The Twonderful Tworld of Twitter

Have you heard? Twitter is the most popular English word in 2009 according to the global survey by Global Language Monitor, an organization that tracks language trends. Since its presence is now the most discussed topic around the English-speaking world, it’s probably best that we dedicate the time to explain the fundamentals of the twitverse (twitter universe in layman’s terms) so you too can participant in all the fun.

While twitter is very simple to use, it’s features are a little hard to understand at first glance. So we’ve put together a rather practical guide to make even the least computer savvy person a twitter expert.

A Tweet.

This is the primary function of twitter. It is simply a 140-character post that allows you to describe things you’re doing, voice opinions on issues or share information that is deemed valuable. The “tweetbox” is the very first thing you see after logging in, and certainly the most interactive tool on twitter. If you find it hard to know where to start, answering the question “what am I doing?” always helps breaks the tweeting ice.

Follow.

Underneath your “tweetbox” is where you’ll see your tweets and any other tweets of people you elect to follow. To follow someone, simply search in the “Find People” section and click on their profile. On their profile, there will be a button that says “follow” directly underneath their picture. Simply press that button and return home, and magically their tweets will populate on your homepage.

Most industries have large lists of twitter profiles that publish information specifically related to the business you are in or want more information about. To find these lists, simply type the specific industry followed by “twitter lists” into a search toolbar like Google, and simply “follow” the tweeters you find relevant to you and your market.

@Reply.

As kcnn.org explains it, “twitter is a text-only medium, but it’s also intended to support back-and-forth conversation. Consequently there are a few clunky code-like conventions that let you tell Twitter what kind of message you’re tweeting, so it can get processed correctly. The most common and powerful of these is the @reply.”

This function allows you publicly communicate with specific users. By adding the @ symbol before the twitter username, you can publicly reply to another tweeter or direct your tweet in their direction.

The great thing about this feature is that it allows communicating with not just the person you’re talking with, but everyone else that is listening in on the conversation. So if someone has a question or concern, your answer or response may also satisfy someone’s need. It also allows more people to join in on the conversation and participate with you and your company.

This information is to the right of your tweetbox.

DM (or Direct Message)

With matters that need to be address in a private setting, there is a function for that as well. Instead of the “@username”, use a lower case d then a space than the username, like this: “d[SPACE]username”. Make sure the d stands alone so twitter can distinguish the tweet as a direct message, and ensure that only the person you’re writing to is the only one that sees the message.

RT (or Retweet)

To “retweet” is to repeat/quote someone’s tweet: When you come across an interesting tweet and you want to publish it as your own tweet – so that people who follow you can see it too – you retweet it.

To do this, simply write RT space then @username, so like this “RT[space]@username”. You are not sending the person you’re retweeting a message, it just let’s the person know you are sharing their content with others.

So with these simple functions understood, you are well on your way to conquering all there is to know about twitter and how to use it. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Be sure to check back later for more information about advanced twitter functions coming your way soon.