Week+5+-+Microblogging

**How the tweets were born**
Originally created in 2006 as a short messaging system for small groups, Twitter has since evolved into a powerful communication tool that has dramatically changed how information is shared and spread online. Twitter functions as a crowd-driven trend barometer, an information hub that is breaking news faster than news agencies. It is also a tool for people to unite and collaborate, for example to organize the 2011 Arab Spring protests, which were also coined Twitter Revolutions.

The Creation Of Twitter
In 2006 the people who were to become the founders of Twitter were working at Odeo, Inc., a San Francisco-based podcasting company founded a year earlier. The company struggled with major competition and was under pressure to come up with an innovation. In an attempt to re-invent themselves, they held “//hackathons//” or “//day long brainstorming sessions//” in smaller groups. Jack Dorsey was in one of these groups. His initial suggestion was to create an SMS service that would allow small groups to share what they are doing right now. Back in 2006 public WiFi, #|smartphones, and #|mobile Internet were far from being a commodity. However, SMS had just had a breakthrough and had become affordable in the US. When on the go, young people primarily communicated using text messages. Hence, Jack’s suggestion was instantly met with enthusiasm. Subsequently, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Florian Weber were asked to prototype Jack’s idea. Version 0.1, managed by Noah Glass, was created on March 21 2006 and was entirely web-based. For many months the project, codenamed twttr, was in “Top Secret Alpha” to stay below the radar of competition. Eventually, Twttr Beta was launched, more people were invited to join, and on July 15 2006 Twttr.com went public. Soon after, the #|domain Twitter.com was acquired and the service was re-branded.



[|www.140characters.com/2009/01/30/**how**-**twitter-was-born**/]

Danielle Ralston

=TWEET, TWEET..TWEET TWEET=

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What is Twitter? Twitter is a miniature blog. Micro-blogging is defined as a quick update containing a very limited number of characters. Twitter is limited to 140 characters. Twitter can be used for blogging, social messaging, reporting news, and just being silly (what I personally use it for). It is very easy to join Twitter. First decide which email address you want to use to sign up and then:
 * click this link
 * Fill out the required information in the link (name, username, password and email address).
 * Click on the “Create My Account” button.
 * Voila! You are now a tweep (someone who uses twitter).

After you have been on twitter for a few minutes, you might notice some slang or symbols you haven’t encountered before. Here are a few common things you might encounter and what they mean: = = =Happy Tweeting!=
 * The # symbol, known as the “hashtag” is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. This categorizes the keyword or phrase. You can click on the hashtagged words and you will be taken to all other tweets with that keyword or phrase in it. These are frequently words that “trend”, meaning many other tweeters are tweeting about it.
 * #FF means Follow Friday. This is used by tweeps to recommend other tweeps to their followers. For example you might see “ #FF @emeraldcrafton because she is awesome” (just saying, it could happen).
 * DM means “Direct Message”. These tweets are private between the sender and the recipient.
 * HT means “Hat Tip.” This is a way of acknowledging the person who originally shared the content, such as a link to an article or video.
 * The @ symbol before a name links you directly to that tweep. If you click on the name you will be redirected to his or her profile. You can also reply to someone or post to someone by typing @theirname. For example, “@emeraldcrafton, you rock”.

Edited by: Emerald Crafton

= = =Week 5 - Microblogging with Twitter=

Don't Hold Your Breath Until You're Followed
As far as Twitter and Tweets go, you can either follow or be followed. Chances are that if you are there (at [|Twitter.com]that is) then you are there to follow: either friend, family member or your favorite celebrity. If you are on Twitter to be followed, I'd say don't hold your breath.

The ratio of your Twitter followers to friends (those who follow you) is called your TFF ratio (BTW, a person who tweets is called a tweep). You can get your TFF Ratio reported to you directly in Twitter by sending a reply to @tffratio. To send a reply, begin a tweet with @tffratio. The TFF Ratio #|autoresponder will send a reply back to you. Follow [|TFF Ratio on Twitter] to see everyone's updates.

