Twitter For Dummies

Twitter for Dummies 1 About the Authors 7 Dedication 9 Authors’ Acknowledgments 9 Contents at a Glance 11 Table of Contents 13 Foreword 19 Introduction 21 About This Book 21 Conventions Used in This Book 22 What You’re Not to Read 23 Foolish Assumptions 23 How This Book Is Organized 23 Icons Used in This Book 25 Where to Go from Here 25 Part I: Twitter? Like Birds Do? 27 Chapter 1: Sharing Your Thoughts, 140 Characters at a Time 29 Figuring Out This Twitter Thing 30 How Individuals Use Twitter 32 How Organizations Use Twitter 33 Businesses That Use Twitter 34 Getting Your Tweet Wet 35 Tweeting Like a Pro 36 Branching Out with Third-Party Applications 38 Chapter 2: Hello, Twitter World! 39 Picking a Name 42 Finding Contacts 44 Inviting Contacts 48 Say Hello! Your First Tweets 49 Customizing Your Profile 50 Adjusting Your Text-Messaging Settings 56 Signing Up 39 Chapter 3: Stroll Around the Grounds: A Tour of the Twitter Interface 59 Starting Out on the Home Screen 59 Tweeting to One Specific Person: @ Replies 64 Shhh! Sending Private Notes via Direct Messages 66 Playing (Twitter) Favorites 68 Becoming a Renaissance Man via the Everyone Tab (RIP) 70 Seeing Who You Follow 72 Figuring Out Who’s Following You 73 Looking at What You’ve Tweeted 74 Chapter 4: Using Twitter Wherever You Think Best 77 The User Multi-Face: Interacting with Twitter Every Which Way 77 Going Mobile: The Key to Happiness 84 Part II: Joining Your Flock on Twitter 87 Chapter 5: Tweeting It Up 89 Finding People to Follow on Twitter 89 How to Follow People 96 Replying to Tweets 96 Direct Messaging 99 Encouraging More Followers 100 Chapter 6: Who’s Using Twitter 103 Tweeting with Regular People 103 Building Company Relationships with Twitter 105 Talking Politics with Actual Politicians 108 Following Celebrities on Twitter 109 Signing Up for Syndicated Material 110 Tweeting in Unison 111 Part III: Twittering in High Gear 113 Chapter 7: Tricks of the Twitter Gurus 115 Following Twitter Protocol 115 Inserting Links into Your Tweets 119 Using Your Twitter History and Favorites 120 Your Feeds, My Feeds, Everyone’s Feeds 121 Deciphering Twitter Shorthand Code 123 Chapter 8: Twitter Minus Twitter.com 129 Tweeting with Your Cellphone 130 Using Twitter through Your E-Mail 132 Swimming Your Twitter Stream with RSS Feeds 134 Using Third-Party Services 136 Sharing Tweets All Around the Web 138 Auto-Tweeting 139 Chapter 9: Embracing the Twitter Ecosystem 141 Finding Interesting Twitter Talk with Search Tools 142 Expanding Your Twitter World by Using Clients 148 Keeping Your Tweets Short with URL Shorteners 156 Getting All Your Online Activity in One Place by Using Aggregators 159 Using Trending Topics to Stay on the Twitter Cutting-Edge 160 Playing with Twitter Games and Memes 161 Tag Clouds 163 Keeping in Contact with Visualization and Listening Tools 164 Knowing Your Network with Follower and Following Tools 170 Part IV: Knowing Why We Twitter 175 Chapter 10: Finding Your Tweet Voice 177 Finding Your Voice, Whether for Business or Pleasure 177 Identifying Your Audience 183 Keeping Your Tweets Authentic 188 Keeping Twitter Personal . . . but Not Too Personal 194 Chapter 11: Twitter for Business 197 The Business of Twitter 197 Putting Your Best Face Forward 198 Networking on Twitter 204 Offering Promotions and Products 205 Promoting Bands and Artists 206 Sharing Company Updates 208 Building Community 209 Conducting Research 211 Going Transparent 212 But, What If My Employees . . . 213 Sharing Knowledge 214 Chapter 12: The Social Side of Twitter 217 Using Twitter as a Support System 217 Connecting with People 218 Making New Friends 222 To Follow or Not to Follow? 226 Getting Quick Answers 228 Sharing Information 231 Chapter 13: Changing the World, One Tweet at a Time 233 Twittering the Globe for Change 233 Organizing People Online and in Real Life 239 Engaging in Citizen Journalism 246 Part V: The Part of Tens 253 Chapter 14: Ten Twitter Tools 255 TweetDeck: Connecting with Many 255 Seesmic Desktop/Twhirl: Managing Multiple Accounts 256 CoTweet: Corporate Tweeting 257 Smartphone Clients Tweetie, PocketTwit, and TwitterBerry 257 Twellow: Finding People to Follow 258 FriendorFollow: Managing Followers and Followings 258 TwtVite: Event Planning 259 Twitterfeed: Getting Your Blog Posts to Twitter 259 TwitPic 260 Xpenser: Keeping Track of Your Expenses 260 Chapter 15: Ten Useful Twitter-Based Services 261 BreakingNews 261 StockTwits 261 Tweecious: Use Delicious to Organize the Links You Tweet 262 TipJoy 262 ExecTweets 263 EpicTweet 263 Link Bunch 263 Tweetree 264 TwitterGrader 264 Blip.fm 264 Chapter 16: Ten Cool Ways to Use Twitter 265 Plain Old Networking 265 Breaking News 266 Travel 266 Finance 266 Food, Wine, and Spirits 267 Books 267 Music 267 Education 268 Charities and Causes 268 Event Planning 268 Glossary 269 Index 273

