How To Use Twitter; Some Tips

What is Twitter

Twitter is a social connector service. To connect with your friends, family and colleagues through some simple and frequent messages, you can use Twitter. It is a micro-blogging site as well. Twitter is one of the ten most visited websites and is often described as the SMS (Short Message Service) of the Internet.

Who Created Twitter

Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass.

People who are frequent users of other social network sites are reluctant or less interested in twitter. Most of them are just ignorant or think it is a difficult technology to use or follow and keep themselves out of this service. They think that it is only for the celebrities and not for the laymen. You are wrong. In fact, Twitter is even easier than Facebook, Whatsapp or any other social networks

But one thing needs to be admitted. Twitter's top beneficiaries are high profile personalities like film stars, politicians, writers, well-known artists, etc. People always love to know the movements or activities of their beloved actors or leaders. So when they register and follow those people on twitter, they can easily trace out them and get knowledge of their activities. Each and every development can easily be followed through twitter, provided one posts all these on twitter. Justifiably, the great users of Twitter are the VIP people or better known as celebrities.

What is Tweet

Simple. It is just a message containing maximum 140 characters. Messages can be even shorter. People write short updates (messages) and posted it to one's profile or blog. The same is then sent to the followers. One can search it on the 'Twitter Search'. It is like the SMS in Mobile phones and that is why twitter is known as the 'SMS of the Internet'.

How to Operate

You just need to register to gain an account with Twitter. The registration process is very simple and can be finished within a few minutes. Your email id is your username (you can opt other names also as your username) and password can be anything of your choice but subject to certain conditions as required by the Twitter. These conditions are simple and only meant to safeguard your privacy and the secrecy. You can follow the tips easily on the screen while registering for an account. You can follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sunilkunnoth. Let's be closer!

After creating an account, you can login using your email id. Now you can search for people by name or their user name, import friends from other networks. You can invite friends via email also.

Once a friend or a group is found, you can follow them to start getting their updates. Following someone enables you to receive their twitter updates. Also, every time when they post a new message, you can read the same on your Twitter as it appears on your homepage.

How to Reply

You can reply publicly to any message on Twitter by using the @ username format. An @ reply is a public message sent by one person to another, distinguished from normal updates by the @username prefix. If a message begins @username, it is a reply. Your replies are visible in the @username tab in your home page side bar.

Following Not Required

To reply to someone, you need not follow one. You can simply reply without following. Please note that Tweets with @username elsewhere in the tweet are also collected in your sidebar tab. Tweets starting with @username are replies and tweets with @username elsewhere are considered mentions.

Private Messages

Can you send a private message in Twitter? Sure, you can. Direct messages are private messages sent by one twitter person to another. But you can only send a direct message to a person who follows you. The direct messages are served in your direct message inbox which is accessible from the sidebar on your homepage. You can set your email preferences to notify you the arrival of a new message.

Difference between @Reply and Direct Message

A @reply is a public message sent regardless of follow-ship. It can be viewed by anyone. But a direct message can only be sent by someone you follow. It is also considered as a private message. Only the author and recipient can view the same.

Re-tweet

It is a re-posting of someone else's tweet. RT is the short form for re-tweet. People add RT somewhere in a tweet just to indicate that part of their tweet includes something they are re-posting from another person's tweet. They can do so by mixing it with their own comments.

Search Option

To trace out one, some conversations on twitter is not easy. Here search option will come to your rescue. You can search with the hash tag (#) or keywords. You can apply Boolean queries also to make your search easy and quick.

Twitter is one of the best SEO techniques. The hubbers and other online writers can make use of this technology for the promotional purpose. Your visibility on the cyber world is hiked and it may reflect in your traffic as well earnings too.

Tweet your presence today itself. Let the world know you are a creative writer. Good Luck!