Share twitter

I am converting people wherever I go. I tell them they have been minxed hense @minx100. Lets get everyone twittering.

Getting people onto twitter.

So many people do not use twitter and don't want to. The reason is they are afraid to .They worry everyone is going to read it and know what they are doing. Firstly you only put on what you want to go on there. No-one is forcing you. Secondly you have to be lucky enough to have people that do follow you.

Twitter is so useful. The main use that I have experienced at the moment is finding people that can help in whatever issue I need help in. You suddenly become open to the whole world. It is the most exhilarating feeling. You can ask a question and people from all over the world are able to help you in a matter of seconds. It is so good, it becomes addictive.

practical advice

Sourcing news:

Got to be not just realtime but also relevancy.
Find the right people and right streams.
Get involved and get your hands dirty.

Twitter

Engaging and discussing and commenting. Not just sending hyperlinks.
A reputation of individual twitter users. Do we believe them, what is their reputation. Do you trust the twitter user? We are trusting this one platform twitter. This is a real danger. BBC can't rely on it as their only method for info. BBC does not allow people to twitter as BBC journalists, they have to do it personally. Tweets get 2nd checked. BBC are supposed to be objective, so doesn't personal stuff on twitter undermine their role as a professional journalist.

The panel

They are all taking the mickey out of each other. Quite funny. Bill Thompson seems a bit of a pratt!

The 140 character story?

Real time stream of conciousness.
The future is about citizen journalism.
Gives a much wider reach to bloggers and microbloggers to give the writer viral readership.
In 6-12 month, the sites that discover the trending story, anyone can do this.

Pat Kane Hue and Cry

Use what is ubiquitous to drive people to what is scarce.

Basically in music:
CD's are not useful so get them to live performances instead.

News/journalism:
Does twitter become part of the process?

We can all produce our own stuff, TV, news, music. So there is a rush to the quality end of the market. This is a challenge for us all.

140 characters

Is this enough?

Can we break this technical limitation.

Do we need to?

Why is 140 useful for?

Media140

How is twitter useful?

Real time news.
Early warning: communities deciding whats news
Beat reporting:use content search, geolocated
Traceable stories/interviewees/leads
Can you help:asking questions
Promotional tool
Expertise archive. We decide what is important.

Pat Kane opinion.

Twitter makes money?

The question on everyones lips. The thing is I don't feel that it needs to immediately. This is not what twitter is necessarily useful for right now for example it has been launched to be the new concierge service at Marriot Hotels. I believe twitter is all about making what we have better and doing it in a 21st century way.

Your thoughts?

keep it real

The trouble with the IT or tech industry is that everyone likes to over complicate things. So my tip for twittering today is to keep it simple. Add a URL if necessary, hashtags are fab HOWEVER don't try to be too intelligent. Just write something useful or fun and enjoy it. Lots of people feel it is necessary to make things overly complicated just to sound intelligent.They add lots of signs and shorten things etc . This is not necessary. Keep it useful and make it make sense.

Seesmic.com

Loic who created this, has just given me a lesson in how to use it. It was very easy to set up. The benefits are that you can watch a number of different twitter accounts in one go.It allows you to send to facebook and twitter in one go if you want to. (This will be set up in three weeks) It looks good. The downside is for new users who don't know how to do things: when placing your mouse over image, other images appear but no words therefore not telling you what to do or what to press e.g. a bin, envelope and @ sign, these may seem obvious but for new users it doesn't help.You seem to have to just know.

Guide : Using Twitter - Part I

In March 2006, a small privately funded startup company from San Francisco created a messaging tool, which later launched to the masses in August 2006.

Now, in 2009, this internal 'side project' has grown into a global phenomenon; the short messaging service you know as 'Twitter'.

Twitter is available over multiple networks, devices and has many purposes :

• share your personal updates with the world
• promote professional services & wares
• keep in touch with friends & colleagues

So, how do YOU go about using Twitter?

Read on to find out...

REGISTRATION

The very first step to using Twitter is to visit http://www.twitter.com/ and hit the big 'Get Started - Join' button!


Enter a few simple details, such as :

• a username (like a nickname; this will be your login name)
• a password
• your email address

...follow the on-screen instructions, and you're ready to rock and roll.

FOLLOWERS & FOLLOWING

Twitter works on the basis that you 'follow' peoples updates, and people 'follow you.
Some people liken it to eavesdropping, spying, or just being plain nosy.

Others find it an essential way of keeping up-to-date with the latest news, gossip and rumours from a wealth of resources (fashion, current affairs, sport, business etc).

The scope and reach of Twitter is phenomenal.

