How to Use Twitter Efficiently
Twitter is a free micro-blogging service. One of the main features of Twitter is the limited size of the messages: 140 characters. The idea is that people write messages that can be exchanged via text message on mobile phones without exceeding the character limit for short message service -- SMS -- messages at 160 characters. Efficient use of Twitter requires learning the shortcuts and managing the people you follow so you don't get overwhelmed.
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Instructions
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Orient yourself to the Twitter page. Log in to your account at Twitter.com -- or create a free account if you don't already have one -- and click on the "Home" link at the top of the page. This is your main area for navigating. In the section on the left you see the stream of tweets -- Twitter messages -- from the people you're following. Just above that are tabs you can choose to see people who've mentioned you, called @Mentions, people who've tweeted your message again, called Retweets, searches you've saved and lists you've created. On the right you can see links to the people following you, the people you're following and a list of trending topics that are currently popular on Twitter.
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Use the proper Twitter symbols. If you want to mention a person on Twitter, use the at symbol: "@" before that person's Twitter handle. For example you would mention the United States White House Twitter account with: "@whitehouse" without any spaces. If you want to create a searchable term in your tweet, use what's known as a hash-tag. It starts with the hash symbol or pound sign and then the term you want to associate with your tweet. For example, during the January 2011 revolution in Egypt, the hash-tag "#egypt" was used to link all the tweets about that topic together.
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Create lists of people who you follow so you can quickly scan the tweets you want to. Click on the "Lists" link in the main section and then click "Create a List." Type in a name for the list, a description and then select whether the list will be public or private. Click "Save." You'll then be taken to the page for your list and see a list of all the people you follow on Twitter. Click the silhouette next to a contact and choose "Add to List" and then select the list to which you want to add them.
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Save searches that you perform often. If you type a search term into the search bar at the top of the Twitter page -- and using a hash-tag will help you to search more efficiently -- and then press "Enter" you'll see the search results. Click "Save this Search" at the top of the page. Then from your homepage you can click on the "Searches" link and execute that search by selecting it from the list.
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