What's Twitter?

You've heard Anderson Cooper refer to it. The local news and now Ellen. But seriously, you say, I'm just figuring out Facebook! Ok here's the skinny.

Physically it looks like this: http://twitter.com/kristacolvin that's my profile page. Here is an example of a tweet I did.

  i'm doing chores and i don't even mind- take that mundane about 20 hours ago from TweetDeck

  

 

These are the most commonly asked questions I get from my girlfriends.

what is Twitter? It's an online cocktail party. You can listen + jump into a conversation if you'd like.  I say it's where "my present meets my future"... because of the opportunities I have to meet new people.

what is a"Tweet"? It's what you just wrote on twitter. So you "tweet" not "twittered".

what is an @ sign? The "at" sign is used before your twitter name. mine is @kristacolvin . So it's like saying "send this" to krista colvin.

what is a RT?  It stands for reTweet. It's used when sharing what someone else tweeted. It's like adding a by-line. example: I want to share something I read from Rebecca. I will send it out but 1st put the RT in front along with the authors name. RT @RebeccaShapiro {then insert her original tweet here}. Now everyone knows I like this info but am not the original author.

what is a # ? When you see a # "hashtag" like #todaysmom or #anything-written-after-it, It simply means you are tagging it and adding to the conversation on that topic.  Go to www.search.twitter.com input the #theOmyth and see the conversation.

I use the #theOmyth when I'm talking about my blog talk radio show The O Myth. I also use #gidg for "get it done girlfriend" when I'm kicking you in the spanx to knock out a project.

Do you use twitter on your phone?  I do sometimes. Mainly I just pop over to twitter when I'm already on the computer [which is A LOT]. You do not have to have each + every tweet sent to your phone.

Ok Class... any questions?

Comments

[Allison Carter]

Thanks for writing the basics so clearly. Krista got me twittering this past fall. It took me a few months to really get the hang of it and figure out how to manage my time. Like a party, I pop in and out of the conversation for 10 minutes or so. It can really be time consuming if you want to read everything so be choosy.
Krista - you should have class on this!

[Rosana]

just followed you on twitter! love the blog and will be checking in regularly. i'm a writer and one of the topics i cover is parenting...just did a story on time-saving tips! anyhow, would love to work with you in the future on some more "efficient parent" pieces.

oh! just like the rest of the world, i blog too.
http://chroniclesofmomnia.blogspot.com
feel free to comment if you like!

[Janet Barclay]

Thanks for sharing these tips! Twitter is an amazing way to connect with lots of people, but when you're just getting started, it can all be pretty confusing, especially RTs and hashtags.