How to use Twitter

Twitter is a social networking platform launched in 2006. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder wanted to start a networking platform that worked similar to SMS but could be updated and friends could ‘follow’ each other. He brainstormed with his partner Evan Williams and Twitter was founded in March 2006. The 140 character limit was implemented by mobile carriers. Later, it became a unique feature of the brand. Twitter remains a short, to the point, a skimmable version of news, opinions, and content in today’s modern world.

Today there are about 100 million daily active users and 500 million tweets sent daily. The sheer numbers available through this platform can be a veritable source for marketers, creators, bloggers, journalists, celebrities, and companies. But learning new technology can also be intimidating. How do you know the way it works? How does a newcomer use Twitter? Let’s find out.

Twitter can be used to follow the news, celebrities, discuss relevant issues with friends and colleagues, or share important articles. It is a social networking site in which you post 140 character status updates, also known as ‘tweets.‘ People can follow you and view those tweets or reply to them. You can also follow others via Twitter and see their tweets in your timeline. Within your tweets, you can link images, articles, or videos for others to view. People can ‘retweet’ your original tweet which means share it with their followers, thus spreading it to more people.

First, you have to create your Twitter account. You can use this link to signup. Select a username that signifies your personality or profession. Remember that a lot of companies now check all social media platforms so avoid any offensive usernames or keep your account private. You can keep changing your username as often as you want. Once you sign up, you can see a box that asks you, ‘What’s happening?’ This feature is similar to status updates on Facebook. You can add GIFs, polls, images, or icons to make the status interesting. When you are ready to publish, press ‘Tweet.‘ To find people to follow, you can browse through the app or type names into the search box. Once you start following them, you can view their recent posts, tweets, and media. Twitter will provide you with suggestions once the algorithm understands the kind of content or tweets you like.

Select a healthy mix of celebrities, magazines, newspapers, brands, and people. You may think your favorite celebrity is worth following but most often they just use Twitter for promotions or sharing contest details. It can be boring and bland to follow only celebrities or actors.

You can engage or react to other people’s tweets by clicking the speech bubble to the left of the Retweet button. Add your personal comment or reply to their tweet. You can also add comments while retweeting, thus making your stance on that particular tweet public. Users can also directly message each other in private by clicking on the envelope icon. It is called DM. Some users keep their DMs closed for privacy reasons. You can edit your profile and provide other information such as email, your jobs, or your profession.

By updating your location, you allow Twitter to provide you location specific news and updates. You can browse through ‘Trends‘ or ‘Moments’ to know the latest hashtags, news, and tweets. Twitter is often used as a powerful way to start social media campaigns or protests. The immediate and short nature of the message makes it very relevant and quick.

Twitter is a really useful took for marketers and PR companies. Brands can create specific accounts and use them to share information about company news, launches, PR strategy, events, and contests. The beauty of Twitter is that it has a vast target audience. You can reach students, researchers, celebrities, ordinary people, professionals, and journalists with one tweet. It is essential that you engage regularly with smart tweets, important links, news articles, and funny content. Your timeline should reflect who you are and what message you want to convey. Interlinking Twitter with Instagram, Facebook, WordPress, and Linkedin assures you that you reach more people and receive more views or retweets.

You can add hashtags to your tweets so it reaches more people. Users can select or mute topics and tweets so they don’t have to interact with those. Twitter users use that feature to avoid spoilers of television series or sports finales. It is also a helpful way to filter offensive or violent content. You can also click on those hashtags and see other tweets about the same topic. Twitter can be logged in through your mobile or Desktop. And it recently increased the character limit to 280, allowing users more space and words to express their opinion. There are Android or iPhone apps which customize Twitter for you such as TweetDeck etc. So go set up a Twitter account and become part of a cool, updated, modern digital platform.