Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time.

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1 Twitter Tip Sheet What is Twitter? Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. Wikipedia describes it this way: Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. How to Set Up a Twitter Account Step 1: Go to When you get to Twitter.com, you ll see this page:

2 Step 2: Click the Join the conversation! Sign up now This page will appear: Step 3: Create a Username. If you are using this twitter account for brand management for your business, I d recommend using your domain name minus the dot com/net/etc. (i.e. If it s just for fun or personal use, use whatever you want as the username. Add your address, personal or business. Type in the security code then click I accept, Create my Account (if you want, you can read the Terms of Service too).

3 Step 4: Start connecting! As you can see by the picture below, Twitter asks for your information. They state very clearly that they don t use or share your information anywhere. I get plenty of spam in my inbox, but I ve never tracked it back to Twitter so don t worry about giving up personal info (this is just my advice, not legal mumbo-jumbo so don t blame me if you get your identity stolen or something ) If you re really concerned, set up a new Gmail account that s just for your twitter account (I feel like you d be wasting lots of time doing this). Here s what the next page will look like: For more information about unlocking the potential of Twitter call or visit

4 What s cool is that Twitter goes through all your addresses to see who is already registered with a Twitter account. You can hand pick which of your new Twitter Friends you want to add. There s also an option where you can invite non-twitter users to set up Twitter accounts it looks like this: If you plan to use Twitter for business and you already have a pretty big database of names and s, this could be a great opportunity to show your clients you care by connecting with them in a new way. Twitter can be a great way to communicate and deal with Customer Care issues too! Step 5: You re now an official Twitter User! One of the most importantt things to establish now is what you are going to use Twitter for? Coming up with a series of objectives will help you use Twitter effectively. Step 6: Amending Your Profile Ok, you probably thought that was it. Well, you are nearly there. Before you start tweeting don t forget to amend your profile. Twitter automatically creates a default profile for you but there are some extra fields that will help you get the most out of Twitter. Click on the Settings link and you will find an extra series of boxes to complete. The most important pieces of information to add are :- Website URL Brief Biography And your Location Upload a picture and put a face to your tweets For more information about unlocking the potential of Twitter call or visit

5 Filling in your profile information will help people find you on Twitter. For example, you'll be more likely to turn up in a Twitter search if you've added your location or your real name.

6 Getting Started with Twitter The easiest way to get started with Twitter is by interacting with people you already know use your list and see who s already using Twitter. Step 6: Finding People to Follow Use the Find People search tool at the top of the page to find people who are already using Twitter. Search for other by name, invite your colleagues and friends using their s addresses (not you can cut and paste from Outlook etc.) or Twitter will even suggest a set of Twitter users to follow. If you have friends or colleagues that have a lot of experience tweeting, they can give you tips, tricks, and even connections that will help you grow your reputation on Twitter.

7 Step: 7 Making your first Tweet Your first tweet can be quite a daunting experience. What will you say? Can you delete it if you make a mistake? The first thing to remember is that Twitter is a social networking tool, and just like plucking up the courage to start a conversation with someone at a party, everyone has to start somewhere! Start by posting your tweets from the box at the top of the page that asks What s happening? Notice that while you type your post, the character counter (the number above that box, to the right) keeps track of how many characters you have left. When done, click the Update button - and your post goes live on Twitter! Don t forget you have 140 characters to play with, which include spaces and full stops. If you want to add a web address you might want to shorten it using some of the URL Shortening tools like or (you may have wondered what these funny looking web addresses were!! Alternatively, some of the Twitter tools such as Tweet deck or HootSuite will automatically shorten URLs for you as you add them. If you do make a mistake once you have made your tweet don t worry. Hover next to the tweet and a little Delete button appears phew!!

8 Step 8: Twitter Basics Give people a chance to talk and interact with you Ask questions Let some of your personality shine through Have a reasonable mix of tweets, links, and re-tweets Don t spam As soon as you post your message it will appear in the timeline on your Twitter page. New tweets appear at the top of the timeline and older tweets scroll down off the bottom. Refresh the page to see the next set of tweets. Follow: When you follow someone on Twitter, that means you elect to see their post in your timeline. Followers: are the people who you follow (get updates from). Twitter lists this in your profile as your following statistic

9 A user s personal page displays their Twitter statistics. Generally, the more followers someone has, the more influential they are. TIP: You can click on any user s stats to see who they follow and who follows them. This provides perhaps the best way to find people to follow: When you find a particularly interesting or relevant Twitter user, go to their personal page and click to see who they re following. You can then choose to follow some of the same people directly from that list. Step 9: Retweets, Replies and Direct Messages Retweets: Retweeting is an integral part of the Twitter experience. The retweet (or RT ) allows Twitter users to share the best links, tweets, and gems they find from others using the service. Copy and paste the original tweet and send it out. To give credit to the original person, users usually put RT plus the originator s username at the beginning of the tweet. Here s an example: - The Twitter tweets: I just heard that Apple is releasing new ipods in July! - You retweet by posting I just heard that Apple is releasing new ipods in Replies: When you want to reply to someone s tweet, or when you simply want to try to get a specific user s attention on Twitter, you should include in your tweet their username preceded by symbol. For example, to get my attention on Twitter, simply at the beginning of your message. That will make your tweet show up in my replies timeline on Twitter.

10 CAUTION: replies to get someone s attention isn t completely reliable. Users can configure their account to replies from no one at all, only from their friends (people they re following), or from anyone. Direct (private) messages, sometimes abbreviated to DM. You can send private messages on Twitter that are visible only to you and the recipient. However, you cannot direct-message just any Twitter user - only people who follow you. This means that you cannot direct-message the people you follow (your friends ) unless they also happen to be following you. This restriction helps prevent spamming. To send a private message to one of your followers, begin your tweet with d [space] username. TIP: I recommend using direct messages both to maintain privacy for sensitive information, and to reduce clutter for your Twitter followers. For instance, if you need to say something that is relevant to only one of your followers, consider sending a direct message so you re not cluttering up everyone s timeline with irrelevant tweets.