How to Use Twitter
- By Gunter Jameson
- Published 03/13/2011
- Tutorials
- Unrated
Back in 2006, Jack Dorsey and a handful of other developers came up with the idea of a SMS-based service that would deliver 140 character "micro-blogs" to people's friends. The idea was twttr-known today as Twitter-and it now boasts over 190 million users worldwide. Originally, the idea was that people would publish little bite-sized snippets of their daily lives to their friends through the service, but it has evolved to encompass much more since then. It is now a massive information distribution tool where people can follow public conversations and connect with like-minded people all over the world. If you thought Twitter was just a way for your friends to tell the world what they eat for lunch, think again. This is how you really use Twitter.
Tweeting
Publishing a tweet is easy, and is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Twitter. Twitter is free, so you can go to Twitter.com and create an account in a couple minutes. You don't even need to enter any personal information if you don't want to. Once you've signed up, simply go to your profile, enter a 140 character-or-less message and hit the Tweet button. Welcome to the world of Twitter.
Following
You can sit and tweet all day, but without anyone listening Twitter won't be very fun for you. Inside the Twitter interface, you can search for friends, companies, celebrities, fictional characters, and more to follow. Try and find some friends who you know are on Twitter and follow them. Most likely, they'll follow you back.
But Twitte
r is about more than following your friends, it's also about following news organizations, companies, and more. For example, you could follow @CNN or @cnnbrk (CNN breaking news) for the latest news or @TheOnion for fake news. If you like being intimately connected on everything that is happening, Twitter is a great place to be.
Searching and Hashtags
Beyond tweeting and following friends, celebrities, and organizations, the real strength of Twitter is in the search feature. Twitterers use hashtags (#) to denote certain topics they are discussing. For example, someone could Tweet: "Wish Mubarak would step down and end this violence #egypt." The #egypt tells readers that the tweet is about the Egypt, and other twitterers can search for the term #egypt and find out what everyone else is saying about #egypt in real time. You can also search for regular terms like pumpkin pie, Paris, or police to find any and all tweets that contain those words.
The Power
Once you know how to use hashtags and keyword searches, the real possibilities of Twitter begin to open themselves up. If you are interested in pumpkin pie, you could set up a feed that will display every tweet that contains that keyword in real time, and connect with other people who love pumpkin pie as well.
Twitter isn't just about telling people you're having a case of the Mondays or that you had a turkey sandwich for lunch. It's about being able to stay on top of specific topics, trends, and people that you are interested in. The power of Twitter is not in the tweet itself, but in the ability it gives all people to connect to the information they care about the most.
Tweeting
Publishing a tweet is easy, and is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Twitter. Twitter is free, so you can go to Twitter.com and create an account in a couple minutes. You don't even need to enter any personal information if you don't want to. Once you've signed up, simply go to your profile, enter a 140 character-or-less message and hit the Tweet button. Welcome to the world of Twitter.
Following
You can sit and tweet all day, but without anyone listening Twitter won't be very fun for you. Inside the Twitter interface, you can search for friends, companies, celebrities, fictional characters, and more to follow. Try and find some friends who you know are on Twitter and follow them. Most likely, they'll follow you back.
But Twitte
Searching and Hashtags
Beyond tweeting and following friends, celebrities, and organizations, the real strength of Twitter is in the search feature. Twitterers use hashtags (#) to denote certain topics they are discussing. For example, someone could Tweet: "Wish Mubarak would step down and end this violence #egypt." The #egypt tells readers that the tweet is about the Egypt, and other twitterers can search for the term #egypt and find out what everyone else is saying about #egypt in real time. You can also search for regular terms like pumpkin pie, Paris, or police to find any and all tweets that contain those words.
The Power
Once you know how to use hashtags and keyword searches, the real possibilities of Twitter begin to open themselves up. If you are interested in pumpkin pie, you could set up a feed that will display every tweet that contains that keyword in real time, and connect with other people who love pumpkin pie as well.
Twitter isn't just about telling people you're having a case of the Mondays or that you had a turkey sandwich for lunch. It's about being able to stay on top of specific topics, trends, and people that you are interested in. The power of Twitter is not in the tweet itself, but in the ability it gives all people to connect to the information they care about the most.
Gunter Jameson
Gunter Jameson writes for DegreeCentral.com about online college degrees. His hobbies are snowboarding and reading.
View all articles by Gunter Jameson