Getting started with TwitterGetting started with Twitter

a guide for beginnersa guide for beginnersHuib Koeleman, May2010Huib Koeleman, May2010

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Negative views on twitter

It takes time

You can’t twitter at work

Twitter contributes to information overload

Twitter is a techno nerds hobby.

Twitter cannot be controlled

Twitter doesn’t replace email

Twitter makes the organisation vulnerable

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Positive views on twitter

Twitter makes interesting items visible

Twitter helps to get feed-back after a meeting

Twitter is faster than any other channel

Twitter makes it easy to organise meetings

Twitter is great for polls and surveys

Twitter unites people who want to share knowledge

Twitter offers a forum

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What is your aim with twitter?

1. Contact friends and family?

2. Know what’s going on in the world?

3. Share knowledge and keep in touch with colleagues?

Tips

In the case of 1 and 2 you can use a fun name and an avatar

In the case of 3 you better use your real name, so people can find you. It makes you more trustworthy (and it prevents other people from using your name)

Don’t use dots, spaces or comma’s . The shorter the name the better

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How to start a twitter account

Full Name: use your full name. (Search machines can find you now)

Username: The name that pops up at the twitter screen Tip: keep it short and simple

Web: your website, or your LinkedIn web address

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Make it easy to be found! Use “settings” & “profile”

Use a recognizable picture with a smile (max 700k). It makes you reliable (cartoons can be fun, but not for business purposes, logos make it impersonal)

Bio: the more words/tags you write down, the easier you can be found. Use words like ‘project manager’, ´communication’, ‘infrastructure’, (check the examples on the tweepguide),

Location: the place where you live or work

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How do I find friends and interesting people to follow?

Type at “Find People” the name of a person you know. If the right person appears, follow that person by clicking the follow-button (the +)

Google can help too; just search for a name, in combination with “twitter”

Other sources:

Search the twitter web with # (hashtag) on keywords. That’s a great way to find people with the same interests.

Look at www.tweepz.com . It searches biographies on key words

Or follow the original source of a retweeted message

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By clicking the word “profile” you can see your own tweets

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In the field “what’s happening” you can leave your tweet in 140 characters (and click on “tweet”)

And if you want to reply.... Click on “reply” and write your answer.

If you want to share a message click on “retweet” (you can also copy and paste, and add your own comment)

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The twitter language

Follower: someone who follows you and gets all your messages on screen

Reply: reply on an older message

D (or direct message) a reply on an older message that’s not public. Only the other respondent can read it. (Direct messages are only possible when you follow a person)

RT: retweet, to copy that interesting message you’ve received to your own followers

#: hashtag. You use it for a key word. When other tweeters click the hashtag, they can see all the messages using that same key word.

Listed: you can list the people you follow (work, friends, et cetera). NB you can choose to follow lists of other tweeters , and they can follow your lists.

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Hashtag #

A label you use to tag a topic, some examples #ashtag: everything about the ashcloud #internalcomms: internal communication

If you want to follow a discussion on hastags? Use www.twubs.com

Don’t invent your own hashtag. Check twubs.com first. It prevents twitter space from having different hastags for the same item

Twitterfall helps you to get recent information on a hashtag, it will show every new tweet that is posted

If the topic doesn’t have a hashtag, try search.twitter.com, Twazzup or Tweetgrid to find tweets on a certain topic

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When you click @name (“mentions”) you can see all messages that mention your twitter name (replies on one of your tweets, but also other discussions)

You can also find one-on-one messages clicking “direct messages”.

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What kind of messages should you tweet?

Basic questions

“What are you doing?, What are you working on?, What strikes you?

But also:

Links to interesting documents, blogs or sites (also your own blog or site)

Opinions on (work related) topics, don’t forget to use the #hashtag, if you do, so other people can find your opinion when they don’t follow you yet

Ask your followers questions (or ask the whole world questions, using #daretoask)

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Codes

Twitter is a friendly environment

Your followers don’t like negativism. If they don’t like what you write they will “unfollow”. And if you don’t like what you read, you can do the same

When you retweet, or quote somebody, let him or her know by using @with the name of the person

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Paper.li helps you to have an overview of your tweets

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Some suggestions

Your tweets are visible for everybody in the whole world, EVERYBODY. Even when you retweet to a message. That’s a big difference to email.

The group of people you choose to follow, doesn’t have to be exactly the same group of people that follows you.

Check “mentions” on a regular base, otherwise you don’t see the messages from people who are not on your list of people you follow

Following famous people can be fun, but don’t expect them to react on your messages. Real communication takes place between you and your friends/colleagues

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Some suggestions (2)

Links to articles, blogs and sites are great for sharing knowledge

Attach pictures or videos. They draw a lot of attention

You only have 140 characters. Use TinyURL to make links tiny

Don’t expect to have 100 followers in two weeks’ time. It takes more time for the right people to find you.

Using twitter costs time and energy. If you don’t want to spend that time, don’t start twitter.

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Some suggestions (3)

5 to 5 rule. To be of any interest to others you should post at least 5 messages a week. To prevent overload, you shouldn’t tweet more than five messages a day

Reply on tweets of others

And if it’s a private matter: use “direct message”

And… you don’t have to read everything.

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Monitoring

Monitor if other tweeters use your name (@name), or use Search.twitter.com, CoTweet.com or Hootsuite.com to discover how they talk about you or your company

Or use Twanalyst, Twitalyzer or Twittergrader to find out what kind of tweeter you are.

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And if you are an organisation

Find out if your target group uses twitter.

Start monitoring, organise a web care team

What’s your PR- or marketing-strategy? What role can twitter play in that strategy?

Start one or more accounts to tweet

Use your website and blogs to mention your twitter address and the other way around

And keep tweeting

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An astonishing amount of time is An astonishing amount of time is being wasted on investigating the being wasted on investigating the amount of time being wasted on amount of time being wasted on

social networks.social networks.

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Sources

Blogs and articles on my website (some in English, some in Dutch) www.twitterenopjewerk.nl

My followers and all the people who joined me in discussions

Follow me at twitter.com/huibkoeleman

In Dutch:

“Aan de slag met twitter”, Paulus Veltman

“Strategisch Twitter & Yammer”, Savitri Changoe, Furoz Ramanand, Christel van Capelleveen, Christel van Capelleveen

“Zakelijk Twitteren”, Saskia de Laat

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http://www.slideshare.net/huib.koeleman/twitter-at-work-social-media-and-employee-communications