,
don’t use this as a crutch. Be sure you are publishing your own
content as well.

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4. Use Twitter search. You can use the advanced search features to
create very elaborate searches that can filter out only the tweets
that address a specific industry or specific geography. Through
search you can also locate people talking about your tweets, or
whining about a problem you can help with, or providing a
solution you need.
Slide 33
1. Do not use “&” in your Twitter profile.
Twitter and ampersands do NOT get along for some reason in the
bio, so avoid them.
2. 125 is the new 140.
Twitter allows you 140 characters, but if you use them all, you
cannot be retweeted easily. After all, when someone retweets
your tweet, they automatically need to add the characters
RT@smith (or whatever your name is), which adds anywhere
between 14-30 characters depending on your name. If you are
sharing useful information on Twitter, leave room for a RT.
3. Add a period before a tweet.
Twitter allows users to see a reply only if they are following both
sides of the conversation. Some people might like this, as it
reduces the noise, others, myself included, like to see who my
friends are talking to. If you add a period before each reply, the
tweet will not start with a @ but rather a period and will
therefore not be considered a reply. If it is not a reply, all your

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followers can see it, enabling them to be introduced to the person
you are talking to.
4. Use lists. This gives you the ability to organize the people you
follow. This is the “groups” feature for Twitter. To create a list, do
the following:
a. Click on a new list link
b. Name the list. The name is also used for your list’s URL,
which will be “twitter.com/username/list-name”
c. Make it public or private
d. Add a list description
e. Each list is currently limited to 500 people.
f. Users may create a maximum of 20 lists.
g. Add users to your lists by going to their profile page, or from
the page that lists your follows
h. Manage your lists in the right-hand navigation bar of Twitter
5. Set up groups. A common question asked of many people is “how
do you follow so many tweets?” The one way to handle numerous
tweets is to create groups in a Twitter platform such as
Tweetdeck that allows you to create a column with only certain
people’s tweets, which is Group C. Then there’s an “All Tweets”
column, which you may only occasionally look at, which is Group
B, a “Primary” column, which you might watch closely, which is
Group A, a “Search” column containing your RSS feeds of search
you’re using to keep up to date, which you might watch the
closest, and a DM (direct message) column as well.
Slide 34
What Are the Most Common Mistakes Twitter Users Make?

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1. Choosing inappropriate usernames: This is the first mistake many
people make. Your username on Twitter should identify you as
you would want to be known on the Twitter. A nice nickname is
appropriate for a person who intends to use Twitter to socialize
but not for a company or business.
2. Not completing a bio: your bio will help potential followers get to
know a little bit about you. A bio can be a great conversation
starter, which can lead to more followers.
3. No photo: Upload an image for your Twitter account shortly after
you register. Default images are for amateurs; you are an
experienced social media guru, or at least you should appear so.
4. Protecting your updates: If you keep your updates private, new
follower requests will be few and far between. Keeping your
tweets private will discourage new followers, and you’ll have no
one to blame but yourself.
5. Carrying on long conversations between two users: Your followers
don’t want to be looped into a long conversation between you
and a friend. Use direct messaging for long conversations to avoid
upsetting your followers.
6. Using one account for both personal and business tweets: If users
on Twitter follow you because they like your product or business,
then they probably would not want to read tweets about your
latest quarrel with your friend, about your political views, and so
on. People who follow you because they are interested in you
might not enjoy the fact that you only consider them as potential
customers when you tweet about a new product. Create separate
Twitter accounts for personal and business use. It is fine, though,
to add a personal side to your business so as to connect better
with customers; we are all humans, after all.
7. Posting too many tweets in a short period of time: When you do
this, you probably prevent people who follow you from reading
tweets from other people that they follow. This can be extremely

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frustrating for a lot of your followers. Do this only when necessary
such as giving a minute-by-minute account of an important
happening.
8. Not tweeting regularly: Nobody wants to follow a Twitter user
who does not post any updates or does not post updates in a long
time. Other Twitter users who might want to follow you won’t do
so when they see that your last tweet was a long time ago.
9. Posting the same updates repeatedly or tweeting about inane
things: This is self-explanatory. Nobody can bear reading the same
things over and over or reading gossip and pointless tweets
forever.
10. I’ll give you a bonus item here, and that involves what is called the
Twitter ratio. And what this means is that the ratio is the number
of people you follow vs. the number of people following you. It
should be about 1.1 – in other words about equal. Why? Because
you may come across as a spammer (which could get you banned
from the site) if you follow a lot more people than are following
you. You should be contributing enough so that an equal number
of people want to follow you as you are following.
Slide 35
Why Should You Be Teaching Twitter in Your Business Communication
Class?
1. Twitter can help business people organize meet-ups at a physical
location.
2. Twitter can work well for opinion polling.
3. Twitter can direct people’s attention to help other people.
Slide 36

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4. Twitter can be used at events to build an instant backchannel
(having a ackchannel is the practice of usingTwitter to maintain a
real-time online conversation while a speaker is giving a
presentation.)
5. Twitter breaks news faster than other sources.
6. Twitter can bring great minds together and provides daily
opportunities to learn.
Slide 37
7. Twitter can give critics a forum, but that means you can study
them.
8. Twitter can help with business development, if the prospects are
online.
9. Twitter can augment customer service.
Slide 38
10.Twitter can be used to save money, because many companies
make special offers via Twitter.
11. Twitter can be used for finding a job. Job hunters can tweet about
searching for a job and include a link to their resume in their bio
on the site or in a tweet. Twitter provides people with an
opportunity to showcase their expertise, to gain credibility, and to
enhance their personal brand.