The fact is that most people have a TFF of less than 1.0 (they are followed much less than they follow), but the average tweep has approx. 30 followers. One thing that contributes to this is the fact that a lot of people who regularly tweet are in fact well-known for some reason or another, and so that boosts the number of their followers vs. most people. Also, since celebrities also generally do not automatically follow people just because they are being followed, celebrities (big & small) are usually the only ones who have TFFs of more than 1.

Edited by David Sweet

=//**Re-Tweets:**//=

So we all know how to post our own original comments. Simply type in the box whatever you're thinking or feeling, click post and you're done. What about when you've found yourself so engrossed in another's post that you want to re-post or "re-tweet" their comments?

If a user posts a tweet that you want to share with your followers, you can copy their tweet, and add "RT @username" giving the original tweeter the credit for the tweet. Twitter will also let the original tweeter know when others are reviewing and replying on the tweet that you shared. Giving credit where credit is due helps build good relationships with your followers. The other great thing about RT’s (re-tweets) is if you share something substantial, other’s will RT your update. When a tweet is shared multiple times, the original poster and every poster there after gets credit.

[|Other Helpful Twitter Tips]

Edited By Jeannie Snedegar

Teaching with Twitter
When researching on what can be done with Twitter besides just tweeting nonsense stuff, I found a few websites regarding twitter and classrooms. For me this is a little useless since I really didn't like Twitter but may be helpful for the "new generation" of kids. The URL one of the websites is http://blog.slideshare.net/2011/08/22/teaching-with-twitter-turning-microblogging-into-learning/.

The website provided a few slide shows that break down the hows and whys of certain subjects.

__Using twitter as a higher order thinking tool in the classroom__ Microblogging in Education Teaching With Twitter

posted by Cheryl Berger

To connect your Twitter account and your Facebook profile:
This can be useful if you don't have time or the ability to constantly be checking both accounts...
 * 1) Log in to the Twitter account you want to associate with your Facebook profile.
 * 2) Go to your **Settings** menu's [|**Profile** tab].
 * 3) Scroll to the bottom and click **Sign in to Facebook and connect your accounts**.
 * 4) When prompted, **select the privacy settings** for who will see your Tweets posted to your Facebook wall. It is set to public by default.
 * 5) Click **Log in with Facebook** and enter your Facebook login credentials.
 * 6) Click **Allow** to accept permissions.
 * 7) Your Tweets will now post to your profile Facebook wall and your username will be displayed there as well. Retweets and @replies will not be posted.

Edited by: Shelly West

What is this "Following" business on Twitter?
Following someone means that you choose who you see or choose to follow on your Twitter page. When you want to find someone, you can [|search for people] using their name or username. To see the list of people you're following, click on your [|'following'] link on your profile page. To see who is following you, click on your [|'Followers'] link on your profile page. Sooner or later, you may need to block someone - to do so, go to their profile page while logged in and click on the little person icon in the top right hand corner. It will give you a drop-down menu, which includes block.

Edited by Rachel Hooper

= What is a Hashtag? =

A hashtag is a word or acronym used to describe a tweet in order for people to easily follow the conversation. Hashtags began as a community effort to tag individual tweets. Once their popularity took off, Twitter began supporting hashtags by automatically linking them into the search engine.

How do I use a hashtag?
Tagging your message on Twitter is easy. Simply add a hash (#) in front of the word, phrase or acronym that best describes your message. Due to the limited number of characters allowed in a tweet, the best hashtags are usually a single word or a few letters. Hashtags do not support spaces, so if you are using two or more words as a hashtag, remember to skip the spaces. For example, hashtags for following the 2012 Olympics in London may be tagged as "#london2012"

Find the definitions to more terms in the Twitter Glossary

Edited by Tom McCarthy

Something new in the hashtag world is the WeFollow user powered Twitter directory. I added myself to this directory by clicking on the Add yourself to the WeFollow directory button. After I authorized it to access my tweets I then typed in three words that describe my tweets. I put in autobody, photography, and ceramics It then created a tweet for me to send to Twitter: Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #autobody, #photography, And #ceramics.This added me to their directory that way anyone searching for members who tweet about # autobody, #photography, and ceramics will find me, and I can find other members to follow with the same interests. Edited by, Chad Noice

=The Unwritten Rules of Hashtags= According the [] website, subheading, 3. Using hashtags, there are a few unwritten rules that come into play. First and most importantly do not overuse hashtags. Overusing hashtags causes that topic to become diluted, fragments the conversation and also seems a bit on the “spammy” side. Next a hashtag is not very useful if your followers do not get it. Including a simple and brief explanation may help your followers understand what is going on with the tweet. Finally, the hashtag should always be of some value to you and your followers. Using hashtags to organize a company’s conference is a good example.

