How To Create Your Twitter Account
a. Go to http://twitter.com and click on the "Join for Free" link
Figure 1-1: Twitter homepage
b. Fill in the create account form
Tip 1: Selecting your username
a. You can have up to 15 alphanumeric characters in your username as long as there are no spaces in your name.
b. Avoid using a silly username like jcd1324. Twitter is a social network first and foremost and as you are dealing with real people, who wants to follow or hear from someone with a very obvious fake name.
c. As you type in the characters for your desired username, Twitter checks automatically if the username is available. If it is, then the name is shown in green as in the screenshot below.
Tip 2: Use a REAL email address that you check often.
Don't worry you will not receive spam from Twitter. In fact, having been a member since May 2007, I have yet to receive any email direct from Twitter. The reason you want a real email address there is:
a. In case you lose or forget your account password you can have it sent to you.
b. Direct messages from your friends are emailed to you immediately. (You can turn off this feature in your settings later if you want to.
OK, with those two tips in mind, fill in the form to create your account. See the screenshot on the next page as an example. Once you have filled in all the fields in the form, click on the button to create your account.
Setting Up Your Account
As soon as you have created your account you will be greeted with the welcome screen:
Congratulations, you are now officially an active user on Twitter! Your "homepage" on Twitter is now http://twitter.com/username where username is the value you created previously.
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Step 1 Your Account Settings
Your first move from here is to click on the settings link which takes you to your account settings.
In your account settings fill in the following two fields:
• More Info URL: If you have a website, blog or facebook page this is the place to put in your link. This link will be displayed on your Twitter homepage for people (and search engines at the time of writing) to follow.
• One Line Bio: As the name says, enter a one line description of yourself here. Make it interesting, something that will make like-minded people want to follow you.
• Protect my updates: If you're just starting out with Twitter it is best to keep this option unchecked (off). If you turn on this option only your friends and approved followers will be able to see your Twitter updates ("tweets" in Twitter terminology) which is a bad idea if you want to start building a social network fast.
Don't forget to click on the "Save" button when you're done!
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Step 2 Adding Additional Devices For Twittering
This step is only necessary if you want to receive or send Twitter updates from either your mobile phone or from an Instant Messenger service. At the time of writing, AIM, Gtalk, .Mac, LiveJournal and Jabber are the options you can choose from here.
To setup these additional devices, click on the Phone & IM link. You will get to see a screen similar to this:
Follow the simple instructions that appear on-screen and you should be on your way.
CAUTION: Depending on your service provider and the mobile plan you have, you could end up paying for every Twitter message received or sent. One person I know of found out the "hard way" when he received a bill of $33.00 for text messaging! Consider yourself warned.
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Step 3 Setting Your Notification Preferences
Notifications are "self-explanatory", simply enable the types of messages you want to receive in your email inbox when the following events occur:
Additional notes:
• New Follower Emails: This is a handy feature to have when you're not sitting in front of Twitter all day. It's nice to know when someone starts following you☺. Notification emails give you the opportunity to reciprocate and become friends.
• Direct Text Emails: This is an extremely handy option to have because you get the entire direct message inserted inside the email. Twitter's web front-end doesn't make it easy to know when you have received a direct message - and most of the desktop clients neglect to notify you too. In my books this is a MUST HAVE option!
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Step 4 Upload Your Profile Picture
What can we say, Twitter's default image leaves a lot to be desired! Your profile picture is displayed "almost everywhere" in Twitter and have a good one, in fact anyone other than the default one will get you further.
Because we're on a social network people want to see "who's talking". If you want to increase your follower rate then you definitely want to add a picture to your profile (even if it is a cartoon character...)
This is what my settings look like:
Find a picture of yourself... or an interesting picture elsewhere and upload it.---------------------------------------
Step 5 Customizing The Look Of Your "Homepage"
Twitter gives you limited ability to change the design of your "homepage" Essentially you can just change the colors of the page and add a background image. This is what the settings look like for my homepage:
To change you design settings click on the Design link in the Settings menu.
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Step 6 Changing Your Password
To change your password simply go to Settings > Password.
