Since my post a while ago about the “new town square” of blogging and other social media, a few people have contacted me about Twitter. What’s it all about? How does it work? What’s the point of it?
One of the things I talk about here is building community, so it doesn’t seem too much off-topic to give a quick run-through of the basics for anyone thinking of dipping a toe into the Twitter waters, using a collection of the excellent resources and links available.
Set up a Twitter account
First thing to do is set up an account. Twitter really is something you can best understand by trying it. You can always cancel later.
Short version: go to http://twitter.com, click the big green Get Started Now button and follow the instructions.
Longer and better version: check out this excellent post, by @mollermarketing, which also shows you how to find friends who are already using Twitter.
As for what to do next, read 10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners by @AiraBongco.
Terminology
Loads of fun stuff to get your head around here! To get you started:
- User names on Twitter all begin with the @ sign, like mine: @tessgiles
- Tweets are the very short (140 character maximum) messages you write on Twitter
- Tweeters are members of the Twitter community, also known as the Twitterverse
- Retweets are when you like what someone has said so much you repeat it yourself by putting the letters RT in front of it
- @Replies are public responses to someone’s Tweet, maybe to tell them you enjoyed it, or it was useful
- Direct Messages are private between you and another Tweeter
- Following and followers: you click the follow button and that person’s Tweets will show up so you can read them; others follow you in the same way
- Hashtags are a way of broadcasting Tweets to a specific group; not at all necessary to beginning Twitter life, but if you want to investigate, follow this link
One way in which Twitter is very different from Facebook is that you don’t “Friend” people on Twitter. You follow them if you want, you stop following them if you want. No big deal.
(Sometimes you get followed by someone a bit spammy. You can tell because they’ll be following tens of thousands of people and will have the words finance or viagra or whatever all over their Tweets. Tweeters hate spammers – it’s not in the spirit of things – and you can block them. But they won’t cause you any hassle because you won’t be following them back anyway.)
Why Tweet?
On this blog, I concentrate on only a few subjects, but I have loads of interests. I’m sure you do too. Twitter is a really good way to connect with people outside your normal sphere of online life.
You may have actual real life friends on Twitter. If so, it’s a great way to keep up with them and find out what they’re up to. This video will show you why.
Twitter can also be a really good way to publicise your blog, your area of expertise or your small business by building a whole network of contacts you wouldn’t normally have access to. But add value, don’t be spammy.
What to Tweet?
- Read an interesting blog post or article? Send the link to Twitter
- Seen something fun or strange? Tweet about it
- Written a new blog post yourself? Publish the link on Twitter
- Need advice? Ask
- Respond to others’ Tweets, or ReTweet them
- And yes, answer the question “What are you doing”, but I recommend a light touch and a little humour when telling us about what you had for breakfast
I heart Twitter
Since I started on Twitter, I’ve found loads more like-minded people and some really interesting resources. I’ve found things that made me laugh out loud and others that made me think. I’ve been part of campaigns to raise awareness and swapped ideas on all kinds of topics. And just in case you were wondering, all without sitting and gazing at my computer all day!
Image by carrotcreative
Elsewhere:
There are several really good resources on how to use Twitter. A great one is TwiTip, established by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger fame (@problogger on Twitter). I’ve already used loads of links from it above. I also like this post about quality, not quantity of followers. (Well I would, wouldn’t I, there’s an analogy with Christ’s mission!)
And check out TwiTip for the different tools you can use to make better use of Twitter. These, for example.
And this blog post wouldn’t be complete without a reference to Laura Roeder (@lkr on Twitter). I just finished taking part in a webinar series run by Laura on getting to grips with Twitter and using it to increase your online presence. Despite the fact Laura appears to be ridiculously young, (not that that’s a bad thing!) she is definitely a social media expert and really knows what she’s talking about. I enjoyed this new post from her video blog.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Sib 03.24.09 at 5:35 pm
This is really useful – I ‘joined’ Twitter, but didn’t do anything with it. Thought one had to feel really self-important, or be wedded to one’s laptop, or indeed be a bit of a geek, to be part of the Twitter community. As your blog has opened up a whole new world for me, I may just try to give Twitter a go and see where it takes me.
Laura Roeder 03.24.09 at 6:13 pm
Thanks for the props and link. I am 24 for the record!
