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Twitter is now the third most important social networking web site, and it is attracting new users very quickly. The idea behind it is that you can write messages (Tweets) up to 140 characters long. You can choose to follow anyone on Twitter and all the messages from everyone you are following then appear on your home page for you to read. Similarly anyone can follow you and read your messages. Because each message is so short it must be clear and to the point, which is not a bad thing. In practice most people log onto Twitter two or three times a day for a short period, say what they are doing and catch up on what their friends are doing. It is a very sociable way to keep in touch.

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How To Use Twitter

Twitter was designed as a simple SMS text messaging messaging system, where you send a text message from your mobile phone to give your status, e.g.'Out of the office' . Because such text messages are limited to 140 characters, this is what Twitter used as a message length, and this is why Twitter asks the question 'What are you doing?' as the basis for your messages.Because you can only send short messages Twitter is described as a micro-blogging social media site. You can now use Twitter from a mobile phone or on the web at http://twitter.com/

Now the way Twitter is set up makes it look an unlikely candidate for success, but it has become the third most used social networking site, after Facebook and MySpace. This means that every serious entrepreneur should know about Twitter, and consider if they need to use it in their business.

There are many disadvantages to using Twitter. There is no rich media content, so you can't add pictures or video to the site, you can only hyperlink to them. There is no threading structure where replies are linked to the original post, so that any replies look disjointed or even rather odd, because you can't see the thread and make sense of it as a conversation.

The advantages of using Twitter are that it strips messages to their barest essential, and this concentrates the power of communication when it is done well. It also means that you can skin through a lot of messages quickly and get the flavour of what all your followers are up to, and follow up quickly with your own messages and replies.

You can choose to follow anyone on Twitter and all the messages from everyone you are following then appear on your home page for you to read. Similarly anyone can follow you and read your messages. Because each message is so short it must be clear and to the point, which is not a bad thing. You don't have to approve people following you, but you can block someone if you want. You also have the choice of following or not following someone who follows you. This whole process makes Twitter much more impersonal than other social networking sites such as Facebook, where you would normally know someone before you accept them a s a friend.

Before you start look at Twitter's Guide to Using Twitter .

Chose Your User Name Carefully

It is important to chose your user name carefully when you first register on Twitter because you can't change it in any way after you have registered.The only characters you can use in your user name are the lower case letters a to z, upper case letters A to Z and the underscore character_ . You can not use spaces. You can use your own name or your brand name or something memorable. Have a browse around at other people's names before you decide. Remember that you can't change capitalisation after you have registered, so decide beforehand if you would like to be 'yourname' or 'YourName'. Be careful about using made up names, because once you have chosen you can't change it, and while HotFreddy may sound OK today, it may not quite convey the right image when your aunt in Australia wants to follow you, or you decide to start a business of your own.

Using Twitter

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Type your message into the box which asks 'What are you doing?' The number above this box shows how many characters you have left to use, and goes into minus figures and turns red when you have put in too many . Click 'Update' and your Tweet is posted to all your followers.

Be interesting! Only your nearest and dearest loved ones will be interested in the minute details of what you are doing if all you Tweet about is what you had for breakfast. You do need to have something to say. The art of Tweeting is to mix your Tweets so that you come across as a real person, with a real life who is worth following.

Even though Twitter is based on text messaging abbreviations aren't normally used. However there are standard abbreviations that you need to know:

@username at the start of a Tweet is a direct reply to a Tweet which is publicly displayed. You can easily create this by clicking on the small arrow next to the Tweet you want to reply to. If you want your reply to be private then send a direct message by clicking on the person to go to their profile page, and click on 'message' in the right hand column under 'Actions'.
RT @username is a Retweet, when you forward someone else's message to your followers. Adding the @username credits the original person sending the Tweet.

Add your picture straight away so that people recognise you. Use a close up showing just your face because the picture size is shown rather small and you want people to recognise you. You can find this under Settings > Account.

Add your bio and location so that people who come across you can find out something about you and decide if you look interesting enough to follow. Here again you only have 160 characters to use, so you need to be creative. You can find this under Settings > Account.

How To Shorten A URL

You need to shorten URLs (web site addresses) in Twitter to save characters because these are ofter very long, and hyperlinks are vital to direct people to a web page. Use services like bit.ly to shorten them.This produces a 301 or permanent redirect which means that Google gives full credit the real URL that you are linking to. This site also give you statistics for how many people click on the link, which is really useful.

Follow SuperLiving on Twitter

Follow Us On Twitter

You will find lots of people worth following. Start by finding people you know, and then look who is following them.Make sure you follow us at SuperLiving and we will keep you up to date with your lifelong journey to health, happiness and success.

Here are some people who Tweet about how to use Twitter and social media: