Twitter Intro Guide - basics for managing your account

Twitter Intro Guide

Twitter intro guide

• Communicating in 140 characters = every character counts

• Limit tweets to fewer than 120 characters to allow others to add text to retweets (RT).

• Shorten links Try Google URL shortener https://goo.gl

• Verify if there are any topic/theme/event specific hashtags to be incorporated

COMPOSING TWEETS

Twitter intro guide

• Test the tweet in the window to see verify your character count

• Avoid overusing abbreviations

• Consider what your tweet will look like across different devices

• Example: videos and photos will not be visible in a Blackberry Twitter feed

COMPOSING TWEETS

Twitter intro guide

MENTIONS

• @username

• When including a mention at the beginning of a tweet, make sure to place a period before it. [Example] .@UNDP

• Also, make sure you are linking to a verified / official account.

Twitter intro guide

MENTIONS

Mentions are useful for:

Replies | Including collaborators | Announcing individuals | Promoting tweets

Twitter intro guide

MENTIONS

Too many mentions = no added value for a wider audience to share and reply to

Twitter intro guide

HASHTAGS

• To maximize engagement, limit hashtag use to two per tweet.

• [RESOURCE] Article on ‘women’ themed hashtags 

why this tweet works

two relevant hashtags

shortened URL

concise text

Twitter intro guide

HASHTAGS

• Make sure the hashtag you use corresponds to your associated message.

• Example “WPS” draws up American football information, not ‘women peace and security’

Twitter intro guide

RETWEETS & FAVORITES

Twitter intro guide

RETWEETS & FAVORITES

• Favorites will only appear under the ‘Favorites’ tab of your Twitter page• The user will be notified that you added their tweet to your

favorites

• Retweets will be visible on your Twitter page

Twitter intro guide

MODIFIED TWEETS vs RETWEETS

• With Retweets (RT) you are not changing (adding or removing) content from the original tweet. Unlike Modified Tweets (MT)

Twitter intro guide

RETWEETS & MODIFIED TWEETS

Another way to RT copy the original tweet

Twitter intro guide

REPLIES

• Replying to a tweet allows you to quickly engage directly with a user.

• If you would like the tweet to be visible to your audience as well as theirs, remember to include a period before the username.

Using the example above: .@NATO

Twitter intro guide

DIRECT MESSAGES

• Click on the envelope icon in the top right navigation bar.

• In the address box, type the username of the person you wish to send a message to.

• You can only send direct messages to users that you follow. You can receive direct messages from anyone who follows you.

(source: https://support.twitter.com/articles/14606-posting-or-deleting-direct-messages)

Twitter intro guide

LISTS

• Click Create list.

• Enter the name of your list, a short description of the list, and select if you want the list to be private (only accessible to you) or public (anyone can subscribe to the list).

• Click Save list. [SOURCE https://support.twitter.com/articles/76460-using-twitter-lists]