You will need to confirm your new password by entering your current password first. OK, you're basically all setup and ready to go!
How Your Twitter Page Looks Like To The World
Now that you have yourself setup let's see how your page will look like to the world... Click on the "Your profile" link on your page.
Now that you know what your page looks like to the world, let's explain what it is you're looking at:
1. In case you haven't guess it yet this is your navigation menu.
2. On the left you will see the picture you uploaded and your name (in this case mine - twittaroid)
3. The "speech box" contains your latest update about "What you are doing"
4. The "About" box contains your publicly viewable information.
5. Displays your name and the short "bio" you setup in the settings.
6. Displays your website URL and the date you joined Twitter.
7. Displays your "social statistics" such as: the number of people you are following, the number of followers you have and any favorite updates you've saved.
8. Shows a history of updates of your updates and the people you are following.
9. Shows your own previous updates.
Announcing.....Yourself!
So far you have:
(a) setup your Twitter page correctly and
(b) checked that everything looks the way you like it.
Our next step is to do your first update and announce yourself to the world, before we get to the actual "update," there are a few things you should know:
1. Make you first update something interesting rather that the bland "Checking out Twitter" posts that you see out there. You want people to follow you, right? Right! Well, would you follow someone that's just "Checking out Twitter?" No!
2. KEEP IT SHORT & SWEET (aka Twitteroid's "KISS") You have 140 characters of text to use. Use it wisely.
If you have a blog... make your first post something like:
Did you know I have a blog? In case you didn't find out more about me here: http://www.mydomain.com/blog Looking forward to telling you more
Or (if you don't have a blog) find a crazy video on you tube and post a message like this:
I must be as crazy as these guys > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxxxxxxxx to be telling you what I'm doing, but I'm going to anyway!
3. Just a quick note about URL's Twitter makes use of TinyURL so if your message exceeds 140 character and there's a URL in there Twitter will automatically shorten it for you.
Let's get to it then. Click on the Home link in the navigation menu. You should now see a screen containing the "What are you doing?" entry box similar to this:
Enter your first update and click on the "Update" button.
That's it. You have just made your first update. Simple isn't it? From now on all you need to do is go to this page to post all your updates.
The "Home" page also lists the most recent updates from yourself and the people you are following to let you know what everyone else is doing.
If working from your web browser is not your thing (and you like working directly from your computer) a Twitter desktop tool here: http://twitter.com/downloads or visit my blog where I'll be reviewing various tools.
Playing Follow The Leader
Now that we have set ourselves up on Twitter let's find some interesting people to follow.
Before you continue, make sure you're logged in on Twitter.
Following Dirk Dupon
As a first excercise, let's go and follow Dirk Dupon
and see what they're up to. Cut and paste this URL into your web browser or click on this link: http://twitter.com/dirkdupon
When you get to someone's Twitter homepage that you are not following, a grey "Follow" button appears underneath their Twitter user name.
Click on the button to follow them. After you click on the "Follow" Button you the web page expands to display the following:
The screenshot shows that you are now following that person and that their updates will appear in your timeline. i.e. You will now be able to see their updates on your Twitter page.
Finding People to Follow from the Public Timeline
The public timeline in Twitter provides you with a snapshot of "What people are doing" around the world at the specific instant you access the page. Click the Public timeline link in your navigation bar to view it.
You may need to refresh the page a few times until you find someone interesting to follow. Remember: Twitter is international so if you see some updates with funny characters in them, don't be alarmed, your web browser and / or Twitter is NOT broken.
Let's say we're looking for people that share the same taste in music as you... When you have found an interesting update (like the example below)
Click on that person's username or on their picture to go to their Twitter homepage to see more information on them. In our example this is what CleverClogs' Twitter page looks like:
Here you can see Marjolein's short bio and the what she's been "tweeting" about. If you decide that you like her and want to know more about what she has to say, all you need to do is click on the grey "follow" button and she will be added into your list of people that you are following.
You can repeat this process to start building a list of people to follow. Some people will reciprocate and follow you in return. When this happens you become "friends" in Twitter and can direct message each other. Click here to read more about Direct messaging on Twitter's site.
