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A quick and easy guide to using Twitter. This presentation was put together for the 50/50 in 2020 Conference.
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TWITTER 101 A quick & easy “how to” guide for using Twitter
GO TO:
WWW.TWITTER.COM
Fill out the information required on the sign-up page.
Check the boxes at the bottom based on your preferences. If you want to stay signed-in on your computer, check yes. If not, uncheck the box. If you want Twitter tailored to your website visits, check yes. If not, uncheck the box.
Click “Create my account” and you’re underway!
GO TO:
SIGN UP FOR TWITTER
SIGN UP
CONGRATULATIONS,
YOU’RE OFFICIALLY SET UP ON TWITTER!
BUT THERE ARE STILL A FEW MORE
THINGS TO LEARN ABOUT…
Twitter will direct you to your “Home” page.
Left side (top to bottom):
Twitter account box: Twitter name, number of tweets, number of accounts you’re following and the number of accounts following you.
“Who to follow”: recommendations from Twitter based on the accounts you follow.
“Trends”: key words, phrases and hashtags (will define later) that are currently trending at that point in time.
Right side:
Twitter Feed: a compilation of tweets and retweets from accounts you are following in order of the time they are posted.
Now let’s explore the other tabs in the top left of the screen.
HOME PAGE
NAVIGATION BAR
The “Connect” page compiles all @mentions, favorites, follows and more on you and your Tweets.
Whenever another account interacts with you, it will show up on this “Interactions” timeline on the right.
CONNECT PAGE
NAVIGATION BAR
The “Discover” page is a custom, tailored timeline that Twitter compiles for you.
Twitter selects Tweets that it believes you will be interested in and fills the “Tweets” timeline to the right.
DISCOVER PAGE
NAVIGATION BAR
The “Me” button directs you to your profile page. This page includes your picture, bio, Tweets, accounts you are following, and your followers.
A list of your Tweets will automatically appear on the right under your bio. You can always access your Tweets under the “Tweets” tab in the top right corner too.
YOUR PROFILE
(AND TWEETS TAB)
NAVIGATION BAR / YOUR PROFILE
WHAT’S UNDER THE
SETTINGS OPTION?
The “Password” tab simply allows you to reset your password.
PASSWORD
WHAT’S UNDER THE SETTINGS OPTION?
The “Profile” tab allows you to edit your profile photo, header photo, name, location, website, and bio. It also provides an option for you to sync your Twitter and Facebook accounts. This simply means that your Tweets will show up on your Facebook page and Tweets with links to your Facebook posts will be Tweeted each time you post on Facebook.
PROFILE
WHAT’S UNDER THE SETTINGS OPTION?
The “Design” tab provides an opportunity for you to add a design to your profile.
DESIGN
WHAT’S UNDER THE SETTINGS OPTION?
HOW DO I TWEET?
The best way to figure out how to Tweet is to watch how other accounts are Tweeting. Take a look at your Twitter Feed on the Home page. What do you see others doing? You probably notice the following:
-Hashtags followed by words
-The @ sign
-The letters “RT” and “MT”
-Pictures/Videos
-Links
All of these are fit into Tweets with 140 character limits! Abbreviations and shortened messages are key to successful tweeting.
BASICS
HOW DO I TWEET?
140 characters make up one Tweet. You can Tweet from your Home page Tweet box in the upper left corner or by clicking on the bright blue button in the top right corner of screen. The icon on that button looks look like a white quill on paper.
You can Tweet either way. It all goes to the same place.
TWEETS
HOW DO I TWEET?
You can tweet about anything. It can be a fact, thought, article, link, picture, video, etc. You are just limited to 140 characters, and the Tweet box keeps count for you in the bottom right corner.
TWEETS (CONTINUED)
HOW DO I TWEET?
Remember to keep it short and simple. The best Tweets provide the most information in the fewest words.
A hashtag is used on Twitter for several reasons:
-to help accounts follow trending news, messages, etc.
