What is this Twitter of which you speak?

There was a time when people who tweeted were considered a little odd and usually excluded from polite society. Those days are gone and tweeting is now an accepted and popular form of communication. I am, of course, referring to the successful micro-blogging platform, Twitter. If you have recently joined the phenomenon that is Twitter and aren't quite sure what to do or how to make best use of the service, here are my responses to some of the most commonly asked questions.

What is it? Twitter is one of the best know examples of micro-blogging. The idea is you post messages or tweets of 140 characters or less, these can include links and photos.


How do I use it? I know some people have very specific ideas about how Twitter should be used, I'm not one of them. Really how you use it is up to you. You can post updates on your status, respond to other messages and develop a conversation, post updates from your blog, post useful links you have found. If you are working on a team project you can use it to communicate with other members, or to send yourself reminders or memos. The features are quite basic, but with a little imagination can be put to a wide range of uses.

A word of warning: If you only use it to publicise your blog, you are likely to find few people want to follow you. And vice versa, there is a fine line between posting interesting snippets about your day and revealing far too much. Really no one wants to know how often you use the loo.

One of the best aspects of Twitter is the way users can have a real time conversation, so don't forget to look out for replies to your tweets and try to send a response. If you are hugely popular it might not be easy to do that for every single one, but do make the effort. If you never respond to anyone it could be seen as rude, the online equivalent of going to a party and walking away from anyone who tries to start up a conversation.

How do I find people to follow? When you first join Twitter gives you the option of finding other members from your email contact lists. You can also search the site for specific names and locations. If you want to find other tweeters who share your interests try Twitter Search.


How do I keep up? You've got yourself a nice posse of followers, to keep up with them try one of the growing number of Twitter clients. I prefer Twhirl but there are numerous others and also addons for Firefox.

You mention photos, how do I add them? Twhirl has built in photo sharing, but if you prefer to read your tweets onsite, try a service such as Twitpic.

I only have 140 characters, won't links take up most of that? If you paste them straight in, then yes, you will reduce the space for the rest of your message. However, Twhirl and many other clients include a link shrinker, or you could try a standalone service such as Shrink this Link.

What is this hash thingy? The hashtag symbol # is used to denote a specific topic, similar to the way tagging is used in blogging. For example, the US elections are big news at the moment so a lot of people will post messages which include #Sarah Palin, or #Barack Obama which makes it easier for other people who are interested in those topics to find relevant tweets. To follow hashtags on Twitter subscribe to Twitter hashtags.

How do I retweet: I asked someone this quite recently thinking there was a magic retweet button, but there isn't. Retweeting simply means resending a message with the word 'Retweet': at the beginning.

That's all folks! Why not share your Twitter tips in the comments below, and if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask, I can't promise to know the answer but I'll try to help.