What is Twitter?
Twitter is a social network.
Other popular social networks are Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. People use
social networks to share thoughts and information over the Internet or mobile
phone. Twitter is a social network that is easy to use. On Twitter, you
only read and write one line of English at a time. This is why users call
Twitter a micro blog. Each time you visit the site you answer the same
question: "What's happening?" In the language of Twitter, your answer is a tweet.
How to join Twitter?
How to join Twitter?
- Go to WWW.twitter.com.
- Click on: Join or Sign up
- Follow the steps to create a free Twitter account.
- Choose your own username.
- Choose your own password. You must type 6 letters or numbers.
- Type in your email address.
- Prove you are a human (type the letters you see in the word verification box).
- Accept the terms (Twitter users must be at least 13 years old). That's it!
How to use Twitter?
Create a profile
Create a profile
Now that
you are a member, it's time to personalize your Twitter page.
- Log in at WWW.twitter.com (enter your username and password).
- Click on Settings.
- Add a picture (700K maximum) of yourself (or a character or logo). Click on browse and choose a photo from your computer.
- Fill out the information in the boxes.
- In the bio section add one or two lines about yourself. You can write in point form.
Start tweeting
Log in at
www.twitter.com and type your first tweet. Remember, the question is always:
"What's happening?" Write one or two short sentences. If you write
too much you will have to delete part of your message. You will see a number
decreasing as you write. This will show how many letters you can still type.
When you see "-1", that means you wrote too much. You get the same
warning if your status update is too long.
FOLLOW
people
Now you
need to make some Twitter friends. Start by FOLLOWING. When you find someone,
click FOLLOW underneath logo. The concerned person will get a message that
you are FOLLOWING them. Soon you will start seeing their updates (tweets) on your
page. Look for
others to FOLLOW. Do any of your friends use Twitter? What
about family members or people you work with? If not, send them an email and
invite them to join.
On your
Twitter homepage you will see a sidebar on the right hand side. You will
see the words following and followers. Under each there will be a
number. Each time you go to a person's Twitter page and click FOLLOW your following
number will increase. Each time a person FOLLOWS you, your followers
number will increase.
Search Twitter
Use the
Search button at the bottom of your twitter page to follow more people. Look
for people you want to network with. Type anything you want in the
search box.
Reply and Re tweets
When you
see an interesting tweet reply to it. When you click reply you will see
@username in the text box. Type your reply. People
will reply to you too. Each time you log in, click on @replies in your sidebar
to view your messages. To reply back put your mouse over the tweet until you see
the curving arrow. You will see the words "reply". Click here and
start your reply. Beside the word "reply" you will see the word
"retweet". When you "retweet" something that means you like
it. Your "retweet" will be sent as a status update from your account.
Anyone who follows you will see it.
Share a link
Use
Twitter to share links. Twitter will
shorten it for you. (Don't be surprised when your link looks different.)
Send a Direct Message
To send a
private reply or message, use the Direct Message function. Only you and
the recipient will see these messages. Direct Messages will also go to
the recipient's email address
Personalize your Settings
You can
change the look of your Twitter page. You can use your own picture or favourite background.
- Log in to Twitter.
- Go to Settings.
- Click on Designs.
- Choose a twitter background or upload your own.
Make more friends by sharing your status updates (and blog posts) on Twitter.
Here's a
simple guide. Hope it helps :)
