Twitter 101
By now you have heard about Twitter or already have a Twitter account of your own. With the recent publicity this social networking tool has received, the number of new Twitter signups is growing exponentially (Oprah had an entire segment dedicated to this on April 17th). To some it’s a phase, to others a craze– but make no mistake, it’s as viral as viral marketing gets! So, just what exactly is the buzz about Twitter?
Twitter is a social networking /micro-blogging tool that lets you share snippets of information with your followers (more on that in a bit). The catch is you are only allowed 140 characters (including spaces) to craft your message. Your message can be about absolutely anything, from the mundane (‘just clipped my toenails’) to political (‘stop the spending frenzy, Mr. President’). With the help of a few acronyms, Twitter specific codes and a tiny URL service, you’d be surprised just how much you can get into 140 characters.
Before you can post a “tweet” (a post or status update), you need to create an account. Head on over to Twitter.com and in a matter of minutes you’ll be set up. Your twitter account or URL address will be www.twitter.com/username. Clicking on the Settings tab will allow you to update your profile with a picture, bio and also change the look and feel of your page. You can even get really creative and design your own background image (make it large and keep in mind the left hand side of the page is where you want the focus of your graphics) or a photo from your favorite photo site will work great too.
One thing you need to be aware of is that every time you post a tweet, it becomes part of the public domain and is viewable by the entire world and can also be indexed by search bots. If privacy matters to you, be sure to tick the box on the bottom of the settings page that will allow only the people you have approved to view your posts. However, note the caveat Twitter adds that even though you have set your posts/profile as private, they might still show up in a public place.
With the above said, in my opinion, what’s the point of being part of a social networking site if you don’t make it easy for people to network with you. I suggest you keep your profile/posts publicly available but DO keep in mind that everything you tweet about is public so use discretion.
There are two primary components to Twitter. Writing your own tweets and reading other people’s tweets. The question is just which tweets do you want to read and how do you get them? Follow me…no really, follow me (www.twitter.com/webeze). Every time you follow someone, you will receive their tweets on your Twitter home page (you have to be logged in if you’re using the actual Twitter website page to send/read tweets). Likewise, when someone follows you, they will start getting your tweets sent to them.
In part 2 of this article, we’ll go into the mechanics of tweeting, how to retweet, what’s a hash mark, what #followfriday means, sending a direct message and more. I’ll also cover tweetiquette. For now, go follow a few friends, movie stars, sports players and anyone in which you have an interest. Some will reciprocate with a follow (but it’s not required).
About the Author:
Kelley Rao is the President of Webeze, a website development and Internet marketing firm. In business since 1999, Webeze creates professional websites for small to medium-size companies that are interested in an effective online presentation. Emphasizing ease of use and focusing on the end-user experience, Webeze strives to not only build websites that attract high quality, targeted traffic, but also convert that traffic into clients.
