A beginner's guide to Twitter.

1. Twi$er
for
beginners

2. What
is
Twi$er?
• A
service
where
you
send
out
updates
(tweets)
consis<ng
of
140
characters
or
less
• It
used
to
be
you
answered
the
ques<on:
“What
are
you
doing?”;
but
now
Twi$er
is
used
for
everything
• A
way
of
building/monitoring
communi<es
• A
way
to
build
your
brand
• A
way
to
engage
your
audience

3. I
have
an
account,
now
what
do
I
do?
• Tweet!
• Find
a
way
for
Twi$er
to
work
for
you;
there
is
no
right
or
wrong
way
to
use
it.
• Don’t
want
to
par<cipate?
It’s
OK
to
be
an
observer.
• Follow
people
who
interest
you,
inspire
you

4. How
can
I
contact
people?
• Contac<ng
people
can
be
done
one
of
two
ways:
An
@
reply
or
a
direct
message
(DM)
• An
@reply
is
public,
meaning
anyone
can
see
it,
but
usually
only
by
followers
the
two
of
you
have
in
common
• A
DM
is
private,
but
you
only
can
DM
people
who
are
following
you
(and
visa
versa)
• You
can
also
send
out
a
general
plea
if
you
don’t
have
a
specific
source
in
mind

5. What
is
an
RT
and
how
do
I
do
it?
• A
retweet
(or
RT)
is
repea<ng
a
tweet
someone
else
wrote
while
s<ll
giving
them
full
credit
for
it.
• Officially
Twi$er
no
longer
allows
you
to
comment
before
an
RT
• Many
people
s<ll
do.
You
should
put
your
comment
at
the
front
of
an
RT.

6. What
about
pictures,
video?
• You
can
upload
pictures
and
videos
to
your
tweets
• This
can
be
done
via
your
smart
phone
or
via
your
computer
• Most
common
sites
for
this
are
Twitpic
and
Lockerz
(formerly
Tweetphoto/Plixi),
Yfrog
• Here’s
an
example

7. Link
shortening
• Twi$er
is
a
great
place
to
promo
your
work,
or
share
links
to
what
you’re
reading
• A
normal
link
can
take
up
valuable
characters,
so
shorten
it
using
a
URL
shortener
such
as
bit.ly,
ow.ly
or
<nyurl.com
• URL
shorteners
turn
links
like
this
into
this

8. What
the
heck’s
a
hashtag?
• Hashtags
are
used
as
tags
on
Twi$er
to
iden<fy
certain
topics
on
Twi$er
(they’re
like
tags)
• Can
help
promote
your
stories
to
specific
communi<es
• Some
hashtags
already
exist
(#$c,
#bikeTO,
#cdnpol);
see
if
yours
does
• Can
also
be
used
for
humour
or
irony
(#FAIL)

9. Ways
to
tweet
• On
the
web
(www.twi$er.com)
• With
your
smartphone
(apps
available
for
BlackBerrys,
iPhones
and
Android)
• Via
a
desktop
app
(Like
Tweetdeck)
• No
smartphone?
No
problem!
You
can
tweet
via
text.
Go
to
your
seengs
page
on
your
twi$er
account,
then
click
on
mobile.
Fill
in
the
blanks,
and
voila!

10. Is
there
anything
I
can’t
tweet?
• Make
sure
you
follow
the
Star’s
social
media
policy
• Don’t
tweet
anything
par<san
that
could
undermine
your
credibility
or
the
credibility
of
the
paper
• Tweet
about
your
personal
life
with
cau<on,
remember
your
tweets
are
public
• If
you
have
ques<ons,
ask
your
supervisor

11. Do
I
delete
the
tweet?
• Twi$er
is
an
immediate
medium.
Because
it’s
not
just
on
the
web,
there
is
no
way
to
completely
delete
your
tweet
• If
you
make
a
mistake,
acknowledge
it
in
a
follow
up
tweet,
and
to
those
who
tell
you
you’re
wrong
• Be
transparent,
don’t
try
to
hide
it:
Because
people
can
RT
your
tweet,
it’s
recommended
you
do
not
delete
to
“cover”
your
tracks

12. Remember,
it’s
called
SOCIAL
media
• If
you
want
to
increase
your
amount
of
followers,
it’s
important
to
respond
to
your
followers
when
they
@reply
you
• Try
to
strike
a
balance
between
twee<ng
out
your
stories
and
showing
your
personality
• Warn
followers
when
you
will
be
twee<ng
heavily
• Share
with
them
what
you’re
reading,
listening
to,
etc.

13. Twi$er
terms
• RT:
Retweet
• MT:
Modified
retweet
(if
you
cut
stuff
out
and
add
commentary,
it’s
an
MT,
not
an
RT)
• H/T:
Hat
<p
(who
showed
you
the
link,
but
the
tweet
content
is
yours),
can
also
use
via
@
• DM:
Direct
message

14. Any
ques<ons?