Social Networking News Daily

If you don’t know what Twitter is, then you really have been in the dark.  Sorry to be so blunt however, if you are new to Social Media, this is one of the first networks I would sign up to.  Some refer to it as their Social Networking Virtual Water Cooler… and then there is Twitters version:

Twitter is a micro-blogging service where you have only 140 characters to express yourself and share online in a creative way

I have been using Twitter now for over a year which has enabled me to meet some really cool people online who are in marketing, business, blogging, networking, and it has brought me traffic and exposure to my sites, enabling me to build my Personal Brand all the while.

As an Internet Marketer, Twitter is my source of never ending news and resources to help me with my online research into Social Media, what works, what doesn’t work and ultimately, it is up to each one of us to test and measure what works best for our own unique situations.

There are many sites offering Twitter tips on how to use this service and they all share some great advice.  Personally, I use it to keep up with fellow tweeters and see what’s going on in the world and with Social Networking.

I type in what I am doing (as Twitter asks), whether it be reading, watching or listening to something on the web and providing the link – and occasionally I have a little back and forth conversation with other tweeters. I also tweet when I have updated my blogs with a link to the post. A little of everything.

Getting Started with Twitter

Twitter quite simply asks: What are you doing now?

The homepage of Twitter is where you sign up and create your profile. It’s a simple process of providing a few details like your name, email address and choosing a username for your profile. Remember, this will be your Personal Brand so choose wisely.

Once in, go into settings where you can upload your avatar, add a short bio and change your design if you wish, to the colour and style you like.  You can even make your own background page as described in this Custom Twitter Backgrounds post.  Better coming from Hugh Briss than me, lol.  He explains how to make proper use of background space in step by step instructions.

I have had my ❤ ❤ ❤ (hearts) since I began tweeting and really can’t bear to part with them so my page looks like this:

Use your creativity and show the Twitterverse who you are as an individual or business.

How To Use Twitter

Twitter is a great tool for keeping up with family and friends as well as building an online presence for Internet Marketers.

Keeping up with family and friends is pretty straight forward however, when establishing relationships online, it’s great to provide value to the conversation.

You will notice once you start tweeting that Twitter has a language all of it’s own which you can explore at Twittonary.

The Twitter Dictionary aka Twittonary provides explanations of various Twitter related words.

You can select a letter of the alphabet and it will provide a list of words which are commonly abbreviated into Twitter language.

Tweeting Effectively

A few things to note when you are using twitter. You may see an @reply with your username in it.  This means one of your followers (or not) has tweeted something to you.  You can choose whether to @reply back to them remembering of course when you use the @ symbol, it makes the link to their profile live which is a good thing for anyone wanting to have a look at that users profile. It also shows up on the user’s timeline you sent it too making them aware of your @reply.

You can also send a DM (direct message) to anyone who is following you. A DM is a private message which can only be viewed by the recipient.  Go to their profile and over to the right, you will see a message link. Click on it and type your message and send.  The same applies here with the 140 characters.

If you want to provide a link and it’s simply too long to fit into the 140 characters space with your comment, you can shorten it by going to Tinyurl to shorten it for example, this

http://socialnetworkingnewsdaily.com/twitter/twitter-helped-fight-spam-comments/

can be turned into this

http://tinyurl.com/5cb9vj

As you can see, the Tinyurl has a much better chance of fitting into the 140 character space you have leaving room to add your comment.

So there you have a few basic tips to get you started on Twitter for Social Networking.  Let me know how you get on in the comments here and/or follow me on Twitter @angesbiz I will gladly follow back if you let me know you found me here.

Related posts:

1. Twitter Updates for 2009-07-09
2. Twitter Updates for 2009-04-28
3. Twitter Updates for 2009-04-29
4. Twitter Updates for 2009-05-13
5. Twitter or Flutter – You Choose