Do you tweet? Do you know how to use Twitter? If the answer is “No,” you might want to check it out. With more than 175 million users worldwide, Twitter has become a powerful social media tool.
Why should I get a Twitter? Isn’t it just the same thing as Facebook status updates?
Technically, yes. Tweets are very similar to Facebook’s status updates because they both answer the question “What are you doing?” However, the Twitter newsfeed is dramatically different than the Facebook newsfeed. Unlike Facebook, “following” someone on Twitter isn’t creepy like “friending” someone on Facebook that you don’t really know.
Do you spend countless hours surfing the web, reading different websites, and constantly checking everyone’s updates on Facebook? You could save a lot of time by setting up a Twitter account, where you can get your very own feed of headlines and updates from newspapers, blogs, celebrities, fashion designers, and your friends. Everything that you want to read is together on one page!
How do I create a Twitter?
Setting up a Twitter account is really easy. Just go to www.twitter.com and click “Sign up.” Once you have your own Twitter account, you can go to “Settings” to customize your Twitter picture, background, and color scheme.
Who should I follow?
When you first get on Twitter, it can be hard to think about everyone you want to follow. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Friends – Ask around to see who has a Twitter. There are probably more people than you realize.
2. Celebrities – Who doesn’t love the Kardashians?
3. News – All major news sources, such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and CNN, use Twitter to blast breaking news and feature stories.
4. Organizations – Tons of clubs at BC use Twitter (cough cough @hercampus)
5. Companies – If you’re interviewing with a company, following them on Twitter can be very helpful
My top 5:
1. Chelsea Handler
2. TechCrunch (I’m a nerd)
3. The Ellen Show
4. Boston College
5. Kourtney Kardashian
What should I tweet about?
Anything and everything. You can attempt to say something funny or you can just share YouTube videos, pictures, or interesting links.
Twitter is confusing! Help me!!
If you are in college right now, you grew up with Facebook. As a result, Twitter can be frustrating at first because it doesn’t work the same way. You can’t write on people’s walls or tag them in a picture, but there are a lot of other cool things that you can do!
Here’s some Twitter terminology (Twitology?):
1. The “#” symbol – used in front of a key word in a Tweet. For example, if you are tweeting about your new pair of sunglasses, you can type in #sunglasses somewhere in your tweet to categorize it. Adding this keyword will link your tweet to other people who are also tweeting about sunglasses.
2. The @ symbol – used before Twitter usernames. Instead of writing on someone’s wall you can mention them in your tweet by using the @ symbol before their username. Mentioning someone in your tweet will add a direct link to the other person’s Twitter profile. When someone mentions you in their tweet, it shows up under Mentions on your homepage.
3. Trending Topics – On the right side of your homepage, you will see topics that are the most commonly tweeted topics worldwide. You can also set it to your current city.
4. Yfrog, Twitpic – Since you can’t upload pictures directly on Twitter’s website, people use other websites like yfrog or Twitpic to tweet their pictures.
5. Link shorteners – In order to stay within the 140 character maximum per tweet, people use websites like http://bit.ly/ to shorten their links.
I know that it might sound confusing at first, but it’s really not hard. Once you get the hang of it and find people you want to follow, you will love Twitter! Feel free to follow me (@kjmckenna11) and let me know if you have any problems!
Photo Sources:
www.twitter.com