You can search for and follow your friends, celebrities, businesses, news broadcasters - anybody!
You can also invite your friends, family & colleagues to join and follow your updates.

At the time of creating your Twitter profile, you will be guided through a step-by-step process to find people and follow them.

You can also do this anytime after you have initially created your profile.
To do so, login to http://www.twitter.com/ and hit the 'Find People' link on the top-right of the page.

Both techniques will take you through the following screen :



You will be able to search for a person or business etc; or send invitations by email.
Follow the on-screen instructions for full details.

You can also type the website address for a Twitter user, if you know the URL.
For example, find me at http://www.twitter.com/iloxy and hit the 'Follow' button below my avatar (photograph).

TWEETING

Once your Twitter profile is active, you can begin 'tweeting'.
This is the practice of sending short messages, in bursts of up to 140 characters as a maximum.

There are 4 standard types of tweets you can send :

• a general message to the public timeline or 'Twitterverse'
• a reply to any tweet you read from other people on Twitter or 'Tweeple'
• a direct (private) message to people who follow your tweets (this does not appear on the public timeline)
• a ReTweet which allows you to re-post a tweet made by another person (like forwarding an email)

To post a tweet, login to http://www.twitter.com/ with the username and password you created, type in the big empty box at the top of the page, and hit the 'Update' button.

That's your first tweet to the general public of Twitter users!

Well done!!

YOUR TWITTER BIO

There are a few simple things you can do to personalise your Twitter experience for yourself, and your 'followers' :

• select an avatar (small picture or photo of yourself, logo etc)
• select a background colour scheme for your own Twitter page
• set your privacy options & personal info

This is all easily done from the 'Settings' link on the top-right of the page, and gives you a sense of identity in the 'Twitterverse', allowing people to easily recognise you, and forge a connection & rapport.

=====

This is Part I in a multi-part guide to using Twitter, created by Dom Greensmith, aka 'iLoxy', for (and on behalf of) :

iLoxy.com
tweetschoolUK
YourTechSay

Why not follow us on Twitter, and say "hi!" :

@iLoxy - http://www.twitter.com/iloxy
@minx100 - http://www.twitter.com/minx100
@yourtechsay - http://www.twitter.com/yourtechsay

I tweet because......

It gives people the opportunity to meet and chat to people they never thought possible and didn't know existed. It gives you the opportunity to extend the boundaries of living. It makes everything seem possible. It can be used for fun and business. We are all able to give opinions on issues we care about and also feel our opinion can actually start counting. I don't think we should live by twitter, there is nothing wrong with speaking and good old fashioned communication but sometimes it is not possible to do this. So why not give ourselves the opportunity to expand the way we live and who we are surrounded by and what is possible.

lesson four

Why use twitter. My first question is why wouldn't you. Everything becomes much more accessible. You don't have to write things if you don't want to you could just follow. BUT it allows you to find people or things of interest very quickly and easily. Use the search twitter icon on tweetdeck.

lesson three

Retweet: if you feel like there is something interesting enough to pass on to your followers.
Do this by clicking retweet button on tweetdeck or write RT and do copy and paste.

Zeitgeist

Supposedly the place where everyone would know about twitter and want to be part of it. This is not so, a number of people I met tonight do not know why you use twitter. Therefore they don't use it. We can't have people being afraid of it.

Tell me why you use twitter?

an alternative

Met Loic Le Meur tonight who says try seesmic.com as an alternative to tweetdeck. Let me know your thoughts.

facebook and twitter

It is possible if you get tweetdeck to have all facebook status updates appear. If you do this by pressing the F then it will happen. Also you can then go onto friends facebook picures once they appear at tweetdeck and click on them to be able to email directly or twitter them if they have an account.

second lesson

How to reply direct to people:

Use the @sign and their name or click onto their picture and click the little arrow. When you become notscared (a technical term meaning not scared!) then if you try things and put your mouse over words or images, little words come up to help you.

Be brave

Jason Bradbury

This is a world that has been around for a while yet some people are only just starting to brave it. I am one of those people. The internet then facebook and now twitter. Some people wonder what the point is. So having chatted to Jason (Gadget show man) on Friday I decided to venture into this crazy world. This is for all the people out there who want to be part of technology but are new or scared.

first lesson

So tweetdeck makes everything make sense. It allows you to see incoming tweets and outgoing tweets, direct tweets all on one page.

welcome to tweetschool

So started last night, this is the place to ask questions and get answers. Don't feel stupid asking. I had no idea how to use twitter. A few helpful hints have helped me along the way. Lets make this the place that people feel they can come and ask things without feeling inadequate.

Good luck with tweetschool.