twitter: MASTERING THE BASICS

What is Twitter? Why use it? How do you do it?

What is Twitter?

a new form of online communication

one to one

one to many

side by side communication

...a new way of listening

140 characters * Desktop or Mobile * Followers

leaders

connectors

lurkers jokers

Twitter = big house party

Why use Twitter?

more than tweeting what your cat had for breakfast to the world…

Maybe you like rap?

astronauts?

technology?

…or just a few jokes

From 47 responses: the top three reasons for using Twitter…

1. learning

2. connections

3. crowd-sourcing

How do I use Twitter?

Signing up for an account takes just a few minutes

Dress code: To help people recognize and trust your account,

fill out your profile completely and

include a picture

Sign up

Now that you’re all dressed up with somewhere to go. Say hi.

Hey all…

You probably already know one or two people at the house party…

@jacquelinepage

@bryonycole

@darrenwhitelaw

@Oprah

@aplusk

@CocaCola

To find people talking about interesting topics:

search.twitter.com

Look at lists

Who are other people following and talking to?

Want to know who to follow? Ask the people around you.

Hi _________ I like rappers/Italian food/travel.

Who should I follow on Twitter?

cc @bryonycole

tips / links / thoughts / experiences / respond to questions say hi / respond to comments / praise / complaints / jokes

What should I tweet?

A tweet can be more than words…

Don’t forget to reply when people start talking to you.

@mentions

Retweets

I just heard that Apple is releasing a new Internet in November!

RT @smugexpert I just heard that Apple is releasing a new Internet in November!

You ‘retweet’

Type ‘RT’ or hit the retweet button

Hashtags

FYI, anyone attending/following tonight’s

Melbourne event, the hashtag is #melbevent

#followfriday people I think are worth following on Twitter

key take-aways

1.Listen for comments about you 2.Respond to comments and queries 3.Ask questions

• To follow somebody is to subscribe to their messages

• A tweet is an individual message

• A DM or direct message is a private message on Twitter

• RT or retweet is to repost a valuable message from somebody else on Twitter and give them credit

• Trending topics are the most-discussed terms on Twitter at any given moment

Glossary of terms Post links to things

people would find

interesting

• @username is a public message to or about an individual on Twitter

• A hashtag—the # symbol followed by a term and included in tweets—is a way of categorizing all the posts on a topic

• Shortened URLs. To fit links into the short messages, use bit.ly or other link-shorterners to shrinks URLs down

Retweet messages you would like to share

Use a friendly, casual tone

Don’t spam people

@bryonycole

Thanks!