I received so many messages, comments, and emails on my Twitter Convert Post, that I decided to start a Simplified Twitter Series. Last week, I wrote a post that attempted to explain Twitter in the simplest of terms and why I am enjoying tweeting the more I learn and the more I actually use it. Many asked me about more information on tools and ways I use it and through this mini series, I’ll add to that and direct you to some other amazing blogs that I’ve learned from.
However, to keep this simplified, I will keep these short without overwhelming you with too much information at once. We all know if you want more information, there are lots of blogs and videos already made about how to use Twitter and various forms of social media platforms. Sometimes it can all be overwhelming and we don’t know where to begin. My suggestion is to start with one step at a time until your comfortable to add more. You don’t have to start with 1000 friends and know how to schedule tweets before sending your first tweet. You need to know to set up your account and start tweeting. Keep it short, remember from the last article, we are limited to 140 characters. That doesn’t mean you have to use 140 characters at once. Remember that if I want to RT or reply to one of your tweets, I’ll need to add a few characters myself, even if it’s just the RT and your user name.
To get the most out of Twitter, you want to build connections and have mini conversations with other tweeters. You want to get information quickly, share information quickly, and meet new Tweeps. We all know that to keep friends, we need to communicate with them. You can get someone’s attention using the @ symbol when Tweeting. As mentioned in the last article, the @ symbol is a way of tagging someone. There are a few things to note though.
If I reply to someone or write a post where the @ symbol and user name is the beginning, ONLY the followers that both you and the person you are @tweeting have in common will see the response tweet. Example, if I sent a tweet to my friend, Katie, that said “@ktbomb15 I’m so jealous of your lobster cookout”, only those friends that her and I both have in common would see that message. If you are not following both of us, you would not have seen that message in your newsfeed. However, if I put any other character in front of the @ symbol, even just a “.”, then every follower I have and every one of her followers will ALL see the message. This is considered a mention rather than a reply. This is important when replying to tweets. When you hit reply, the @username comes up at the beginning of the tweet. If you want to keep that tweet personal and limited, leave as is. If you want to share your response with all of your followers and theirs, put your comment to the reply in front of the @symbol.
Use the @ symbol to get someone’s direct attention. Use the @symbol to thank someone for following or just to give a shout out. Sometimes we want to use the @symbol to send a message to someone that does not follow us.
Just remember, even though the responses may be limited if you start with the @ symbol, these are NOT private direct messages. And if someone visited that person’s personal profile page, anyone can see @replies on their wall. If you want to send someone a direct message, use your inbox within Twitter or you can start the message with d or dm and type the user name, no @ symbol necessary. d or dm is short for ‘direct message’ (both work). Try it and send someone a direct message. This will send the message directly and privately to their inbox. If the person you want to dm is not following you, you can send them a limited @username message and ask them to dm you! Are you following along yet?
If we are not connected yet, please make sure we are connected @cherylswindow. If you have any other comments to add or questions, please leave a comment below and we’ll learn together and find the answers together.