Getting started on twitter final

@ukcochranecentr

Getting started on Twitter

Why tweet?

Engage

Inform & influence

Promote

Monitor

Learn

UK Cochrane Centre 2

Twitter basics

• Twitter is a „microblogging‟ site, where you can publish

short posts (tweets), including links to websites and

resources

• Twitter users (tweeps) follow other users – you can

choose to follow individuals or organizations with similar

interests

• You will see tweets from those you follow in your

timeline


Tweeting basics

Your tweet can be up to 140

characters, including:

•Your pearl of wisdom

and possibly...

•A link

•A hashtag e.g. #ukcc21

•A twitter user‟s name e.g.

@influentialperson

•RT (retweet) or MT

(modified tweet)


#hashtags (anything with # in front of it!)

• Associate your tweet with a topic

or event #malaria #ukcc21

• Make your tweet searchable by that tag

• Can act as a sub-clause to your

tweet, for added comment, emphasis or humour:

We‟re hosting an event on social media at the UKCC today

#getmartintweeting

Roche still refusing to disclose #tamiflu data. #disappointed


Tweeting basics: visibility


•Tweets are visible to all, unless they are a direct

message to or from a follower

•Your tweets will appear in the timelines of your followers

•If you include someone‟s Twitter name in your

tweet, they will get an email alerting them to it

•Hashtags are searchable so may be found by those

looking for that topic or event

Tweets are soon gone!

They quickly disappear from the screen, so:

• Send your tweet more than once

• Use screenshots to capture examples

of your tweeting successes!

• Storify to capture your own

and others tweets & links on a topic


So how often should you tweet?

• Check at least daily, Monday to Friday

• Keep asking yourself “can I tweet this?”

• Look out for mentions and direct messages – they might need a response

• Look for opportunities to join in conversations

• You could set up a minimum expectation

e.g. #CochraneEvidence appears daily

Monday to Friday


Finding your voice

• It‟s SOCIAL media! Be a real person or people not just a

faceless organization

• Follow your organization‟s policy

• Be professional but human, a light touch and some

„atmosphere‟ tweets

can be very engaging


Dos and don’ts

DO

• Listen, engage, join in conversations

• Link often, direct people to useful sites – especially your own!

• Keep it active

• Credit others

• Keep the tone pleasant and professional

DON‟T

• Use abbreviated text-talk; cutting corners in your tweets suggests you might cut them elsewhere!

• Allow your tweets to be truncated at the end – people may miss things


Building a following

• Increase your twitter presence, get tweeting!

• Follow others

• Retweet, mention, reply to tweets, join in

• Be interesting!

• Recommend others

– on Fridays! Using #FF (Friday Follow): „#FF

@Cochrane_OHG, @CochranePHG, @LifestyleElf‟

– „Great blog on #CochraneEvidence by @juliaoftoronto‟

• See who other relevant twitter users are following

to find people to follow


Timing tweets

• Scheduled tweets

– Social media management software allows this

– We send daily tweets using #CochraneEvidence

hashtag to highlight and link to new/updated reviews

– Multiple tweets with same link but different wording –

to target different groups, or to highlight different

aspects

– Remember global audience, different time zones

– Awareness days/events & conferences


Timing tweets

• Responsive tweets

– Answering direct questions or comments

– Engaging in public debate on a topic to state a

position, direct to information or just to be in the

conversation

– Joining in a conversation to flag up relevant Cochrane

evidence

– Tweeting a conference


Tweet chats

• Scheduled discussion, in real time, of a particular topic

• Check whether there‟s any preparation needed – it may

be preceded by a document for discussion!

• Use the hashtag

• Tweetchat.com makes it easy!


Why tweet a conference?

Share your enthusiasm!

Get new followers from your field of interest

(they‟ll value your input!)

Discuss issues with peers online

Transform online connections into real ones

(tweetups)

Promote your organization‟s values

through what you highlight


Types of conference tweets

• Mood tweets

“Excited to be at #ukcc21, tucking into fab

pastries before the first plenary!”

• Tweetups

“Great discussion on #bias, suggest meet at 12 in the ballroom to

talk some more #ukcc21”

• Talks - these are key tweets!

Should include speaker‟s name, main information and hashtag

• Links

To media coverage, videos, presentations and other useful resources


Monitoring value

• Analytics

• A growing following

• Responses: retweets, replies, engagement with your

tweets, comments


Twitter engagement is valued!

• Increased UKCC twitter presence since September 2012

• Following growing daily, reached 1000 after 5 months

• Lots of positive comments e.g.

@GM_AHSN “SoMe has been a big part of our engagement plan & we

will continue using this platform to get more interested in our work

#nhssm”

@UKCC “@GM_AHSN Essential for #Cochrane too! #nhssm”

@a_double_tt “@ukcochranecentr Good to hear. I like the increased

content already. V informative #nhssm


Just do it!

If we want to engage then we MUST use social media

It makes us part of a global

community, communicating

in real time

It seems to be working!


Technology

Getting started on twitter final