1. Taking on TwitterYour guide to getting the most out of this valuable tool.

2. The first thing we are going to do is go over just the basics.3. Twitter is an application that allows you to post 140 characters. You posts get sent out to the

people that subscribe to you and they accumulate on your Twitter profile, like a mini blog. Don’t be fooled by the size, There is a lot you can say in 140 characters.

4. Through Twitter you will meet new people who have the same interests as you, you will network with people in your field, and you can easily get an audience with people who are already influencing your interests.

5. Once you have an account on Twitter, you can start following others, posts some tweets, and you’ll have some followers in no time.

6. In five easy steps, here’s how you can get started on Twitter. Log on to twitter.com and set up an account. Enter in your profile information when prompted. Start a search and follow some friends already on twitter. Later on you’ll learn that you just don’t have to check Twitter on Twitter.com. Lastly, get posting yourself.

7. Twitter changes it’s interface every so often like other sites such as Facebook and YouTube. However, these are the main components, no matter where they are on the page. The first area is the Tweet area, where you can post your 140 characters. Below that are a few tabs that we’ll review in a bit. Below that is your Twitter feed filled with all of your and your friend’s tweets. This page also shows you how many tweets you’ve posted and your most up to date tweet. Below that, you can see how many people you are following, and how many people are following you. We’ll discuss favorites and lists later on as well. You’ll be able to see what topics are trending right now, and Twitter makes suggestions for who you should follow based on who you are already following and who your followers are following.

8. There are some need-to-know terms in Twitter, too. So it might help if we review the terminology.

9. On Twitter you can talk to people by including an @ symbol in front of their username. If you include a D and a space, that is a direct message only shared between the two of you. If you like someone’s posts and you want to share it with your own followers, you can retweet it. Lastly, you can search for tweets about a particular topic by search for terms.

10. You can organize the people you follow into lists, for example my lists are Buffalonians, edulovers, and Canisius, the college I work for. You can also choose to favorite a particular tweet if you’d like to come back to it later.

11. Hashtags are widely used on Twitter. You can put a hash symbol in front of a word or string of words to create a hashtag. Some people make up their own hashtags. Others follow the same one, like FF or follow Friday. Some hashtags I follow include #edchat and #Buffalo.Once you choose an application to view Twitter in, you’ll be able to view just this hashtag conversation, if you’d like. Hashtags can be placed anywhere in your tweet.

12. Because you only have 140 characters on Twitter, you may want to look into a hashtag shortener. Google even has its own now, goog.le. Completely free. Most applications have a URL shortener built in, but there are plenty on the Web for those that don’t.

13. If you have a blog or Web site, you can share your Twitter feed and invite new users by placing a widget on the site. The Twitter widget code and directions are available on Twitter.com. And yes, it’s a free application.

14. As I mentioned before, there are many ways you can access Twitter on the Internet or mobile device.

15. Because there are so many different ways to post to Twitter and monitor your feed, most users rarely use the Twitter Web site.

16. One desktop application that I use is TweetDeck. I’ll tell you a bit about why this application is so dynamic.

17. Not only can you post to multiple Twitter accounts, but you can post to different social networking sites at the same time: LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, and the list keeps growing. You simply sign up your information for that application and then click on that particular button when you are ready to post to it.

18. You can choose to view your entire feed, or one of those lists I was talking about earlier by creating an extra column for that list.

19. Through Tweetdeck, you can follow people that you aren’t already following, you can favorite a tweet, retweet a tweet, reply or mention someone, and carry on a direct conversation. You can also display columns for just the people who have retweeted or mentioned you so you can get back to them later.

20. One column I love is the New Followers column, and I always make sure to say hello and thanks for following. As I mentioned before, direct messages are only messages shared between you and the other individual. You’ll definitely want to have a column for direct messages as well so you can view them.

21. Not only can you create a column for one of your lists, you can also create one for any hashtag or topic. Everyone that has placed that hashtag or topic term in their post will come up.

22. Another application I use all the time is CoTweet. Although CoTweet is like TweetDeck in many ways, there are some things is does differently or uniquely from TweetDeck.

23. In CoTweet you can easily schedule a post. You can choose the account to send it from, choose when to send it. Like TweetDeck, CoTweet has an automatic URL shortener built in. Enter in your Tweet and hit Post Update and it’s scheduled.

24. CoTweet is known for allowing multiple people to manage one account, like a business Twitter account. Simply invite your colleague and both of you can tweet when you are ‘on duty’. You’ll also be able to assign tweets, like comments or concerns, to each other to reply to later.

25. I really love CoTweet’s searchpad. It’s so easy to use and really visually appealing. 26. One thing I love about CoTweet is being able to automatically assign hashtags to an account.

They can be edited anytime you create a tweet for an account, but I love not having to punch them in everytime I post.

27. One thing I want to leave you with today are some tips that I learned for taking on twitter. 28. Sites like We Follow and Klout allow you to view your rankings in the Twittersphere. WeFollow

tracks the top Twitter users based on the number of followers and lists them under different categories based on their influence. The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger

sphere of influence. Klout gives you a bit more background information that can give you more insight for how you can improve and extend your reach and focus. Both free.

29. Businesses are also using Twitter to seek out new clients. Listen in on conversations about their product and try to solve the issues that come up. They are also pitching in to topic conversations and staying on top of trends in their field.

30. Like individuals, businesses are also learning they can’t do everything on Twitter, and so, they have to focus. Whether it’s customer service or highlighting personalities in the company.

31. One resource I was the share with you in Dave Fleet. A few of the ideas compiled in the presentations were generated from his site.

32. Lastly, if you’d like to hear more about what I have to say, here is my info. Good luck in the Twittersphere.