What exactly is Twitter?

The basic premise of Twitter is to tell other people what you are doing right now in 140 characters or less; kind of like an online text message. The message, or tweet, is available for everyone to see through the public timeline or through delivery to the timeline of the members who are following you.

The Twitter folk describe it thus:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

How is Twitter used?

Twitter has become a great marketing tool for your website or blog. It is also a great way to communicate with people, create networks, share ideas and seek advice. It is also a great way to send traffic to your site.

Want to tell people about a new blog post, article or photo you have added to your website? Write a short note and send the url in a tweet. That’s it. Simple.

How does it work?

You create a network of people you wish to “follow” by clicking on the “follow” link on any users profile. You will then be able to see any tweet posted by the members you are following, and once you start to network with Twitter users they will start to follow you and they will see the tweets you make.

How to find people to follow

Twitter users come from all sorts of fields and are interested in a whole range of subjects. You can seek out people to follow using the search function (the link is at the bottom of the Twitter page). Type in the phrases you are interested in and see who is tweeting about the subject. Click on the avatar to access the users profile and choose whether or not you would like to follow them by clicking the “follow” button.

It is also possible to search by real name/username and you can look for people you know through your email accounts.

On the right hand side of each profile page you will see a group of avatars belonging to more Twitter members. This is another good way to find likeminded people to follow.

Following a Twitter member does not require confirmation from the Twitter member you want to follow. It is a one way transaction. Sometimes Twitter members you follow will also follow you, sometimes they will not.

Why isn’t Twitter a spamfast?

Because Twitter users want to keep a degree of credibility. They value their online presence and want to offer value to those who take the time to follow them and read what they have to say. No doubt there are spammers using Twitter, but you have the power to remove them from your timeline by taking them out of your follow list. It takes time to build up a credible network and it is not something you want to keep doing.

Pretty much all the tweets are of value and I have found out some really interesting information by following the tweets posted by people I follow. I can’t admit to following every link I see or read every tweet I receive. I pick and choose and read those of interest.

Twitter is accessible via a browser, but I suggest you choose one of the supported Twitter applications so you can continue working whilst keeping an eye on your Twitter timeline.

Twitter is the future.

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