Step 1: Create a Twitter account in less than 2 minutes. Go to www.twitter.com and click the green 'get started' button. Set up an account by simply adding your name and email address and by choosing a user name and password, type in the encrypted code and hit 'create my account.' That's it, you're in!
Step 2: Decide what you want to say. In general, Twitter messages or 'tweets' answer the question 'what are you doing right now.' But you can also post a link to a website, express an opinion or reaction, pose a question or provide an answer. Twitter messages can only be 140 characters (including spaces) which helps to keep things simple.
Step 3: How to send a tweet. On the home page, type your message in the box at the top of the screen (the number of characters you have left out of 140 is displayed at the top right hand corner of the box) and hit the update button. Congratulations you have posted your first tweet. If your tweet is intended for one person in particular type the @ symbol followed by the users screen name. For example, Event Magazine's screen name is eventmagazine. To send a message to them, include @eventmagazine before the text of your message. Even if Event Magazine is not following you they will be able to see your message by clicking on the @profile name on the navigation bar on the right of their page.
Step 4: How to find people. Twitter is a two-way street. Now you have posted your first update and you need to choose people you want to follow. To find people to follow on Twitter, you can click on the 'find people' tab at the top of any Twitter page. It's worth noting that people may be listed under a screen name that does not match their real name.
Twitter gives you 4 ways to find individuals and groups or businesses:
- On the 'find people' page type a person's name or user name into the search box to find them.
- Click on the 'find people on other networks' tab and search your existing email accounts.
- You can invite people via email by clicking on the next tab and entering a list of email addresses.
- You can also click on 'suggested users' for a list of people suggested by Twitter.
Step 5: How to follow people. When you have found someone you are interested in, click 'follow' and you will receive their updates automatically. People will usually, but not always, follow you back when you follow them.
Step 6: Help people find you. Fill in your account information under Settings and add the following:
- A profile photo (only add a logo if you are setting up a business profile).
- Your real name
- Your location
- A bio - you have 160 characters so think carefully about what you write
- A web, or blog, address so people can find out more about you
If you want to restrict your Twitter updates to only those you allow to follow you simply check the box marked 'protect my updates.' You will maintain your privacy but you will limit your reach. To get the full Twitter experience I suggest you leave this unchecked.
Step 7: Stay connected wherever you are. You don't have to be at your computer to receive Twitter updates. The video talks about using the SMS text messages to send and receive tweets wherever you are. Unfortunately, in the UK this service is not fully available and currently you are only able to send tweets via text. To set up this service, go to the 'devices' tab under Settings and follow the simple instructions.
Step 8: Customize your profile. By clicking on design tabs you can customize your profile using photos and background designs. You can also change the colors of fonts, background, links and borders. Click on the color boxes to make the color wheel appear. Be careful to select colors that show up clearly on screen. Darker colors for fonts work best.
Step 9: What are people saying. You can keep up to date with things that interest you by clicking on 'search' at the foot of any Twitter page or by going to http://www.search.twitter.com where you can type in a person name or topic. You can also follow what's generating the most buzz on Twitter by browsing through trending topics. You will find this below the search box, along side search results and on the right of any search page.
Step 10: Posting updates. You can post updates from the web from the update box using a computer, a mobile phone via text message as described in Step 7, by mobile phone web browser via mtwitter.com which will take you to a special mobile phone version of Twitter on a Blackberry or iPhone using one of many of the free apps available. For Blackberry, I recommend TwitterBerry and for the iPhone I use Twitterfon. There are lots of different apps designed to make Twitter easy to use. Some of the best are recommended at www.twitter.com/downloads although, more will be recommended on this blog. Remember - send frequent updates, keep them interesting and people will follow you.
Taken from eventmagazine.co.uk Written by Peter Kerwood
