Exploring the Twittersphere: A beginner’s guide!

Editor's Notes

• #3: Junita to do a tour,
• #4: Junita
• #5: Judi – ask the question… and then let them know next screen will allow for typing
• #6: Junita Type the way you like to communicate using the toolbox in CollaborateJudi - twitter is a modern form of communication that made its debut about 6 years ago and has suddenly taken off
• #7: Junita While Twitter may have started as a micro-blogging service, it is grown into much more than simply a tool to type in quick status updates. So when asked "What is Twitter?", I often describe it as a cross between blogging and instant messaging, though even that doesn't do it justice.Twitter is social messaging. With the ability to follow people and have followers, using your PC Laptop Ipad Android or mobile phone Twitter is a perfect social messaging tool. Twitter is a great tool for quickly communicating a message to a group of people about anything you wish to know.If we turn on the news or our favourite breakfast shows on our TV,s you'll likely see a Twitterticker streaming across the bottom of the television. Twitter has become a favorite toolfor marketing as it’s a great wayb to get the message out has been used effectively. It is many different things to many different people. It can be used by a family to keep in touch, or a company to coordinate business, or the media to keep people informed or a writer to build up a fan base.So to put it mildlyTwitter is commonly used as a micro-bloggersocial messanger an events coordinatora a business tool a news reporting service and a marketing utility. Twitter can be used for instant reaction at a conference and is popular with educators who share their learning, it is now part of manys peoples Personal Learning Network.
• #8: Words associated with Twitter might be a confusion but soon you will understand themhashtag@twitteractivityapplicationavatarbiobuttonsconnctconnectionsdirect~messagediscoverfavouritefollowfollowerfollowinggeotagginghandletwitterertweetertweetusername
• #9: YouTube is the most amazing source of tutorials on all things important and unimportant, fun and frivolous, downright awful and sometimes quite shocking…. But we’d like you to enjoy this 4 min clip that is a Beginner’s Guide to Twitter……Then we will fill in the gaps and you can ask some knowledgeable questions. Does this sound silly .. Get your pen and paper ready
• #10: Twitters aims are to have a safe and open community. There are some basic procedure you should understand when setting up and becoming a twitter user Always use a strong password not the same password you use for banking or paypal or paying your bills. I use the same password for all my social media sites which is very different to my banking , my bill paying and paypal.Watch out for suspicious links, and always make sure you’re on Twitter.com before you enter your login information.Always check you have https security on my twitter account showing in your url.Don't give your username and password out to untrusted third-parties, especially those promising to get you followers or make you money.Make sure your computer and operating system is up-to-date with the most recent upgrades, and anti-virus software.
• #11: Log in to www.twitter.comThink about the username you will use …. It needs to be all one word & only letters, numbers and the underscore _ symbol are able to be used in your username. Fill in the essential fields, remembering in all the form you fill in for joining “stuff” anything marked with a red asterisk is mandatory….whether we like it or not
• #12: In summary your username or handle is your identity! There may be many sexy babes or buffed up boys out there so use something that identifies you!
• #13: Talk about the Twitter identities and how they are so informative…
• #14: Using hashtags People use the hashtag symbol # before a relevant keyword or phrase (no spaces) in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter Search. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets marked with that keyword..Perfect for people doing a course togeter or belonging to a group Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet – at the beginning, middle, or end.Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.The hashtag is a favorite tool of conferences and event organizers, but it’s also a way for Twitter users to organize themselves: if everyone agrees to append a certain hashtag to tweets about a topic, it becomes easier to find that topic in search, and more likely the topic will appear in Twitter’s Trending Topics. Although not terribly complicated, hashtags have some unwritten rules. The primary one to remember: don’t overuse them. If every one of your tweets IS a hashtag, you dilute the usefulness of them by fragmenting the conversation. Another simple tip: give your hashtag context. Most people won’t actually know what your hashtag means, so give a quick explanation in one of your tweets or, if you’re making a hashtag, make it very apparent what it’s talking about.Finally, if you’re looking to create a hashtag, be sure that it adds value for yourself and your followers. The best way to utilize them is when you need to organize information. Conferences, major events, and even reminders can help organize specific tweets.
