Twitter 101

If you have heard of Twitter but never tried it, or when you did, you didn’t quite ‘get it’. Here is some step by step instructions on Twitter 101 on how to become a proficient tweeter. First go to www.Twitter.com and register for a username, make it a name that you can identify with (possibly your first_lastname, or something you enjoy), this way when you are asking for a follow the person can quickly identify who and what you are. The most important next step imo is filling out your profile description. You will have limited characters so please use keywords that pertain to what will identify you. Best thing is to always write about who you are and what you are passionate about. The worst thing you can do is leave a blank profile, numerous blog posts reference what a negative impact this appears to a prospective followerer.

Learn how to tweet

Now to get to the lessons that will help you tweet correctly. First read this Twitter Guide book from Mashable. An excellent beginners guide to the world of Twitter. Gaining a following in Twitter takes hard work if you want to do it the right way. There are paid services where you can buy followers but I don’t believe that is the path you want to take. The biggest thing you must do is “be yourself”. Talk about what you enjoy and what you believe in. Try and limit status updates about where you are at or what you are eating, this in my experience does not usually bring you more followers. But they can be important if used in a limited fashion especially if it is to promote an event or product. The Twitter world is what you make of it by the actions, conversations and connections you make. An important lesson is in the use of a ‘mention’, which is just adding a person’s handle in a reply that begins with an @ sign. Anytime your handle is used by someone to reference a tweet or to ‘mention’, this is flagged as a separate action in your Twitter client. Mentions adds visibility to your profile and ties you back to that person. By doing this as much as possible for others, it will be noted and help increase your following. Also you need to ‘retweet’ (RT), which is to repeat what someone has tweeted – some platforms allow you to retweet with comment which is a huge plus, since you can give some feedback. The retweet is very powerful tool, as it spreads the message of the person you are retweeting, which in turn makes them appreciate you more. It is similar to a Facebook ‘Like’, only in so far as it shows you like what the person tweeted. This action in my experience helps greatly in getting that person to follow you back. Twitter is an awesome, almost enigmatic social platform, that really takes awhile to get the hang of. But if you use the above steps you will gain a good size following, and enjoy the connections you make. Say what you mean, retweet what you like, reply (mention) when you want to respond, and keep involved. This Twitter 101 lesson, will be followed with more fascinating posts and how-tos on how to get the most out of your Twitter experience. please follow me @webdevpatches and I’ll follow back.