Edited by: Danielle Howard

How to follow on Twitter:
The way to Follow is to go on somebody's Twitter page, then you'll see a button with a blue bird and the word "Follow" right next to it. Once you click on Follow, it will change to "Following". You are now following that person. While following, that allows you to view all the headline that that person post up every time you connect on Twittter. Pretty much the same thing as the News Feed on Facebook.

Edited by:

Rochiemar Carson
A Follower is a registered Twitter user that subscribes to your posts. When a follower logs into their account they can read you "public" Tweets (your posts), which are displayed in chronological order. You can change your "settings" in the drop down menu accessed by clicking your name. In the Notification tab, click New Follower Emails and then save. You will then receive an email each time a user follows you.
 * HOW TO KNOW WHO IS FOLLOWING YOU ON TWITTER:**

edited by:

Jan Bardwell

Week 5 - Twitter

What a waste of time!! Seriously, how many ways to communicate do we really need? I think Facebook does the trick quite well, and almost everyone I know uses Facebook. Who has the time to do all that other crap? I started the account for the class, but I'm fairly positive that it will never get used again ;-)

Posted by Linda Todd

Twitter-

Twitter, the site where people post their mundane activities, want to be quips, and throw out their opinions to people that no one really wants to read. Oh, lets not forget the celebrities that everyone wants to for some reason follow and know when they're going out for a starbucks. I had an opinion of twitter before today, but now it's worse having had to sign up for it for this class, I learned that my online alias has been stolen. Again, and again, and again. Besides what I have mentioned before, it is used for advertising. If I were to use an example, and I don't mean to offend anyone here with this, the recent Aurora shooting, the little trending hashtags on the sides had #Aurora trending with people sending their prayers to the victims. Followed by one insensitive company who used that trend as a chance to sell dresses that were named "aurora." So, from this, you can tell I'm not much of a twitter fan. It may be that I just don't understand the point in micro-blogging.

Posted by Michael Dutra.

