How to Tweet
By Cynthia Livingston
Social networking has become an online epidemic over the past few years. With almost everyone having or knowing someone with a Xanga, Myspace or Facebook, it’s not surprising that these websites have grown in popularity. Twitter, one form of social networking, has taken public and social writing to a new level. Twitter allows authors, actors, businesses, and the general public people to express themselves in a variety of ways. This particular social network hosts a number of people, places and genres all in one website, and its audience is just as vast. Here’s a guide that can help you learn to tweet, or communicate, on Twitter.
Steps to creating a tweet:
Steps to creating a tweet:
Steps to Creating a Tweet:
First…Profile
Before you even begin to tweet (Twitter’s name for posting) start by setting up your profile by going to Twitter.comand clicking on the “sign up” button. First, you must come up with a Twitter user-name. This could be anything from your actual name to the name of your store( or one you like for that matter), you always have the option of changing your “name” later, but remember, the catchier your “name” the more intriguing you and your tweets will look.
Next, you can write a mini-bio, nothing too personal (internet safety!), just list something interesting about yourself or a favorite quote. This is also a place to add a link to your blog, website, facebook, or anything that can connect others to you. It is easy and effective for letting others know that you are a serious Twitter user. Profiles lacking author information are less intriguing to the readers and might be perceived as spam.
You also have the option of adding a picture of yourself, another way of drawing the reader in, most effective if twitter is for a personal use. If you want to keep your identity private you should at the very least post a picture of something to represent you. Leaving the avatar up for display might lead readers to believing you are a Twitter robot or spam. Once you have your profile set up, you are ready to move on to the next step.
Next, you can write a mini-bio, nothing too personal (internet safety!), just list something interesting about yourself or a favorite quote. This is also a place to add a link to your blog, website, facebook, or anything that can connect others to you. It is easy and effective for letting others know that you are a serious Twitter user. Profiles lacking author information are less intriguing to the readers and might be perceived as spam.
You also have the option of adding a picture of yourself, another way of drawing the reader in, most effective if twitter is for a personal use. If you want to keep your identity private you should at the very least post a picture of something to represent you. Leaving the avatar up for display might lead readers to believing you are a Twitter robot or spam. Once you have your profile set up, you are ready to move on to the next step.
Second…Topic
Pick a topic or category you want to tweet about. From advertisement to personal, you need a theme to go and stick with. If personal, keep your topics personal, if advertisement stick to advertising. It’s as simple as that.
Third…Thesis
Treat every tweet like a thesis statement. State everything you wish to post in one phrase (within the 140 character guideline) and your point, idea, statement, advertisement etc. will be made. If you have a blog, website, etc. and wish to elaborate, make your tweet the starting point for further discussion. If your tweet is about advertising, news, etc, state the most important part, like the headline or caption, and attach a link to elaborate.
Fourth...Format
You've got 140 characters or less to communicate one thought, this is why a thesis tweet is so important. This means you will need to become an expert in the art of abbreviating. For example, substituting words with number or spelling words in a shorter form. All spelling and grammar rules go out the window when writing this particular genre.
Title.
A few examples:
Lol: laughing out loud
4= for
C=see
Evry1=everyone
Lol: laughing out loud
4= for
C=see
Evry1=everyone
Fifth...How Often?
Once you have you profile, picture, topic and thesis tweets ready you need to think about how often you want to tweet. Depending on your “followers” (the people who read your tweets, or audience) this could be different for everyone. For some it is obvious, for example every time there is a sale Target will tweet about it. But for personal use, it is up to the “twittee” (person who tweets, or author) to decide how often tweeting will occur.
Tips!
• Have a popular topic to share? Twitter allows for certain topic to become trending topics, meaning everyone is talking about it. To be in on the buzz, you simply put a number sign(#) before the topic and then tweet about it, for example, #howtotweet.
• Want to respond to someone else’s tweet? Simply put an “at” sign (@) before their username and respond in the form of a tweet, still sticking to 140 characters or less. Example: @Target
• Want to send a tweet to someone no one else can read? There is a tab on Twitter that allows you to “direct message” a friend, college, celebrity, etc. Just click on the tab, pick the person you wish to message and tweet away. Keep in mind however, the same guidelines apply to a direct tweet as do the normal ones.
• Have a website you want to share? Simply type the link and Twitter will automatically shorten it to allow room for an explanation.
• Have a great picture to share? There are third party websites that allow you to attach pictures to you tweets. One that Twitter users often use isTwitpic.com. It works with Twitter, and allows for users to post a picture, write about it, and automatically post to as a tweet. Just go to Twitpic.com, sign in(same as your Twitter account), browse your computer or upload from your phone for a picture, write a tweet to go with it and you are done!
• Want to respond to someone else’s tweet? Simply put an “at” sign (@) before their username and respond in the form of a tweet, still sticking to 140 characters or less. Example: @Target
• Want to send a tweet to someone no one else can read? There is a tab on Twitter that allows you to “direct message” a friend, college, celebrity, etc. Just click on the tab, pick the person you wish to message and tweet away. Keep in mind however, the same guidelines apply to a direct tweet as do the normal ones.
• Have a website you want to share? Simply type the link and Twitter will automatically shorten it to allow room for an explanation.
• Have a great picture to share? There are third party websites that allow you to attach pictures to you tweets. One that Twitter users often use isTwitpic.com. It works with Twitter, and allows for users to post a picture, write about it, and automatically post to as a tweet. Just go to Twitpic.com, sign in(same as your Twitter account), browse your computer or upload from your phone for a picture, write a tweet to go with it and you are done!
A Few Examples:
Advertisement: @Target Badtz-Maru has great penguin style. Get his look with this limited time Sanrio hoodie on http://spr.ly/6013JJd these won’t last!
Entertainment: @S**tmydadsays “Nervous? In 5 billion years the sun will burn out and nothing you did will matter. Feel better?" (Show airs tonight! 830/730c CBS).”
Personal: @Carcam13 “Cooking Italian and reading Kitchen Confidential...yeah I like theme nights :)”.
Celebrity: @Justinbieber “no one keeps my music from my fans. nobody. #gangsta”
Informative/news: @peoplemag “Congrats to The Amazing Race's Chad and Stephanie!http://ow.ly/3gqwx”
Entertainment: @S**tmydadsays “Nervous? In 5 billion years the sun will burn out and nothing you did will matter. Feel better?" (Show airs tonight! 830/730c CBS).”
Personal: @Carcam13 “Cooking Italian and reading Kitchen Confidential...yeah I like theme nights :)”.
Celebrity: @Justinbieber “no one keeps my music from my fans. nobody. #gangsta”
Informative/news: @peoplemag “Congrats to The Amazing Race's Chad and Stephanie!http://ow.ly/3gqwx”
Once you have done all of the above, you will be an expert in the world of Twitter. Have fun and tweet away!
