A Guide to Using Twitter

Once you get comfortable, you'll find Twitter fun, informative and maybe a little addictive.

Retweets, mentions, DMs, hashtags... what does it all mean? Twitter can be fun and informative, but it takes some time to get a hang of the lingo. It all starts with signing up for a free account at Twitter.com; from there, branch out to find people and topics that interest you to enhance your social media experience.

Instructions

1. Sign up for an account at Twitter.com. Many people use their real name or a nickname as their username and list their full name on their profile pages to make it easy for people to find them on Twitter; however, you can keep it anonymous if you like. Adding your location also makes you easier to find. A profile photo, either of yourself or something you like, helps people identify your tweets while scrolling through their feeds.

2. Follow your friends and accounts that cover topics you like. Click the green "Follow" button on the user's profile page to start following that user; the account's tweets begin showing on your Twitter.com homepage. Check out the Who to Follow page for Twitter's automated suggestions of users you might like.

3. Add hashtags and mentions to your tweets to add value. A "mention" is when you use another user's Twitter handle in a tweet, preceded with the @ symbol; for example, "Can't wait to go to the mall with @my_friend today." You can view mentions of your username in the "Mentions" tab on Twitter.com. Hashtags are a topic word preceded with a # sign; for example, "Hanging out in #Chicago today." Adding the hashtag makes the word clickable and searchable for other tweets containing that word.

4. Use direct messages to contact users privately. Direct messages, or DMs, can be sent between any two users who follow each other. Go to your Messages page on Twitter.com to send a direct message, or begin a tweet with "D username" to send one from the homepage. Be wary of "DM fails" -- messages meant to be sent privately that are accidentally posted as public tweets. To avoid a DM fail, make sure the username in "D username" is spelled correctly before clicking "Send."

5. Retweet tweets you find interesting or funny. Retweeting someone else's tweet displays that tweet on your Twitter feed, allowing your followers to see content from someone they may not also follow. Hover over a tweet and click the "Retweet" link in the list of options that pops up to repost it to your feed.

6. Try a Twitter application for your smart phone if you have one. Apps for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and other platforms have various features that make it easy to tweet on the go. Search for "Twitter" in your app store. If you just have a regular cell phone, you can still set up Twitter to send updates to your phone via text messages; on the Web, click "Settings," then "Mobile" and follow the instructions.

References

• CNET News: Newbie's Guide to Twitter; Rafe Needleman; March 2007