-to help accounts find other accounts Tweeting about the same or similar topics
-for comical, sarcastic reasons
You can follow trending hashtags on your Home page in the bottom left corner below the “Who to follow” box.
The best way to understand hashtags are through examples. We have provided some to the right.
HASHTAGS (#)
HOW DO I TWEET?
The @ sign is at the beginning of all Twitter handles. A Twitter handle is your account username.
Our example account name is listed as Jane Doe, but our username that other accounts will refer to us by to communicate is @GPSExAcct.
Oprah Winfrey’s username is @Oprah.
When you use another account’s username in a Tweet, that is known as a “Mention.” An example is to the right. Reporter Jennifer Jacobs mentions Tom Latham in a Tweet.
THE @ SIGN (MENTIONS)
HOW DO I TWEET?
A green triangle with an arrow will appear on the upper right corner of Tweets that you have retweeted.
RETWEETS
HOW DO I TWEET?
If you see a Tweet from another account that you wish to share with your followers, hover your mouse over that Tweet and you will see the Retweet option appear beneath the Tweet. Click on “Retweet.” Twitter will ask you if you are sure that you want to Retweet; click “Retweet” (or “Cancel” if you decide not to retweet).
Here is what a retweet will look like with the letters “RT”:
If someone retweets but comments with the retweet, you will see their comment, the letters “RT” and the original Tweet follow it.
If someone modifies a Tweet from another account they are retweeting, you will see the letters “MT” in the beginning of their Tweet.
RETWEETS (EXAMPLES)
HOW DO I TWEET?
If you want to Tweet a picture that’s saved on your computer, click on the camera button in the bottom left corner of the box. It will prompt the upload box and you can select your picture from there. The picture will be given a link in the Tweet. See the example of a picture Oprah tweeted below.
TWEETING PICTURES
HOW DO I TWEET?
Links are a significant part of sharing information on Twitter because they allow you to direct other accounts to where you want them to go.
Links can be really long, though. They can take up all of the character spaces in your Tweets!
Tweets will automatically shorten themselves after you send the Tweet (as you can see in the WSJ Live Tweet to the right), but there are other tools to shorten the links even more and track how many people are clicking on your Tweets.
ADDING LINKS TO TWEETS
HOW DO I TWEET?
There are ways to shorten links so they take up less room in your Tweets. Google has a url shortener (www.goo.gl), and websites such as Owly (www.ow.ly/url/shorten-url) and Bitly (www.bitly.com) are quick url shorteners. You can create accounts on these sites which allows you to track how many people are clicking on your Tweets.
ADDING LINKS TO TWEETS
(CONTINUED)
HOW DO I TWEET?
To shorten links on these sites without accounts, you simply copy and paste the full link into the box provided on the sites and they will generate a shortened link. You can then copy and paste that shortened link to your Tweet. The Sioux City Journal uses Bitly to shorten their links and PR News uses Owly.
ADDING LINKS TO TWEETS
(CONTINUED)
HOW DO I TWEET?
SEARCH TOOLS
If you want to find and/or follow specific hashtags, accounts and key words/phrases, you can search for them in the search bar located at the top of your Twitter screen. It is always located there.
TWITTER SEARCHES
SEARCH TOOLS
Simply type in the hashtag, account and key words/phrases that you want to search for and hit enter on your keyboard. For example, let’s say we wanted to search for the hashtag: #womeninpolitics.
You can save your searches so you don’t have to type them in each time.
Click on the black gear that is located to the right of “Results for…” and a dropdown box will appear. Click “Save search” and that search will appear each time you click in the search box before typing anything in it.
TWITTER SEARCHES
(CONTINUED)
SEARCH TOOLS
You can also conduct Advanced Searches by clicking on the Advanced Search option in the dropdown box.
TWITTER SEARCHES
(CONTINUED)
SEARCH TOOLS
