To tweet or not to tweet?

Need to know stuff• Twitter is an online message subscription service.• Twitter is free.• Individual messages are called ‘tweets’.• Registered users can read and post tweets, but

unregistered users can only read them.• Users access Twitter through the website

interface, SMS, or mobile device app.• Users subscribe to other peoples’ conversations by

‘following’ them.• You can interact with tweets in a number of ways:

replying, retweeting and favouriting.

A Twitter account can be used to:• circulate your news;• support partner organisations and their

events; • participate in general arts and cultural

conversations;• and to provide twitter streams from

professional development and major cultural events.

The anatomy of a tweet

• Tweets are a mini messages of 140 characters.• There are two parts of a tweet which are integral

to sending one: the handle or address, and the message.

• Tweets can carry photos and web addresses (urls) to other things on the internet.

• Links are auto-generated using a link shortening facility.

• All attachments to a tweet count in the 140 character limit.

• @MGNSW is a twitter handle• It identifies you, locates you, and functions

like an email address or an url.• Several handles can be added to a tweet to

send your message to multiple recipients.

Handles

Good morning @MGNSW @GoGogirl @Yourmuseum, welcome to our ABC of Twitter!

• Handles are used as in-tweet text to save characters.

It was a pleasure to meet @yourmuseum at the seminar today.

It was a pleasure to meet ‘Your Museum’ at the seminar today. @yourmuseum

instead of this:

Type this:

Hashtags

• Hashtags are really useful – they help you find things.

• You can create hashtags yourself or follow trending ones. Use the search bar to find them.

• Hashtags are most effective in conversations about current issues with multiple parties.

• They are essential in creating or participating in a twitter stream used at conferences and live events.

• A twitter stream is aimed at circulating the main points or the essence of a presentation and sharing these with your followers.

• This @MGNSW seminar has made my day #drearyseminars #letmegohome

Hashtags can be used just for fun.

Rules of engagement for hashtags

• Get a grip! No more than 2 per tweet.• Ensure they relate to an event or a trending

topic.• Don’t let them get lost: be accurate in

transcribing them.• Use the hashtag to replace the name of the

event rather than adding it at the end.

It was a pleasure to meet @yourmuseum at #ABCseminar today.

• Hashtags are written without spaces or any special characters. Anywhere.

• Some hashtags are designed for readability, graphic presentation etc. but this makes no difference to the way they are stored and retrieved by a server.

In Twittersphere: #MGimagine = mgimagine = MGIMAGINE = mgImAgInE

Good: #MGimagineGood: #ArtPowerBad: #MGareawesomeevenifitstrueBad: #MGNSWrocksUgly: Don’t use #wonderful #beautiful #loveit unless you are deliberately being #funny.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Yes: Am loving the #ABCseminar today @MGNSWNo: Am loving the ABC Twitter seminar today @MGNSW #ABCseminar

Retweeting, replying, favouriting

• Retweeting: passing on a message from one set of followers to another.

• It’s viewed as polite and generous and it will earn you friends.

• Twitter automatically adds ‘RT’ meaning retweet when you hit the retweet button. This lets others know you are passing something on from one source to another.

• Its OK to modify the content of the tweet to say something as long as you don’t change the meaning or remove critical info.

Original tweet: Stars + Stripes American Art of the 21st Century from the Goldberg Collection opens tonight at 8pm @BRAG bit.ly/1wIqMMn

Our retweet: This is a great show, we’ll be there! RT Stars + Stripes opens tonight at 8pm @BRAG bit.ly/1wIqMMn

• To reply use the return arrow.• Replying means the message goes back to the

sender and can be seen by everyone!• It’s the way conversations are generated.• Favouriting adds the tweet to your

notifications so others can see it.• It’s an excellent way of supporting things that

have been widely circulated, or when you are in a hurry or have nothing else to say.

• Don’t confuse replying with direct message.• Direct messages are ‘private’ messages and

are accessed using the cog icon.• You can only send a direct message to

someone who follows you.

Twitter niceties

• DON’T USE ALL CAPS. PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE SHOUTING AT THEM!

• Know and understand that Twitter is a public forum; be mindful of what you say and what you imply.

• @MGNSW would love to connect with you via Twitter – if you are starting off, why not follow us and copy, replicate what we are doing until you get the hang of it.

If you touch on a sensitive issue, or manage to attract a stalker, best practice is to:• Apologise for any offence caused, then,• Keep quiet for a while and let it pass.• Time is your ally in all things social media

and currency is critical.