Twitter For Beginners

March 2010

Created by Jack Dorsey in 2006

The goal was to mimic an online

SMS (short message service)

using a maximum of 140

characters

in an open-source platform!

First Tweet was sent on March

21, 2006 by Jack

Official launch of Twitter was in

March 2007

a texting service

where we publish instant messages in a maximum

of 140 characters

a micro-blogging platform

where we can share content with like on a blog but

with a maximum of 140 characters

a social network

where we make friends (followers) and follow friends, conversations and topics

70,000 Twitter applications

these applications are created by Web Developers from the open-source Twitter API Key

Applications are either free or at a cost ($)

source = Wikipedia

50,000,000 Tweets per day (600 tweets per second)

1,400,000,000 Tweets in February 2010

75,000,000 members (December 2009)

6,000,000 new members in January and February

2010 (2.3 new members / second)

25% of Twitter accounts have no followers

40% of Twitter accounts have never sent a Tweet

80% of Twitter members have tweeted less than 10 times

http://themetricsystem.rjmetrics.com/2010/01/26/new-data-on-twitters-

users-and-engagement/

The content

The vocabulary

The essential Tools

Followers

Following

ReTweets

Direct Messages

Hashtags

Follow Friday

Jeudi confession

Twitter Lists

Security

Manage your profile

Manage your

connections

Link Twitter to Facebook, LinkedIn and

your Blog

Twitter personalities

Do’s and Dont’s

« Choose your words, a small URL and get to the point. This Tweet has 111 characters.

Why 111? http://bit.ly/w1fQZ »

ANSWER : If you want people to ReTweet your

tweets, leave some space to add RT @dianebourque + a small comment (usually

around 20 characters)

http://tinyurl.com http://bit.ly

Make sure to shorten all URLs that you post on Twitter!

http://tweetphoto.com

http://twitpic.com

http://yfrog.com

Take photos with your cellphone and post them directly on Twitter!

http://12seconds.tv http://twitc.com

Take videos with your cellphone and share them on Twitter.

http://www.twitvid.com

a tweet (n) what you send in 140 characters

to tweet (v) the act of sending a tweet

tweeple (n) people who tweet

retweet (v) the act of sending someone’s tweet

direct message a private message

followers tweeple who follow you

following tweeple you follow

hashtag a keyword in Twitter with #

follow friday (FF) a practice in Twitter on Fridays

twitterholic are you one?

http://tweetmeme.com http://hootsuite.com

http://twitter.com

People who follow you are your followers – you don’t choose

them – they choose you

How to they find you?

The basic rule = you follow me, I follow you

How and why to block some

followers

do you agree?

You can follow:

• people or profiles that you know; and/or

• people or profiles that you find interesting

http://search.twitter.com http://hashtags.org http://twitdir.com/

These services will help you find tweeple that say things that are of interest to you.

send a ReTweet by adding « RT @dianebourque »

major don’t = never ReTweet a tweet without using the

ReTweet

ReTweets are a good way to find followers and spread

your presence in Twitter

ReTweet is a convention in Twitter whereby you add RT when retweeting a tweet from another tweeple.

engage into a private conversation with another

tweeple through direct messages

only available if you follow the person and the person follows you back

similar to sending a private e-mail, but in 140 characters

The Direct Message if a private conversation between you and a person you follow. The person must follow you in order to send him/her a DM.

http://hashtags.org

to add a hashtag, simply add # with the keyword such as

#wordpress #cnn #haiti

you can create as many

hashtags as you want

check-out existing hashtags at

A hashtag is a keyword that we add at the end of a tweet in order to start or follow an existing conversation. It always start with #

on Fridays, tweeple take a moment to say Thanks, to

recognize people they like, to say hi by using the Follow

Friday convention

#FF @dianebourque @pierre @melanie @stephanie

#FollowFriday @mymother @mysister @myfriends

Follow Fridays is a Twitter convention whereby tweeple take a moment on Friday to mention other tweeple by adding #FF or #FollowFriday before their tweet.

On Thursdays on Twitter, we confess and we add the

hashtag #jeudiconfession at the end of our tweet

Jeudi Confession is a Twitter convention whereby Tweeple make a confession on Thursday of any kind and add #jeudiconfession in their tweet. It sometimes makes a good read.

create Twitter Lists by adding people that you

follow on various lists

follow Twitter Lists that

are of interest to you by going to =

http://listorious.com

Yes, your Twitter account can be hacked. Most often, the hacker will use your account to send Junk Direct

Messages to your followers. This is more annoying that serious.

What to do if this happens to you?

• immediately change your Twitter password, and

• revoke access to your Twitter connections

It’s important to add a photo of you, to add your website, your location and a good bio of yourself. This information will be used by connecting Twitter applications and services. Make it good!

You can add as many applications as you wish but you need to manage them once in a while. Remember there are 70,000 Twitter apps and sometimes one of them screws them up!

http://twitterfeed.com

Share your blog content automatically on Twitter with Twitter Feed.

Share selective tweets on your Facebook profile with Selective Tweets (in Facebook).

Share your tweets on LinkedIn with the Tweets application (in LinkedIn).

bring an added vaddludde to your tweets by sharing

relevant information

Where to find this information? On Twitter! On your favorite blog! On Facebook! Anywhere on the Web!

say thanks to people who retweet your tweets

use capital letters and proper punctuation

always shorten your URL with bit.ly or another service

always use numbers like 1st, 100, 3M to save on

characters

take a moment on Fridays to do some #FF

remember that everything that you post on Twitter

stays on the Web

maintain a ratio between your followers and the

people you follow

never tweet under the influence of alcohol or other substances that might affect your judgment

try to maintain a rhythm in your tweets

verify your URL links before posting your tweets

be careful with personal information that you share on Twitter

take a deep breath before bitching about something

follow and unfollow tweeple at ease and without

excuses

answer your own questions « What is your favorite Montreal Restaurant? Mine is Pho Bang New York on

Saint-Laurent »

answer questions that people ask or retweet the

question if you feel like it

leave room for your personality and creativity on Twitter and have fun with it!

http://mashable.com/

guidebook/twitter

http://twitter.com/help/start

dianebourque.com © 2010 All Rights Reserved

You can use or reproduce this document as long as you don’t claim

that it is yours and that you keep my logo intact. Thanks for sharing!