Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Twitter - New At Twitter



New to Twitter and can't get yourself to fit in there. Here is a starters guide to help you.

First go the basic process of getting the Profile ready:
* Don't waste much time and get a real decent and short username(Eg: Sumeet ). A short but meaningful username is the key to get a jump start(Try to get user name less than 10 letters with no numbers and no symbols).
* Next get the much needed profile picture. Your own picture is a really what you need when you begin. You can later change it to a logo or whatever when you get enough followers.
* Adding your location is a real deal as you can get up-close with the people from you part of the world. This is what actually Twitter's important use. You get info, help which matters to you. You can also be a part of “Meets” which are held.
* Next up is bio and it is as important as the others fields mentioned above. People can know your interests and then follow you. And one line is all you need to put a decent bio.
* If you have blog or site you can add it too. Its adds value to your profile.

Next lets get to know the Twitter Terminology:

Twitterers/Tweeps/Tweeples – These are people like you who use Twitter.
Updates/Tweets – This is how you'll be communicating with other people. All you do is type what you're upto and hit enter.
Replies/@replies/Reply/@replies – This is how you can sent messages to other Twitter users. All you need to do is type “@” followed by “Username of the user whom you want to reply to” followed by the message.
DM/Direct Messages – These are the private messages you send to you friends, to send these the recepient needs to be following you.
ReTweet/RT – Tweeting updates you liked by others is not plagiarising on Twitter as long as you give them credit. It is done by typing “RT” followed by “username of the original tweep” followed
by the message.
Hashtags – Updates on the same topic can be bound together to appear in search stream using “#” followed by “appropriate topic name”.

Now getting followed and finding followers:
The trick in getting started is to start small.
Follow your friends, colleagues, classmates, relative, neighbours, people from your place & other known people first. No-ones gonna follow you if you go right at it following anyone you see, so start sensible, take time. Finding first few followers is a bit slow process.
Also try to follow more active people, as hey can reciprocate faster and follow you back soon.
In the mean time keep tweeting, this lets other know its not another ghost/dead profile which one follows(read: stalks) them.
While doing this try to maintain a good followers : following ratio. Don't get overboard following people that you start following 10 times as followers(Not recommended).
Next when you have enough followers follow people with similar interests. You can find them using Twitter using search or from other twitter places.
Keep tweeting in the mean time. Tweeting is the actual way of communicating on twitter.

Other Tips:
1. Now when you're not getting a return follow, you're are free to unfollow the tweep. There is no law binding you to follow him for eternity, unless, ofcourse his/her tweets are way too good or he/she is a celeb whom you admire/love.
2.Twitter web and Mobile Twitter are not the only way you can tweet. There are lot of Twitter clients and apps. Find one that suits your need from here.
3.@reply is a good way to communicate with a friend, but don't overuse it, IM still exists for that purpose.
4.ReTweet is a good way to share the tweet you enjoyed. Its not gonna offend.
5.Be active on twitter.

Until next time.
Regards,
Sumeet

1 comment:

aritra said...

Hey,

Thats a very neat post. I would like to post the full article on my blog - Onluker.Com . Full credit will be given, along with a linkback to your blog.

Let me know if thats okay.

@aritra_m on twitter :)