So.. I’ve been asking people to follow me on twitter recently. Why? Because Im slightly obsessed. Ok.. slightly might not exactly describe it. But thats what Im sticking with for right now.
Now youre asking.. why are you obsessed with twitter, Kelley? Ohhh.. Im glad you asked! Here is my short list of why I heart twitter..
1. Its easy to interact with friends
2. Keeps you up to date with friends/blogs/family
3. Its very easy to use
4. It helps increase your sites traffic
If you’ve never used twitter is may seem scary.. or difficult to use. Or maybe you just dont even know what it is or what it does.
At one point I had no clue what twitter was all about. I started using twitter in 2009 when I lived in Michigan and coached softball. And the only thing I used it for was to send reminders to myself of who wasn’t at practice, or who wasn’t starting the next game or something I needed to go over. Kinda silly, right?
Well, I put together a simple twitter tutorial to share what I know why you. Which is really the basics.. but its enough to get ya started and to have fun tweeting!
First step.. sign in or sign up. Told ya this was simple.
Here is the screen that you will see after you sign in. When you first sign up it will be a little different since you arent following anyone. Thats ok. Just search for friends/family and add them. Then your screen will look like this.
You type your message in the space that I labeled ‘Type your tweet here’. Clever.. I know. Then click the ‘Tweet’ button and your message will show up in your timeline (below the message box). Your tweets can only be 140 characters (including spaces) so if you have something long to say you can write more then one tweet. Thats allowed.. no worries!
This is what other people see when they click on my name. They can see everything I’ve tweeted and who I’ve responded too and what pictures I’ve posted.
If youre new to twitter then you have an egg as your profile picture and nothing in your bio section.. which is what people see when they click your name. Its important to have a bio because it tells people who you are and what you do. If youre trying to increase your followers make it something personal that would make a new friend want to follow you.
So click Settings (its to the left of ‘Who to Follow’ under your name) then go to ‘Profile’ and choose a new picture and update your bio. Easy peasy. And it will make a huge difference. No more egg face!
You can also change your background to something fun or personal. Click the ‘Design’ tab (its in the same area as the ‘Profile’ tab) and find a picture or background you can use. It has to be under 800k (dont ask me how big that is or what it means.. Im not that tech savvy!).
Click ‘Save Changes’ and admire you new twitter account! Yay! Now that you have a super sweet twitter account you can start tweeting.
“What the heck is a tweet? She’s been talking about these tweets this whole time!” Its twitter lingo for message. Don’t worry.. twitter has its own language but you’ll catch on quick. Here are the more common twitter terms that you may come across and scratch your head at (like I did)..
Twitter Lingo
tweet – message that you type into twitter and share
@ – call out other users (for example – I love that twitter tutorial @thegrantlife!) Once you tweet your message the person you called out will see that you mentioned them.
‘handle’ – username in your twitter URL (for example – twitter.com/thegrantlife)
# – use this with a specific word to make it searchable on twitter. (for example – #themommypanel. People can search twitter for tweets with a hashtag and ‘themommypanel’ after them to find relevant tweets.)
DM – direct message. You can directly message a user instead of sending a public tweet
#FF – follow Friday – used to call attention to your favorite followers so that others can check them out and follow them in return. #FF is normally included in the tweet
RT – retweet – posting another users tweet on your twitter
OH – overheard
And I found this while searching for popular lingo…
dweet – drunk tweet. Im not sure why, but I think this is hilarious!
You can find more twitter terms here.
You can find more twitter terms here.
Once you get the hang of twitter on the web you can download a (free) twitter app for your phone. This is pretty much how I became obsessed. But I enjoy being about to see what other people are doing and talk to real people during the day.
I hope this little tutorial helps! If you have any questions feel free to ask me.. Im not an expert but I can try and help ya. Oh and if you do set up a twitter account be sure to add me 😉
Happy Tweeting!
Hey y'all!I'm Kelley. I'm a recipe making, picture taking, coffee drinking momma to 4 crazy kiddos. Join me as I share our family favorite dinners and my copycat coffee drinks too!
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Jenny says
This is a great tutorial!! I've never really understood twitter but have been meaning to learn more about it! This came at the perfect time- thank you!
Melanie says
I am still trying to get the hand of twitter, so this is very helpful. I've tried a few twitter parties, but find them so confusing! Happy you linked to Things I've Done Thursday!
Melanie http://www.bearrabbitbear.com
Katie says
Hello! I found you through 52 mantels! Thanks for sharing – this is great. I'm just starting to get into Twitter but I'm still trying to figure it out!
Emily says
Wow, that was very informative!! I won't lie, twitter intimidates me. But, maybe I'm getting the hang of it?? Not really sure…
Thanks for linking up to my party!!
Natasha says
thanks for this
Thanks for linking up to Serenity Saturday Link Party!
Hope you can join me again tomorrow
Natasha xx
http://www.serenityyou.blogspot.com