Tip:
Clicking on the Twitter logo is quick shortcut to get to your own homepage after looking at other peoples Twitter pages.
Clicking on the Twitter logo is quick shortcut to get to your own homepage after looking at other peoples Twitter pages.Inviting Friends To Follow You
If you click on the "Invite" link in your navigation menu you will be taken to a page where you can send your friends an email to join you on Twitter.
Here you enter your friend's email addresses and you get a preview of the message that they will be sent from Twitter.Tip: Personally, I don't recommend using this option. I firmly believe that it's far better to send your friends an email from your own computer and using your own email address. You will achieve much better results with this. Your friends will recognize your normal email address in their email inbox and will not consider it SPAM.
On right-hand side of your Twitter homepage you will see your "Profile" box with your "stats".
Point 1 displays your last update in Twitter.
Point 2 gives you the "numbers" and is what this section will focus on.
Lastly, Point 3 displays the pictures of all the people that you are following.
Following gives you the number of people whose Twitter updates you are following. The latest 20 updates from these people (tweets in Twitter terminology) are displayed on your homepage.
Followers gives you the number of people that are "following" you. In other words your followers receive your updates on their homepage.
Favorites gives you the number of favorite tweets you have saved. Twitter allows you to "star" or save any "tweets" you find interesting - think of a favorite as a bookmark. Note: Your favorites are also available to anyone coming to your homepage.
Direct Messages gives you the number of direct messages you have received from friends. A friend is considered someone that you are following and who is following you. I.e. You are both following each other so you have become friends. The advantage of a direct message is that it is private and only viewable by the receiver.
The easiest way to send a direct message is to type the following in your updates:
D username Your message goes here.....
I.e. the letter "D" followed by a space then the person's username followed by a space and then your private message.
Following & Removing
If you click on the Following link you will see a list of all the people that you are following similar to this:
On the right of Figure 5-2 you can see the remove button. To stop following someone and all you need to do is click on the button. That's it. They will be removed from the list of people you are following and their pictures will not be displayed on your homepage anymore.Followers
If you click on the Followers link a list of all the people that are following you is displayed similar to this:
Underneath each person's Twitter name their status is displayed. For example in the screenshot above, hopewillbanks and imersclub are following you and you are following them. This means that you are "friends" and can direct message each other.
In the case of Jon Silva, he is following you, but you are not following him. You have the option of following him by click on the Follow button or, if he has upset you in some way, click on the "block" link to ban him from receiving your Twitter updates.
Another thing to notice is the red padlock sysbol next to imersclub's user name. When you see that symbol next to a person's name it means that their updates are protected and you have to request and be manually approved to follow their updates.
What Are You Doing?
OK, now you know almost everything you need to know about Twitter!
Your next step is to click on the Twitter logo to go to your home page and send your first message. It's easy! In the textbox (like the one below)
Send enter the following message:
@ dirkdupon Just finished reading Twitteroid's tutorial. Thanks.
This will send a "Thank you" message to Dirk Dupon
Enjoy Twitter!
Appendix A: How To Generate Even MORE Followers
Do you have any friends that you would like to see on Twitter?
Let's face it, many people haven't got a clue about how to use Twitter and a quick tutorial to get them started will work wonders. It could be that some of them are even technophobes too...
So how can you convince them to use Twitter? Simple, give them a copy of this tutorial telling them how to follow you.
Appendix B: Personalizing This Tutorial With Your Name
Do you have a blog, a website or even an email list?
Here's how you can create a closer relationship with your subscribers, customers and website visitors on Twitter...
Give them a copy of this tutorial branded with your own Twitter information and have them follow you when they're working through the tutorial. If you look inside this tutorial you can see that it has been personalized for your sponsor with the following information:
Name : Dirk Dupon
Website : http://www.ebookresellerclub.com
Twitter : http://twitter.com/dirkdupon
Making this tutorial your own Twitter "follower generator" is as easy as pie.
All you need to do is donate $5 to the Twitteroid Blog Fund After your donation has been received you will be taken to a download page where you can download a zip file. Inside the zip file are all the tools you need to brand this tutorial with your own details.
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