How to Set-Up a Basic Twitter Page 1. Go to http://twitter.com and find the sign up box, or go directly to https://twitter.com/signup 1 2. Enter your full name, email address, and a password 3. Click Sign up for Twitter 4. On the next page, you can select a username to help other users identify you on Twitter) Type your own or choose one Twitter has suggested. Twitter will tell you if the username you want is available or not by indicating a green check mark or a red x. 5. Double-check your name, email address, password, and username for correct spelling 6. Click Create my account Tips for picking a username: Your username is the name your followers use when sending @replies, mentions, and direct messages. It will also form the URL of your Twitter profile page so you ll want to make it specific to your practice or business. Twitter will provide several available suggestions when you sign up, but feel free to choose your own and make it unique. Usernames must be fewer than 15 characters in length and cannot contain admin or Twitter, in order to avoid brand confusion. Please note: You can change your username in your account settings at any time, as long as the new username is not already in use. Important information about your email address: 1. An email address can only be associated with one Twitter account at a time. 2. The email address you use on your Twitter account is not publicly visible to others on Twitter but will be used to help you log in. 3. Twitter uses the email you enter to verify your new Twitter account. Be sure to enter an email address that you actively use and have access to. Check your inbox for a confirmation email to make sure you signed up for your account correctly. First steps after you ve created your account: After signing up, follow a handful of accounts you re interested in to create a customized stream of information on your homepage. Following a user means their Tweets will show up in your daily Twitter feed. You can unfollow anyone at any time. Also, make sure to take the Twitter Tour to find out where things are on Twitter s website. This will help make navigating Twitter easier the next time you log in! 3
Customizing Your Profile Design If you want to upload your own background image or customize the sidebar and color scheme of your page, follow the steps below: 1. Sign in to your account. Go to your Settings and click on the Design tab, then scroll down to the Customize your own section. 2. Click on Choose file to upload a background image. Images justify to the top left of the screen but you can easily change the default setting. Also, you cannot stretch your image to fit the screen. It will display as the size you uploaded (file must be smaller than 2MB). 3. Check the box to Tile background if you want your picture to repeat across the background. 4. Choose whether your Background position will be left, center or right. 5. If your image is not very large, you can choose a background color that will show behind the image. 6. Next, choose a color for your links. All URL s and hashtags will appear in this color on your profile to easily stand out. 7. Choose a black or white transparent overlay. You can also select a pre-made theme by clicking on one of the 19 provided designs you would like to use on your profile. Don t forget to click Save Changes! 4
What are Hashtags and How Do I Use Them? In Twitter, people use the hashtag symbol (#) before a relevant keyword or phrase in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets and help increase their visibility in Twitter Search. When using hashtags in Twitter, there should no space left between the # symbol and the keyword or phase (i.e. #twittertips). As with Facebook, clicking on a word with a hashtag in any tweet or message will show you all other Tweets that have been marked with that particular keyword. You can insert a hashtag anywhere in a tweet, it doesn t just have to be at the end. We recommend using 1-2 hashtags per post and using one in the middle of your phrase and one at the end. In Twitter, when a keyword or phase is hashtagged and becomes very popular among users, it often becomes a Trending Topic. Tips For Using Hashtags Correctly: If you Tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your Tweet Don t #spam a #tweet #with #hashtags. It is best practice to use no more than 2-3 hashtags per Tweet Use hashtags only on Tweets relevant to the topic. For example, if you re tweeting about marketing tips, make sure to use words that are mentioned in the blog or article you re tweeting about rather than keyword spamming. What is a Retweet and How Do I Do It? A Retweet (RT) is a re-posting of someone else s Tweet to your Twitter feed that helps you and other users quickly share that Tweet with all of your followers. Retweets look like normal Tweets with the author s name and username next to it, but are distinguished by the green Retweet icon and the name of the user who retweeted the Tweet at the top of your new post. When another user retweets your content, you will get a notification in your tab that you have been retweeted by that user. You may retweet or be retweeted by users that currently follow you or they can be new potential followers. 5
To Retweet Another Users Tweet, Follow These Steps: 1. 2. 3. 6
Tweets retweeted by other people: 1. You can see Retweets your followers have retweeted in your home timeline. 2. Retweets, like regular Tweets, will not show up from people you ve blocked. Tweets you have retweeted: 1. If you retweet someone you follow, it will be visible on your profile timeline. 2. If you retweet someone you do not follow, it will be visible on both your home and profile timelines. Your Tweets that others have retweeted: 1. Under the Notifications tab, you can see information on your new followers, Favorited tweets and Retweets as well as @mentions You can also expand these conversations to include which tweets have recently been retweeted and by whom. What does it mean to be Trending on Twitter? A trend on Twitter refers to a hashtag-driven news story or topic that is immediately popular/relevant at a particular time. Trends are listed on the Home, Notifications, Discover and Me tabs. Find them in the column on the left side of the page. To participate in a trend, just post a Tweet including the exact word or phrase as it appears in the Trends list with a hashtag. How to send a direct message A direct message (DM) is a private message that you can send to oth- Twitter users. er Please note that you can only send a direct message to a user who is following you and you can only receive a direct message from a user that you follow. 7