As the platform expands and new people join and make their impression on others, attitudes shift and what we thought of as norms become relics and clichés. That’s both inevitable and healthy. But some advice is still golden. Some tips are still wonderful, and some truisms are just kick-you-in-the-crotch and spit-on-your-neck fantastic. And at the very same time, some rules are meant to be broken. Everything is just a guideline. And there’s nothing more important than [|going it alone]. The trick is blending all of that together. <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here are 40 tried and tested Twitter tips. <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BEFORE YOU BEGIN ** <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">YOUR PROFILE ** <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">YOU ** <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">YOUR TWEETS ** <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">FINDING FOLLOWERS ** <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">TWITTER ETIQUETTE ** <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">YOUR TWEETS (PART 2) ** <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">LINKS ** <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">FIVE (FREE) BONUSES ** <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter is a work in progress, and that includes the platform itself and the way that we all use it. Everything is constantly changing. As I said above, there are no rules, and there is no spoon. Knock yourself out. But if using Twitter actively for more than three years has taught me anything, it’s that//<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">some // things do matter. Some things do count. And some of this stuff is proven. Soak it up, suck it in and push on forward. <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">credit: <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|mills21] via Shutterstock //
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Don’t be intimated. Twitter’s learning curve can be a little steep at first but it essentially boils down to three things which you’ve been doing all of your life: reading, writing and sharing.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter isn’t Facebook. Twitter isn’t really anything, but whereas the public side of Facebook skews towards being friends with people you know in real life – which you might call ‘friends’ but they’re often, at best, almost-forgotten acquaintances – Twitter is more about making //<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">new //connections, sharing information and riding the information curve. And after a while, those<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|differences will become obvious].
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That said, everybody needs a mission statement. Why are you using Twitter? What are you hoping to accomplish? What //<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">could // you accomplish?
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter is a public network. The things you say are visible to all 200m+ users on Twitter (at least, theoretically) and are also tracked by Google and numerous other search engines and aggregators. So, be bold, and be brave, and be remarkable, but also be mindful about your online legacy, which has already started and is about to get monitored even more closely and likely be visible forever.
 * 5) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">All that said, relax. It’s meant to be fun.
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Use a photo of YOU as your avatar. Not a celebrity, not your pet, not your baby and not your partner. You. That’s who <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|we came to see] . And we don’t want a close-up of your eye, either. Also, your picture should <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|get bigger when we click on it] . Trust me: you’re a lot better looking than you think.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A tailored background is nice, but not vital. Most people pay no attention and since Twitter changed the profile specs it’s finicky and less important. You can’t add any functionality and given the range of screen sizes out there (PC, Mac, netbook, laptop, iPad, iPhone , Android, Blackberry, Nokia 3310) they tend to look like crap (or at least wrong) the majority of the time. Be unique if you can, but don’t sweat the details. A nice tile is good enough for 99.99% of users.
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fill out your bio. It’s OK to be witty, but not at the expense of clarity. Leave the abstract, wacky bios for celebrities, attention-seekers and good, old fashioned weirdos. And if you want people to get in touch, include your email address.
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you don’t have a website that you are proud to be associated with, don’t link to it. Avoid shortened links as they make people suspicious. And don’t link back to your Twitter profile – that’s several shades of pointless.
 * 5) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The rest of your profile settings are personal preference, but I strongly recommend you <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|don’t protect your tweets] unless you really, really have somebody out there you don’t want seeing your stuff. And if you do, maybe a public network isn’t the best place to hang out.
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Be polite.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Be useful.
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Be interesting.
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Be unique.
 * 5) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Be yourself.
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You only have 140 characters, so make them count.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Manual good, automatic bad. It’s OK to schedule tweets, but <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|don’t automate anything].
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite what you think or other <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: line-through; vertical-align: baseline;">lousy spellers people will tell you, you //<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">will // be judged by your ability to write, which includes (but is not limited to) spelling, grammar and punctuation. Take a moment to write the <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|perfect tweet] . It’s //<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">always // worth the effort.
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There’s an important difference between crediting others for their work (courtesy) and <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|thanking for retweets] (noise/egotism).
 * 5) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Likewise, don’t be a <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|metweeter].
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Engage, engage, engage. Repeat.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Want to know how not to get somebody to follow you? <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Ask] them.
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you tweet it, <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|they will come] . Behave in the manner with which you wish to be noticed, and write about the subjects you wish to discuss. (Or <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|do the opposite] and crash and burn.)
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">All the following systems, Twitter trains and that kind of thing are complete garbage. Don’t waste your time or (in some cases) money. However, mass following people <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|does work] . Assuming, that is, you’re happy with a large but empty network of eternal strangers, none of whom are paying the slightest bit of attention to you. Ever. Hey – at least you’re all like-minded.
 * 5) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Strive for 100 true fans, and be remarkable. The rest will take care of itself.
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Avoid text speak – if you can’t squeeze a proper sentence into 140 characters (or, ideally, less), try, try again.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Find the balance between being overly negative and happy clappy trappy. Neither camp is enormously popular except with others like them. Don’t be somebody you’re not, but if <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|the real you] is a jerk, a sap or a fraud, you should probably work on it.
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It goes without saying, but trolls, bullies, spammers and stalkers are not welcome. (Try MySpace.)
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Act as if].
 * 5) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Don’t send people automated ‘welcome!’ direct messages when they start following you. We //<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">hate //that stuff. Again, never automate anything.
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Become an authority in your niche. Everybody is an expert on something. (And if you’re not, read more.)
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">People look for and value consistency. It’s OK to go crazy once in a while, but find out where your middle is. Middle doesn’t mean boring. It means balance.
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The same applies to how often you tweet. After a period of time (usually a few months) you’ll find a natural place where both you and your audience are comfortable with your daily number of tweets.
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You always have a choice in <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|how you behave] and react to others.
 * 5) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Don’t shoot the <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|messenger].
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Always, always, always use <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|bit.ly] to shorten your links. It comes with built-in stats (tip: add a + to the end of any bit.ly link to see anyone’s stats for that URL) which are great, but that’s not as important as the fact that <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|bit.ly is trusted] by the Twitter community.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s OK to share your own stuff. In fact, I recommend you do it twice per day so you cover the major timezones. For example, I share my content mid-morning in the UK and also mid-morning (late afternoon UK) in the USA (ET).
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you want to get retweeted, <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|leave enough space].
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you’re retweeting somebody else, always credit them. And by them I mean the original tweeter – don’t go mad trying to squeeze everybody and their uncle in.
 * 5) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Even for the Twitter elite, the level of engagement measured by click-throughs and retweets is<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|incredibly low] . So relax, and remember it’s <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|all about your long game].
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There is no <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|perfect Twitter client] – whatever works for you works. (That said, I recommend<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|HootSuite] for your desktop and <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|iPad] and the <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|official Twitter clients] for everything else. I’m not an affiliate – these are, in my opinion, the best products.)
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Regularly monitor and <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|clear out any dubious applications] authorised in your Twitter profile. Don’t be //<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">that // guy.
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Become a <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Twitter search kung fu master].
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Don’t be afraid to block people, doing so for the right reasons. But be aware that Twitter’s block is<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|junk] . Don’t rely on it to protect you.
 * 5) <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Make Twitter a part of your life, but <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|don’t make your life a part of Twitter] . You often do your <span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|best thinking offline].