Enter the fun, productive, supportive, and powerful world of Twitter!

What do you have to tell the world in 140 characters? With this guide, you'll figure out what to say as you use Twitter to enrich your life and your business. It walks you through all the opportunities available with this social networking tool. You'll quickly gain a strong understanding of the Twitter landscape and begin tweeting like a pro.

• Get down to the basics — figure out how to find your friends, invite them to Twitter, and start communicating with them in public and in private
• Follow and be followed — determine how to search for thesorts of people you want to follow and how you can startcommunicating with them in a way that makes sense
• Put Twitter into high gear — learn all the ways that you can interact with the Twitter interface, from desktop clients tomobile phone tricks to shorthand commands
• Cultivate your presence — explore the different ways in which people, businesses, not-for-profits, and other organizations can use Twitter
• Make it work — take advantage of the many resources that are useful in getting Twitter to work best for you

Open the book and find:

• How to sign up, pick a name, and invite contacts
• Tips for sending private messages
• Steps for building a company relationship
• Tricks of the Twitter gurus
• Ways to share your tweets through social networking
• All about staying on the cutting edge of Twitter
• Techniques for finding your tweet voice
• How to connect with people and make new friends

Learn to:

• Sign up, navigate the interface, and make connections
• Make your tweets unique
• Use the latest shortcuts and tools
• Promote your business or cause with Twitter

Annotation Twitter can boost your business and marketing efforts, and this guide shows you how Twitter, the simple-to-use microblogging service, offers immense benefits for businesses and organizations. Fire departments, political candidates, and C0EOs have used Twitter to share up-to-the-minute information. Laura Fitton, maybe better known by her Twitter handle - @Pistachio, has more than 10,000 followers on Twitter, and gives presentations on how to use Twitter to build business and personal opportunity. She's joined by Michael Gruen and Leslie Poston to share Twitter expertise in this easy-to-follow guide. You'll discover how to get set up on Twitter, build a follower list, and find a voice for your tweets. Then you'll learn to use third party tools to link Twitter to other sites and incorporate it into business communication models. This book covers The basics of signing up and creating tweets Following other users and adding followers to your own tweets Mastering the "Twecosystem"--The tools that tie Twitter to many other Web applications, including mobile devices Strategies for enhancing business communication, marketing, and networking opportunities with Twitter Twitter For Dummies gets you up and running on this hot communications tool the fun and easy way Provides information on using the social networking site Twitter, covering such topics as customizing one's profile, building followers, searching for people with similar interests, replying to others' tweets, and using Twitter to build a company's brand.