Twitter For Absolute Beginners
Posted by administrator on Friday, January 22nd, 2010
I thought a little guide on Twitter for absolute beginners will be beneficial. This is how to get started:
1. Create a Twitter Account
Go to http://twitter.com and click on the Create Account button. Creating an account takes only a few minutes. Choose a twitter account name that people will easily remember. Most people use their personal name or business name.
Once your account is created, you can log in and begin using Twitter!
2. Understand The Terminology & The Culture
The next thing is to know the terminology so you don't get too lost:
| Tweet | A message you write on twitter. Messages can only be 140 characters (letters and spaces) or less. |
| Follow | If there is another twitter account you want to keep up on (such as @danemco), you can follow that Twitter account. When that person you're following tweets something, it will show up on your twitter home page (also known as the timeline). Is is polite to follow those that follow you. |
| Re-Tweet |
When you copy someone else's tweet as your own tweet. Example: @barbara says "Huge sale on yogurt at Safeway". You think that's cool, so you want to tweet that same thing. You quote what she says as your own tweet like this: "RT @barbara Huge sale on yogurt at Safeway". All retweets should begin with an RT followed by the original author's twitter name (with an @ in front of it) |
| @twitter_name | When you want to send a message to someone else, begin your twitter message with @ followed by their twitter account name. Twitter will also link their name in your post to their account so readers can follow and go to that other account. |
| Hashtag | If you put a # (pound sign, also known as a "hash" sign) followed by a word, you can organize and file tweets across Twitter. Examples of popular hashtags are #FollowFriday and #MusicMonday. |
| DM | Short for Direct Message. You can send someone a Direct Message without your message showing up in yours or their timeline. Good for needing to talk to someone without the world seeing what you've writtein. |
| Timeline | This is your twitter home page where you see yours and everyone else's tweets. |
3. Use URL Shorteners
A URL is a fancy word for a link. If you wanted to link to a website, such as this one (http://www.danemcoweb.com/blog/), and you're only limited to 140 characters, most of your tweet will make up the URL. Then comes some cool URL shorteners. Some of the popular ones are http://bit.ly and http://tinyurl.com . Go to those sites, put in your full URL, and they'll give you a shortened version that you can use for your twitter posts.
4. Look For Others To Follow
The next recommendation for beginners is to use Twitter's search function to find twitter users to follow. Search for things that interest you, such as quilting, and read who is twittering about that. If you find someone you like, you can follow them.
..and don't forget to follow @danemco !
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