• #15: To post your own Tweet, click the compose Tweet button in the top right corner of your page or under name and number of tweets you have made your follower's and who you follow . You can link to images, videos, or web URLs in your 140-character message, and add location if you want to show users where you are. To follow someone Click on a username or navigate to a user's profile where you will find a follow button you can follow someone on the side panel as an instant follow.A retweet is someone else's Tweet that you want to share with all of your followers. You can use our built-in retweet feature or you can manually retweet content by copying and pasting it into a new Tweet of your own. If you want to find the Tweet you want to @reply to hover over the Tweet and click on Reply a Tweet box will pop up with the @username of the account you are replying to already added at the beginning of the Tweet. Complete your @reply and click Tweet to post it.From your home timeline, hover over the Tweet you'd like to favorite.If you want to favorite a click click on Favorite, a gold star will appear in the upper right hand corner of the Tweet to confirm that you've favorited the Tweet.You can also favorite a Tweet from a user's profile page and a Tweet's permalink page.If you mark Tweets as favorites the update will not appear in the Favourite tab on your profile page unless the viewer is an approved follower.To remove the favourite Hover over the Tweet you favourited, and click favourite again it will disappear.On the Home, Discover, and Search pages on the web. Trends appear in the column on the left side of the page.These are popular tweetsApp share
• #16: HomeIs where you’ll land whenever you sign in to Twitter it is where you view yourTweets from the people youfollow. The more people you follow, the more interesting this page will be as it is a collection of Tweets, featuring the latest newsand information from those that you follow. It is a constant stream of information that your followers send out. ProfileThe me tab is the profile section it displays your profile and shows you your tweets it puts you and your interests front and center.Others can Tweet directly to you and view your lists, favourites, followers, photos and more. The Me tab is also where you can stay current on your direct message conversations.The Me tab is your opportunity to introduce yourself SearchTo search for Tweets, people, hashtags, or topics, type your query into the search box in the top navigation bar. ConnectThe Connect section is where you get in on the conversation.It’s the place to see who has followed or mentioned you.Connect is a way to keep the conversation flowing as it tells you when someone marks your Tweet as a favourite, mentions your username, follows you, or retweets your contentDon't start a tweet with an @if you tweet @junita55 at the start of your tweet I'm the only one that will see it so always put it at the end Discover lets you join a stream of information that is important to you it is a way to find your specific interests through your connections your location and language settingsYour Discover tab’s Activity timeline shows information by people you follow. You can see who they’ve retweeted, followed, replied to, and more. This is a good way to discover interesting content on Twitter so find and follow people whose Tweets interest you from your Discover tabThe Gear wheel A direct message is a personal Tweet seen only by the sender and the recipient. To read yours, click on Direct messages from the gear icon drop down menu in your navigation bar. To send one, just specify the username of the account you want to communicate with (they must be following you).A list is a curated group of Twitter users. You can create your own lists or subscribe to lists created by others. Viewing a list timeline will show you a stream of Tweets from only the users on that list.
• #17: Who to follow:PLNInteresting sports and hobbiesCurrent events ie Olympics/paralympicsPoliticiansLocal radio and news stationsbusinesses
• #18: Photos via Twitter and photos can be shared to Twitter via a number of applications on your Smart Device!
• #19: Avatar creators are freely available on the Web or as Apps on your ‘smart’ device.
• #20: Social Media management ApplicationsWhat is TweetDeck?TweetDeck is a twitter client for the popular social messaging service Twitter that not only allows users to sign in and check your Twitter messages, but you can also create groups.Through groups, users can check the tweets of a subset of their followers, to Makes it easier manage separate streams of information.TweetDeck is available as a stand-alone app for the Windows operating system and as a free iPhone Twitter client. It also has the ability to sync groups and settings between the Windows app and the iPhone app, so you can access the same TweetDeck at home and on the go.WithTweetdeck you can Update your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accountsRetweet others’ Tweets Manage conversations with @replies and direct messages Record, share and watch video clips, and view YouTube videos within TweetDeck too Manage multiple Twitter accounts See what’s hot with local trends Add, create and manage Twitter Lists Follow topics in real-time with saved searches, editable from within the column Organize and update Facebook inlcuding multiple Facebook Pages Preview short URLs from the comfort of TweetDeck View LinkedIn for your professional contacts See who’s following you Locate your friends Avoid Twitter spam Share and view photos; now with added support for FlickrI found Tweetdeck a bit intrusive for me it has a ping that drove me crazy so I tried my favoriteHootsuite.HootSuite is the most popular social media management app new options constently being added it is an application I use daily and perfect for curators who are busy and don’t have time to spend on social media sites.You can monitor and post to a number of social media sites depending on the wheather you have the free version or payed. You can access Facebook personal profiles and business pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, wordpress and others with the paid version. For those that are happy to payeHootsuite has the ability to monitor selected keywords and the option to conveniently schedule posts--HootSuite sets the bar high and is easy to manage. Lets have a demonstration as I use Hootsuite daily and I can show you this wonderful tool. Replies and messages
• #21: Wind up….