Twitter: History, How-To and Help!

Ok, Allison your friendly twit here to help you out with a little twitter history, how-to, and some helpful tips!  You'll be tweeting in no time! (Follow me on twitter @allisonrockey)

Confession:  I was a full-blown twitter skeptic.  My initial response was not just turning my nose up, it was full on disgust. I thought it seemed like the most narcissistic Web 2.0 creation yet!  You want me to periodically answer the question, "what are you doing?" throughout the day, as if anyone would care what I am doing in my mundane life...

So being a narcissist at heart I tried it!

To my shock, my twitter addiction came not from having a platform to talk (though I do love that) but it was what I was learning from others.  Great websites, the latest news, all just a click away.  In so many ways it was as if I had internet elves combing the vast internet for the simple treasures and bringing them back for me!

Quick History

In a nutshell, Twitter at its beginning was used primarily as a way for people to send text messages to all of their friends to let them know what they were up to.  By sending a text message from their cell phone, all of their twitter followers would be updated with a text message being send to their cell phones.  This is still possible but fewer people use it this way and more use it now on the computer. 

Twitter Song

You're No One if You're Not on Twitter

by Ben Walker (@ihatemornings)

Twitter Benefits

By following news organizations, journalists, politicians, and your savvy friends you will be the first to know EVERYTHING!  Did you know that the L.A. earthquake was being tweeted (discussed on twitter) 15 minutes before the Associated Press reported there was an earthquake!  I rarely see anything on the nightly news that I did not already read on twitter that day.

Getting Started: Twitter how-to

Simply go to Twitter.com and set up an account.  It is free, easy and only takes a few minutes. 

Be sure to keep your account public, unless you have a REALLY good reason to have your account set to private, it pretty much defeats most of the purpose and makes it more difficult for people to follow you.

Be sure to write a brief bio, it gives people a reason to follow you and a bit of credibility. 

Following vs Followers...

Following are the people's updates you are receiving, your followers are receiving your updates (which are most generally called tweets).  Twitter can search your address book to show you which of your friends are on twitter, and will now suggest some people to follow.  A great way to find interesting people to follow is when you find someone you enjoy their tweets, simply click on who they are following and pick some interesting ones to follow. 

There are two ways to communicate with others on twitter.  The public reply, which will show up in your tweet stream, and the direct message which is private and can almost be thought of as a direct email between two people that no one else can see.  You can send public replies to anyone. You must both be following each other to sending a direct message.

Perfecting the tweet

What makes a good twitter user?  Why should anyone follow you?  Here are some quick tips:

1) Be concise (you only have 140 characters to get your point across) 

2) Be relevant

3) Be clever

4) Cater to a niche, you are an expert on something, so tell us about!

5) Pass on other interesting tweets by re-tweeting their posts, but be sure to add your own spin.

6) Be current! People want to know what you are doing now, so write in the present tense, watching a beautiful sunset is more interesting that watched a beautiful sunset 30 minutes ago.

7) Twitter is not a one-way street, engage, reply to others, and make connections.

8) When you do a public reply, add extra details so we know what you are talking about even if we did not see what you are replying to.

Twitter terms and symbols

• @username will show up alot!  This is when people are sending a public reply to others.
  
• RT @username: This is when someone likes a tweet from some else and they want to share it with their followers by retweeting it.  Nice way to give credit to those you follow and share the interesting tidbits.
  
• Following the people whose updates you are receiving
  
• Followers the people who are receiving your updates
  
• Twitterverse: The sphere of twitter, also called twitterville.
  
• Tweet an update.
  
• Twirt nickname for flirting on twitter :)
  
• #topprog- You will notice on twitter people using a # followed by some letters. This is a hashtag. These are a quick way to have a searchable comment for others on the same topic. One example while the tv show Top Chef was on, people watching it would comment and include #topchef then you could easily see comments by people you are not following but were also watching the show. #topprog is for progressive topics, there are many hashtags and are user generated.

I hope this helps!  Find me on twitter and I happy to show you around.

Happy tweeting all! 

Have you started to think in tweets...

I have this idea for a film or a story, but since i am neither a screenplay writer or a novelist, i thought i would just share it here.

To be honest it comes out of my own neurosis, but then again, doesn't everything?

So, i have found myself living my life in tweets.  Yes, i am one of those on twitter.  I hate to admit i was skeptical at first, the whole concept seemed the height of egotism and really pointless.  HA, I should have known i would LOVE it!

In case you are not familiar, Twitter, is microblogging, you get 140 characters to say your piece. You may say what you are doing, link an interesting find online, anything you choose with those few 140 characters.  You "follow" others on twitter, and  you get their updates all day and night long!  I have sadly found it is a great replacement for a relationship.  Seriously, no more missing talking to that special someone just before bed, here you have hundreds, thousands of people wanting to tell you something at all times of the day or night.

So anyway, as i was chatting with a friend who is new to twitter, at first you feel this sort of self-conscious careful scripting of your tweets, but then very quickly that falls aside and you just say whatever, free stream of conscious thought often.  

So anyway, back to the character of my fabulous indie cult film...

So i envision this character living his/her whole life interrupted by the need to tweet. Examples: Dog runs into the street, but our character stops to tweet about it and missing the chance to call the dog back before the dog gets run over.  Ok, clearly this is why i have no future as a screenwriter.  But you get the idea right?

I guess what all this twittering is getting me to wonder, it feels like i am making this shift to always talking about, analyzing, reflection on or telling about my life, rather than simply living it.  And this is not new for me, we all have our unique internal worlds.  Well i tend to live my life always looking for the next quirky story.  Crazy relatives and family dynamics being a great start, but it carries over into all areas of my life.  I always act as though i am just one of those people that has strange shit happen to her all the time, but truth be told, i think i am just constantly on the lookout for the strange shit. (and have a gift for exaggeration!)  So i have always tended toward this storytelling way of living, now i am just doing it on a truly micro and less funny level all the time!

So all this twitter focus is making me question if there is a way to turn all this action into a spiritual practice.  Is it a way to be a witness to the thoughts, emotions, etc that are arising in me?  Or am i simply getting trapped in a world of ego-madness!

We'll see, but for now just join me at http://twitter.com and of course follow me!