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When Twitter placed me on the Suggested User List, I was asked daily by new users how to use the service. Instead of answering the same question 10,000 times, I whipped up a quick Twitter FAQ page for newbies.
Twitter Abbreviations:
RT- Retweet
OH- Overheard
DM- Direct Message (private messages between Twitter users.) Except for DMs, all messages on Twitter can be viewed by other people. Tweets are also indexed by search engines, meaning people not on Twitter can also see your tweets.
#whatever- Hashtag used to make the discussion easier to find through Twitter search.
Most Twitter shorthand is the same shorthand people use to text (LOL for laugh out loud, JK for just kidding, ect.)
There are also other terms and tricks you can use to do different cool tricks inside of Twitter. Learn more here.
A Word On Retweeting
Retweets. You want to know how effective you are in getting your message out across Twitter? Look at how often your message is retweeted. Retweeting messages you enjoy are, first, a compliment, and second, one of the best ways to help build a community.
How to use them? Retweet the stuff you like. Put RT (this is short for re-tweet) and then the message beginning and ending with quotations (space permitting). If the message is too long, take out the quotes and remove “extra” words that do not alter the message.
The best option: You can also totally re-write the original message and put (via @whatever) at the end of the message.
With the new retweet feature (Project Retweet), retweeting is now as easy as pressing a button. There is even a new option on the side panel, right under @Yourusername where you can see all of the retweets involving you in some way.
If you want to edit what you’re about to retweet, just use the via method mentioned above.
Community Building On Twitter
Anything or anyone that tells you how to market on Twitter just want to make money off of you. The number of followers you have? It doesn’t matter as long as the people following you are interested in what you are tweeting about.
The number of Twitter Lists you appear on? That’s also totally irrelevant.
Here is everything else you need to know about Twitter Lists.
The Golden Rule Of Gaining Twitter Followers
Tweet with consistency and quality. If you do, people will follow you on Twitter.
Other Suggestions To Gain (Worthwhile) Followers
1. Fill out your bio completely. It helps to clearly define what you will be tweeting about. If you don’t, we might think you’re spam.
2. Follow some of the people who follow you. You don’t need to follow everyone though, just those you’re interested in.
-Use Tweetdeck or another application to help filter messages. You can also use Socialtoo to automate the following and unfollowing process.
*Note: I do NOT use Tweetdeck (too slow, sucks up computer memory), but if you have questions concerning the use of the program, all your Tweetdeck answers can be found here.
3. Be consistent with your tweets. If you want to tweet about something else, set up another profile. BUT! Don’t just create a separate profile if it’s just going to be your links and @ replies. That’s just stupid.
4. Enter yourself into all the Twitter directories.
5. When you comment on blogs, or send emails, include your Twitter URL.
6. 3 to 1. If you tweet with someone more than three times, switch to direct messages. You may like the conversation, but the rest of the folks following you might not want to read everything.
7. Find interesting links. Do NOT link out to things you have already seen on Twitter, just retweet the ones you like when you see them and find things that are relevant to what you tweet about.
8. For every self promotional link, you must tweet five links that have nothing to do with you.
Misc. Twitter Tips
-DO NOT link your Facebook and Twitter account. Long, boring explanation. Trust me. Use the Selective Twitter application on Facebook. If you end your tweet with #FB, it will update your Facebook status. If you don’t, there won’t be a Facebook update.
-I use bit.ly to shorten my links. You should use this or another service to shorten links to help make your tweets easier to share.
-Getting spam? Follow @Spam and report the user. Then block them. You can also use Twitchuck to help identify potential spammers.
-Deleting a tweet (by pressing the trash icon) does NOT delete your tweet if it has been sent out, it just removes it from your profile. The lesson? Think before you tweet.
-Follow people that follow you if you want. At the end of the day, you need to figure out how much noise you can manage.
Photo Credit: Matt Ham
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