<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Edited by Christina Hart //


 * Composing the perfect tweet: **

So, you’re a budding “//tweep.//” Maybe you’re a journalist just starting out. Maybe your twitter is connected to a small business. Maybe you want to market yourself as a business person, PR representative, or just to be popular for your own ego. Read on to find out how to raise your popularity.

By now on this Wiki, you're beginning to understand how to be a good tweep with rules, etiquette, and general guidelines but you're not going to gain much popularity without being able to compose good tweets. It's true that TFF ratios are generally very low, the people that do follow you are family, friends, and coworkers, but how do you get your tweets really out there to bring in more people? Twitter is much more than a social network, it's a bedding ground for journalists and a buffet for advertisers. That's a certain amount of game to it, no matter which of the three camps you fall into. All of the terms henceforth in this guide have been explained in this Wiki already, if you have any questions, I suggest reading upwards.

1.) First and foremost, is to pay attention to what's **trending**. Twitter revolves around gossip and to gain followers you need to be sending your tweets out into the ether on subjects that are actively being discussed and read about. That's the first step to maximizing your viewer-base and, with a lot of luck, gaining some more followers. Even celebrities who wish more popularity will comment on the latest news (or drama) to gain the eyes of more tweeps.

2.) **Hashtags.** You can't just hashtag everything in a tweet to maximize its viewerbase. Well, you can, but it looks desperate, and it looks bad. You generally stick to one hashtag with one RT at a maximum. Some statuses are dualistic enough that you could manage two, or if you're clever, work in a second one in a functional and educational manner. You've been warned.

3.) You have **140 characters** and something to say. This equates to a link back to your own blog or other source of information. Think before you compose. Do you need to use all 140 characters? Should you use all 140 characters? Tweeting too little will cause that particular tweet to fall flat on its face. Too much and no one will get to your link at the end. It has to be // functional // above all else. Experiment, for sure, and see what people respond to and in what manner. Ideally you want at least one complete sentence with punctuation expressing enough of a complete thought to be self-contained, but also to entice your followers. Hint: Use emdashes— and endashes– to tack on to thoughts and ideas without looking tacky. Emdashes in particular can cause a line brake in a tweet to stand out and break up the monotony of large tweets. Example: "Epic #olympic ice hockey right now— @Canada v. @USA" That still leaves you 88 characters to go, takes out some unnecessary conjunctions (in twitterland), adds in a hashtag and two mentions and no one thinks you're a newb.

