How to Tweet: Twitter 101

If you're new to Twitter, the whole thing can be a mind-boggling experience when you first start trying to follow, tweet and join the social networking revolution via Twitter. Learn some basic functions every effective Twitter user should know.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• A Twitter account

1. Before even attempting to dive into the Tweet pool, set up your profile. It's easy and effective for letting others know that you're a serious Twitter user. Profiles with no personal information scream that the user is a spammer. Make sure you add a picture of yourself (for best results), or at least something you like. Keeping the default avatar on display may be perceived as a Twitter bot. Type up a short miniature biography. List something interesting about yourself or a favorite quote. Add a link to your blog or your website -- anything that can connect others to you will bring about positive results.

2. Do you have an agenda? Why are you taking the Twitter plunge? Do you want to meet and connect with others on a social or business level? Do you want to find those who work in the same field as you? People who live in your city or state? These are important things to consider when beginning with Twitter, and can help you locate others to follow and with whom to connect.

3. Avoid rudeness on Twitter. Don't tweet utterly useless, degrading or incendiary things. Follow the adage: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything."

4. To tweet effectively, learn the basics in Twitter communication. You have a maximum of 140 characters to communicate your thoughts. This means that you'll need to practice the art of brevity. Abbreviating words, substituting words with numbers (such as "2" instead of "to," or "4" instead of "for") and policing your verbosity will aid in effective tweeting.

5. Once you begin to tweet, you'll see tweets that you'd like to comment directly to the person who spoke. When doing so, you need to use the Reply arrow, located to the right of that person's tweet. This brings up an @ symbol, plus his username in your Tweet Box. Use this space to reply directly to what he said. When doing this, it connects your response to his, and lets him know exactly what you're responding to, as he can then click on the link included in your response that states "in reply to username." This keeps conversation flowing and eliminates lots of "Huh, what do you mean" or "What are you talking about" tweets.

6. As for other spiffy tricks, you can use the # symbol plus a keyword if you want people to find your tweets when they're using the search function. You can also conduct Twitter searches yourself, using the Search link at the bottom of your page. Type in the # symbol and keyword that you're looking for, click "Search," and you will be provided with a list of Tweets that match your terms.

7. If you want to locate a Tweet that you want to share with your friends and followers, retweet it. Contrary to how it sounds, you won't be running away screaming. You'll be sharing someone else's ideas and links with your followers and the general Twitter population. To retweet, type "RT," a space and "@." Then copy the body of the person's Tweet, and paste it directly after the @ symbol. For example: RT @Miragi Are you NEW to Twitter?

   Bear in mind that you're still limited to 140 characters, so you may need to tidy it up a bit, abbreviate or eliminate words and just leave links all to keep the count. Retweeting has two benefits: It shows that you're interested in other people, and it will bring attention to both you and the retweeted party. Retweeting helps you get noticed. Don't retweet everything. Share tweets with great links or quotes, and the rest will fall into place.

8. Keep track of Twitter conversations by using the "@ Replies" folder on your navigation menu. If you don't have time to sift through page upon page looking for responses, just visit this folder, and it will show any Tweets that have been left in response to your Tweets. You can then respond and keep conversations going right from this folder.

9. When you find tweets with links or information that you don't have time to visit right then, you can add them to your Favorites for later reference. Do this by clicking on the blank star above the Reply arrow. The star turns yellow, and when you're ready to review, just visit your Favorites folder on your navigation menu.

Tips & Warnings

• You can make all your Tweets private by adjusting your Settings.

• Don't be a spammer. It's just not cool.

References

• Twitter 101: Twitter Help Center: How Should I Get Started Using Twitter?

Resources

• Twitter
• Helen Bradley - MS Office Tips, Tricks and Tutorials: Tags in Twitter