An Idiots Guide To Twitter – What To Know and Be Aware Of
Are you new to social media and want to learn the basics of one of the coolest platforms in the world? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Twitter is a social networking service where close to 330 million users connect with each other through brief messages of up 280 characters. At this point there’s almost 6,000 tweets being sent through the web every second, ranging from basic text messages to images, gifs, memes, videos, and much more. Twitter is one of the most praised social networking platforms and is very different to other social media giants like Facebook and Instagram.
Twitter is a platform where people exchange an assortment of information; from politics, jokes, news, or just general thoughts about obscure topics! Instead of having a circle of friends like Facebook, Twitter is based on followers (not specifically friends) so not only can you interact with friends, but also your favourite journalists, politicians, and sport stars alike. Everything you submit on Twitter is accessible publicly for everyone to find, but don’t stress, you can quickly modify your preferences to private if you prefer to.
The initial step in understanding Twitter is to understand the basic terms and lingo used. The following lists the most conventional vernacular:
Tweet – A 280-character message
Retweet (RT) – Sharing a tweet created by another user
Feed – The list of tweets you’ll find on your homepage from people that you choose to follow
Handle – Your username
Mention (@) – A way of referencing other members in a tweet (e.g. @EAGames). Any user mentioned in a tweet is informed, being a simple way to engage with other members publicly
Direct Message (DM) – A private message (280 characters) sent to another user. You can either decide to accept DM’s from all members or just users that you follow
Hashtag (#) – A keyword or phrase used to describe a topic or theme in a conversation (e.g. #Vegans). You can find tweets from all users that mention a specific hashtag by clicking the hashtag itself.
Creating an Account
Creating an account is simple and easy, just download the app or head to www.twitter.com and click the signup tab. The full name you insert will be your display name, but this can be changed as often as you want. Decide on a username (or handle) so users can mention you by typing the @ symbol before your username. After you’ve typed in your telephone number for validation purposes, chosen an avatar, and penned a quick bio about yourself so others can see your hobbies and interests, you’re all set to go!
Joining the Twitterverse
As stated earlier, Twitter isn’t about friending, it’s about following. Not only can you follow your friends, but also any other individuals of which you’re an admirer. Once you’ve subscribed, Twitter will present a helpful sort of setup wizard to help you get started, such as recommending some people that you might want to follow. You can grant Twitter permission to surf your contacts list to uncover any of your friends that are using Twitter. Following friends and other users is extremely easy, and once you’ve begun following certain users, Twitter will continue to offer suggestions for other users to follow based on the sorts of users you’re actively following. All the tweets of your followers will show in your Feed, so the more you follow, the more Tweets will appear in chronological order in your Feed.
You can Tweet anything you like, so long as it abides by Twitters rules and guidelines (https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-rules). This includes mentioning other users (@), promoting a topic or theme (#), or Retweeting other user’s comments (RT). Simply select the ‘Compose New Tweet’ button and you can Tweet text, videos, gifs, photos, images – a full range of different media that can be uploaded via your device. Keep in mind though, videos can only be up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds long, however photos and images do not count towards your character limit, which is pretty cool!
Once you’ve understood the basics of Twitter, the world is virtually at your fingertips! You can keep up to date with the latest trends, be the first to see viral posts, and socialise with your friends and favourite personalities in a simple and easy to use interface.
Once you’ve got started using Twitter, the rest will fall into place naturally, so why join the Twittersphere today? If you need any guidance with getting started on Twitter, simply speak to Internet Marketing Experts Mackay on 1300 595 013, or visit our website for additional information: Digital Marketing Mackay