Tess 03.24.09 at 6:29 pm
@Sib: especially with all your mobile stuff you have for your job, Twitter would be great. Let me know if you start Tweeting regularly. And I’m sure if you started a blog it would be really interesting. Hint, hint.
@Laura: hey, thanks for the comment! And 24 is a very fine age, I remember it, er, fairly well (she shoves the Zimmer frame out of sight…)
Jan Richardson 03.25.09 at 3:03 am
Tess–I so appreciate the way that your contemplative soul comes also with a heart for building community in a contemporary fashion. Thanks for the excellent intro to Twitter. My sweetheart and I have both been giving some thought to the question, “To Twitter or not to Twitter?” Navigating my longing both for copious solitude and also for connecting with community is an ongoing challenge/invitation for me, and I haven’t quite figured out how much of the social networking fits for me. (I enjoy Facebook a lot–aside from the cumbersome new format, but I trust that’ll get worked out eventually–but also experience it as yet one more place where I’m behind on my correspondence!) Your comments provide great food for thought as I continue to discern what it means to be a connected contemplative. Will share them with my sweetheart as well. Thank you!
Elaine 03.25.09 at 6:05 am
Hello Tess. To answer the ? posed by your title: connection — If we follow the guidelines in your excellent primer on Twitter. If anyone asks me what, why or how type questions, I’ll pass on the link to this blog post.
And even though I’ve been using Twitter for a while, you’ve given me some new tips & links that I’m now going to check out. Thanks.
Barbara 03.25.09 at 8:43 pm
You must have referenced my blogpost to the Tweeterverse (or whatever it is called) because I got a bit of a bounce. Not many stayed around to read, though. My software tells me they came via Tweeter.
This post is most informative, but you did not say much or anything about Tweeter as a distraction. Long ago, I must confess I felt getting unsolicited email was a violation of my privacy and quite disturbing. I have found ways to deal with that nowadays, but my reluctance to put myself out there is quite enormous.
Being totally ignorant of these things, indulge me by telling what sort of hardware is necessary to receive and transmit Tweets. If I do not use mobile devices, I guess it takes all the constant exposure “fun” out of Tweeting.
Tess 03.25.09 at 9:17 pm
@Jan: thank you for this comment – I, too, need to guard my time and solitude, so don’t spend much time on Twitter. Somehow I just can’t get into Facebook to the same extent though. I joined both around the same time and thought my usage would be the other way around as Twitter seemed more counter-intuitive.
@Elaine: I always look out for your Tweets, I count them among those that have taught me lots
@Barbara: I confess I did put a link to your post up. It was so beautiful I wanted to share it.
On distraction, no I don’t find it so. It could be, no doubt about it, but unless you sit all day waiting for another tweet to pop up, it isn’t. For example, I’m just typing this waiting for the water for my pasta to boil, and immediately beforehand, I logged in to Twitter for five minutes, caught up with what a few people had been saying, responded to a couple of others and that’s it for today. I was on for about five minutes at lunchtime as well. And you have to log in, stuff doesn’t just arrive in your email.
On mobile hardware: actually, I very rarely do anything on the move, although a lot of people do. Mostly only at the PC. An ordinary mobile phone will do the job though.
But different strokes etc., loads of people think Twitter is weird and unusable, and that’s fine!
kigen 03.25.09 at 10:59 pm
Hi Tess, I put a response to this on Equinox post by mistake, sorry.
lucy 03.28.09 at 4:53 pm
you are such a cutting edge sort of gal, tess
i peeked at twitter once and quickly closed it. i also had my facebook account for about 3 years before i actually began to use it. i was enjoying it very much (like jan) until the new format showed up.
this is all so interesting. we were doing group interviews yesterday for students wanting to be admitted into a school that combines theology and psychology. the beginning statement was given and the prospective students asked to respond:
“the future of relationship is in social networking.” quite a lively conversation ensued. at one point, the topic moved to : “would jesus have a facebook?” interesting times indeed!
Tess 03.29.09 at 3:48 pm
Lucy, I’m not sure I’ve ever been called cutting-edge before!
What an interesting question in your last paragraph? Care to answer it?
lucy 03.30.09 at 12:00 am
i knew you’d like the “cutting-edge” comment. it is very true or maybe i just need to get out more
after listening to all of the conversation around jesus and facebook, i shall respond to your question with a resounding, “ummm. no.”