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12. Twitter provides instant access to what is being said about the
Twitter user and the Twitter’s user’s company and brand.
Slide 39
What Businesses Are Using Twitter?
Amazon uses Twitter to keep their customers up-to-date on new book
releases and on news related to authors and books.
Slide 40
Feverish Ice Cream, which sells ice cream and popsicles in Miami, tells
customers about their products, special events, and the latest news
related to their products.
Slide 41
American Idol uses Twitter to create excitement about their program,
which elevates their ratings. Ryan Seacrest, Jennifer Lopez, Randy
Jackson, and Steven Tyler all contribute tweets for followers.
Slide 42
Fine Maine Lobster, with its very enticing graphics, uses Twitter to stir
up appetites for lobster with its tweets that focus on the many uses of
lobster – for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Slide 43

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Home Depot uses Twitter for customer relations and solving customers’
problems. Note the nature of the tweets on this page.
Slide 44
Jack’s Bar-B-Que in Nashville, Tennessee, uses Twitter to promote its
products by writing interesting tweets about its products and company
activities.
Slide 45
JetBlue Airways constantly monitors any mention of JetBlue on Twitter
so if there’s a problem or if something negative is said about the
company, it can respond quickly to defuse the situation.
I’m going to share with you the experience of one JetBlue customer to show you
how effective Twitter can be. Here’s what the customer said about his JetBlue
experience.
“The morning of my flight, an automated text message to my mobile phone from
JetBlue confirmed that my flight was unexpectantly canceled. So, like most people,
my first instinct was to take to the phones. When I called JetBlue’s customer
service 800-number, a warm-toned prerecorded message greeted me only to inform
me that due to high call volume, it was unable to keep me on hold and asked me to
call back at a later time.
I took the situation in stride knowing full well what it’s like to get jammed with
calls on a busy day at work. So, I figured I could Tweet about it – mostly with the
intention to whine about my dire luck and wondering what would happen next.
What happened is that on Twitter, a JetBlue rep asked me to Direct Message (DM)
them my confirmation number. Once I did, 18 minutes later they had not only
replied via DM that the flight had been re-booked to my new specifications, the
confirmation email had already hit my email inbox. In less than 140 characters –
the easiest flight rebooking ever!”

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If you Google “JetBlue and Twitter” you’ll find many other interesting stories
about how JetBlue uses Twitter to its advantage.

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Slide 46
NBC Nightly News uses Twitter to keep people informed about what
Brian Williams, the news anchor, is doing that might be of interest. It
gives readers a behind-the-scenes feel to NBC news.
Slide 47
Richard Branson is a fascinating personality who is involved in many
activities and who loves to tweet about them. Some tweets promote
his companies; other tweets give his observations and opinions about
things going on in the world.
Slide 48
Sprinkles Cupbakes in Beverly Hills uses Twitter to drive customers to
its store. Note the first tweet that says the first 40 people to whisper
“sticky sweet” at Sprinkles Beverly Hills will receive a free German
chocolate cupcake.
Slide 49
This page is from Starbucks Seattle with tweets from Brad. He answers
customers’ questions and talks about Starbucks’ products.
Slide 50
The creative ways Twitter users have incorporated microblogging has
become inspirational, so the recent trend of using Twitter at college is
sure to keep evolving into an ever more impressive tool. Make sure you
don’t get left behind by not incorporating some of these educational
and enjoyable ways that Twitter can be used in the college classroom.

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1. Send a direct tweet so a student. Instructors and students can
contact each other through direct tweets without having to share
cell phone numbers.
2. Help classmates get to know each other. A class Twitter group
will help facilitate instructors and students getting to know each
other, especially if the class is part of a more intimate setting,
such as a seminar.
3. Collaborate on projects. When working together on projects, set
up a group using an app like Tweetworks to facilitate
communication between everyone working together.
4. Make announcements. Instructors can send out reminders about
upcoming tests, project due dates, or any news that needs to be
shared via Twitter.
5. Brainstorm. The ability to share ideas as the occur anytime and
anywhere creates an excellent opportunity for brainstorming on
class topics.
6. Take a poll. Ask students their opinions or get feedback on future
projects or topics by using an app like PollDaddy.
7. Share interesting websites. Both instructors and students can
post interesting websites that are relevant to their class, as well as
videos, and other materials.
8. Instructors can encourage collaboration and peer feedback.
Instructors can post a link or a question for students to respond to
together using the reply feature on a tweet or a hashtag. This will
capitalize on the things learned in the classroom and will promote
active learning beyond the classroom.
Encourage students to sign up for Twitter accounts and to follow
your feed, turning on mobile phone updates (Twitter will send a text
message when a person they follow updates) or, if they have
Smartphones, they can get an alert when you send an update. This
will ensure messages get to them without necessarily keeping an