4.) Groom your **followers**. People will look at who you're allowing to follow you, at least when you're first starting out. Unfortunately there's politics to it and you have to distance yourself from undesirables from the get-go. That fun freshman year friend that swears in half of their tweets, or that mudslinging journalist with a reputation for padding the truth have to go. In a similar vein, groom yourself to attract the type of followers you want. You want helpful, active, engaging followers that will retweet and mention you in positive circles.

5.) **#FF** stands for "Follow Friday." This is your ultimate goal: To be an active, honest, helpful, social, witty, and popular enough member of twitter that people will recommend you to their followers. It's a two-way street: the people you recommend say something about you and your credibility. The types of people that you recommend are also the types of people that are more likely to return the favor or lead you to more people like them. Recommend who you want to be recommended by.

//Did all of this remind you of high school? It should have, twitter is the dog and pony show of the future. Once you accept that, the sky is the limit and you're a little blue bird.//


 * //Edited by: Gregory L. Dewar//**

= = =**<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How to put your own background picture on your Twitter profile **=


 * 1) Go to your profile page, and click the Edit Your Profile button.
 * 2) On the left side of the page you will find the "design" tab. Click that, and it will give you options to choose from backgrounds that are provided by Twitter. It will also give you the option to upload your own picture from your computer.
 * 3) Click "choose file" and find a picture on your desktop you would like to use as your background. Press "open", and then press "save changes" at the bottom of the page.

Then you have a customized profile :)

Posted by Katie Warren

There are many really good [|Twitter extensions for Chrome], and while all of those are awesome, after trying many out I would suggest that if you have a Twitter account, a Facebook account, and Chrome, you need to check out [|TweetDeck]. It allows you to manage your Facebook and Twitter in one generated page that takes the place of a tab in your browser. It's amazing and you need to try it to understand. If that alone isn't enough, and you actually spend a considerable amount of time outside of a browser, say in an IDE, then you have to grab [|Twitter Notifier]. If you use a mac you may be familiar with growl, which is a popup notification program, if not you may be familiar with messages from programs like WinAmp, but what this program does is place notifications about your twitter account, recent posts and whatnot, in a popup in the corner of your screen that only shows for a bit then disappears. Again, try it out. You won't regret it.
 * Twitter extensions for Google Chrome**

Posted by Thomas Burns

<span style="color: #2200ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 240%;">Check the status of your status. =For those of you who think of Twitter as a numbers game, [|Twitter Counter] will crunch them for you, answering questions like, “What’s my Twitter rank?” or “How many new followers do I get in a typical day?” or “How many followers will I have in a month?” Twitter Counter tracks your follower trends.=



<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Posted by: William Goss

Tweet Tweet Tweet: Quite frankly after researching and setting up the Twitter account I doubt I will return to the sight unless I have a lot of free time and in this life, I don't. Out of everything I have learned about and tried out, I think Facebook is the way to go and covers all the bases. I have however found a great site if Twitter is your thing and here's how to get started and going and quite possibly finished:) [|Everything you need to know about Twitter]

Brenda Dolph-Dory

It was created in March 2006 by [|Jack Dorsey] and launched that July. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with over [|500 million active] users as of 2012, generating over 340 million tweets daily and handling over 1.6 [|billion] [|search queries] per day.[|[][|6][|]][|[][|8][|]][|[][|9][|]] Since its launch, Twitter has become one of the top 10 most visited websites on the Internet, and has been described as "the [|SMS] of the [|Internet]."[|[][|5][|]][|[][|10][|]] Unregistered users can read tweets, while registered users can post tweets through the website interface, SMS, or a range of [|apps] for mobile devices.[|[][|11][|]]
 * Twitter** is an online [|social networking service] and [|microblogging] service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 [|characters], known as "**tweets**".

I like tweeter i like to see what my friends and family are doing. I like so see what all the movie starts are up to. You can keep up on the latest technology that is and is coming out. by christina vickers