To send a direct message: 1. Sign in to your Twitter account. 2. Click on the envelope icon in the top right navigation bar. 3. You ll see a pop up showing your direct message history. Click the New message button. 4. In the address box, type the name or username of the person you wish to send a message to (they may be different) 5. Tip: Make sure the user you are DMing follows you. You can only send direct messages to users who follow you, even though you can receive messages from any user that you follow. 6. If you d like to include a photo in your message, click Add photo, or if you re using a Twitter app, tap the image icon near the text box. Note: When you share a photo in a DM, the photo is only viewable by the sender and recipient. 7. Enter your message and click Send message. 8
What is an @mention? An @mention is a way to directly refer to a specific user in a tweet. When you mention a person, they will receive a notification that they were mentioned in the tweet and have the opportunity to reply. This is a good way to bring relevant topics and questions to the attention of a particular user or a group of users. To @mention someone, simply use the @ symbol before their username. What is the #Discover section? How Do I use it to Find Content for Your Business? The #Discover tab is a section where you can find what is happening and trending on Twitter at this very second. This tab surfaces the most popular content from around Twitter and is personalized for you. When you use the Discover tab, you will see results reflecting your interests based on your current location and who you follow. The #Discover tab has 5 navigation tabs that allow you to customize your interests further: Tweets, Activity, Who to follow, Find friends, and Popular accounts. 9
The Tweets tab within #Discover reveals the best Tweets from all across Twitter from a variety of sources. Twitter uses algorithms that examine all of the tweets on Twitter to find the best content. Some of this content is tailored to you based on the people that you follow as well as the people that they follow. The Activity tab is where you can discover what the people you care about are engaging with on Twitter. Activity shows the latest Favorites, Retweets, and Follows made by the people you follow on Twitter all in one place. Find new and interesting accounts to follow in the Who to follow tab. Twitter makes recommendations based on the accounts you re already following and keywords listed in your bio. The Find friends tab allows you to follow friends and colleagues with a simple contact import from your email address book. The Popular accounts tab within #Discover includes lists of engaging and well-liked accounts on Twitter, organized by common interests. These suggestions represent just a small sample of all of the great users and content you can follow on Twitter, but can be a great place to get started. How to Increase Your Following To help grow your initial base of followers quickly and easily, here are some additional methods you can try: 1. Schedule your tweets and tweet often. Free tools like Hootsuite allow you to schedule your tweets in advance so that you maintain a consistent flow of content, while saving time. People who post content on a regular basis tend to see more engagement and followers. 2. Mention and respond to people who are interested in similar content. When you comment on, retweet or favorite a Twitter post, consider following users who also engaged with the post. Those users will notice that you share similar interests in content and therefore be more inclined to follow you and engage with your content. 3. Follow the accounts recommended by Twitter. In the #Discover section of your dashboard, Twitter recommends Who to follow for your account. These users are usually very active and engage with their followers content regularly. 4. Use #hashtags. Using hashtags is a great way to connect to people who have similar interests and to increase the visibility of your tweets. They are also great for branding when your company is running a digital campaign. 10
The Basics of Writing a Tweet Having signed in to Twitter, you can either click on the Tweet box up in the navigation or click into the Compose a new Tweet box under your profile information: Whichever method you use, you have 140 character limit to work with. If your intended tweet is too long, the character box will turn red and show a negative number. Although you can simply give a short text update, tweets can also include links to your website, your blog, other websites and even images. Website URLs can be long, so it s important to shorten the link. One of the most popular URL shortening websites is bit.ly. Just copy and paste the URL into the bit.ly box and click Shorten. Once the link has been shortened, copy and paste that URL into your tweet. When ready, simply press the Tweet button! 11
Replying to a tweet @reply lets you not only reply to a tweet, but you can say something about the tweet you are replying to. If someone tweeted you, simply click the reply button and their @username will appear in a tweet box before your composed message: Keep in mind that you still have only 140 characters when making your reply. Unfortunately, their username in the reply counts towards your 140 character limit so be concise with your response! An ideal reply includes an @mention, text response and 1-2 hashtags. 1 The information in this section was taken from Twitter.com. The authors are no way endorsed by, or associated with, Twitter. For more information, please visit support.twitter.com 12