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email contact list or having to individually remind each student.
Every student that follows you will get the message.
From learning how to use Twitter to finding useful information for class,
Twitter provides creative opportunities for learning.
1. Twitter-specific projects. Help students learn how to use Twitter
by offering assignments, such as ones I’ll soon describe.
2. Give assignments that must be tweeted within the 140 character
limit to practice writing with succinctness.
3. Follow mentors. If key figures in your field of study are on Twitter,
suggest that students follow them to keep up with their research
and activities.
4. Follow news stories. From sources such as Business
Communication Headline News, students and instructors can
follow news that will pertain to their class, because Business
Communication Headline News is on Twitter.
5. Twitter search. The search tool on Twitter will immediately
provide you with any tweets that include your keyword. Give it a
try to see what you may discover.
Another way instructors are using Twitter is as a backchannel for their
classes, and here is how that would work. Let’s say you’re discussing
business communication ethics, and you’ve described a scenario in
class and ask for student feedback as to whether what’s described in
the scenario is ethical or unethical. Students could be asked to express
their views using Twitter. A projector at the front of the room could
show students’ tweets, and you could use these tweets as a basis for
furthering the discussion. This technique is especially useful for large
classes where a lot of students might be intimidated to contribute
orally but have no hesitation in doing so using Twitter.

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Slide 51
So now let’s discuss how Twitter should be integrated into a
textbook.
Note that all of the pages I’m going to show you now were taken
from Bovee & Thill texts. Also, the word “Twitter” is highlighted
on many of these pages in these slides for illustrative purposes so
you can quickly see where the word is used, but it’s not
highlighted in the actual textbooks.
In this first example from our texts, which is a blog post, note that
Twitter is mentioned on the upper right in the marginal
annotation. It says, “Fast access to reader comments and a
retweet button that makes it easy for readers to share this post
via Twitter help Freshbooks build a sense of community.
Slide 52
Here, note the caption: “Olivia Hayes, a copywriter with the social
media marketing agency Ignite, demonstrates several aspects of
effective writing in this blog post about the Twitter-based social
contribution network, Twitcause.
Slide 53
The illustration here shows the elements of an effective blog post
written by Amy Reed, owner of Chickdowntown clothing store. Looking
at the left-hand side of the blog post, third comment from the top,
refers to the writer, Amy Reed, and says, “Posts comments from some
of her Twitter followers , which helps to build the sense of community
among her fans.”

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Slide 54
Looking at the marginal note, it says, “Twitter and other social media
are dramatically changing business presentations by making it easy for
all audience members to participate in the backchannel,” a backchannel
being a conversation among audience members via Twitter while the
presenter is giving the presentation.
Slide 55
On the right side, under “Highlights,” second item down, says “The
largest Twitter job board, with thousands of channels segmented by
geography, job type, and industry.”
Slide 56
In the chapter on negative messages, we include a paragraph about
responding to negative information in a social media environment, and
in this section we discuss how Twitter can be an effective tool for
communicating with customers and other stakeholders when there’s
negative situations that need to be resolved.
Slide 57
So what types of assignments will you see in a Bovee and Thill textbook
that relate specifically to Twitter.
(Read the assignment.”
Please note the Bovee and Thill interactive media icon at the bottom of
this assignment. We offer a screencast on our website that helps

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students learn about Twitter. In this particular screencast, students will
learn how to do a Twitter search.
Slide 58
Here’s an example of a microblogging skills case. (Read assignment
from screen.)
Slide 59
We have a feature we call “Learn More” that appears more than 50
times throughout each of our textbooks. It could be an article, which is
the case here, or more often it’s a video, PowerPoint presentation, or a
podcast. This “Learn More” feature directs students to an article about
how CEOs are putting microblogging to work for their companies.
Slide 60
In this examples we talk about how the outdoor clothing and
equipment supplier, Patagonia, uses Twitter as a communication tool
and as a way to interact with individual customers to answer questions
and solve problems.
Slide 61
(Read first two sentences ONLY.)
Slide 62
This is another Learn More feature. This one describes 100 Twitter tools
for job searches.
Slide 63

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This Learn More feature, “Tweet Your Way to a Sweet Job,” consists of
a video that students can watch about career networking on Twitter.
Slide 64
This Learn More feature, “Follow These People to a New Career,”
directs students to a terrific list of career experts who they can follow
on Twitter.
Slide 65
Slide 67
Slide 68
Slide 69