twitter, a beginners guide

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A beginner’s guide Andrew Dobson, Sky Creative Technology

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This is an 'introduction to Twitter' that I gave for an internal team at Sky that were not well versed in social media. The aim was not to delve into strategy, but simply to provide a gentle guide to using the service, it's etiquette, conventions and best usage. Others new to the network may also find it useful.

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Page 1: Twitter, a beginners guide

A beginner’s guideAndrew Dobson, Sky Creative Technology

Page 2: Twitter, a beginners guide

The ConversationMicroblogging – what can you say in 140 characters?

Page 3: Twitter, a beginners guide

The rise of Twitter

100 million + active users

250 million + tweets per day and rising

50% of users log in every day

Direct access to famous and influential people

The Tweeter is the centre of the conversation, channelling information to their sphere of influence

Most users do not use Twitter’s website directly, but use clients on their phones

There are many subsidiary services which are used to augment the twitter service – twitpic (photos and images), twitvid (video), URL shorteners, twitlonger etc.

Twittiquette evolves out of the service’s use, it is not dictated by the business or the technology. Use it wisely.

Page 4: Twitter, a beginners guide

Why tweetTo tap into and contribute to the digital pulse of information globally(And to laugh at Kanye West)

Page 5: Twitter, a beginners guide

Getting startedHow to join the conversationhttp://www.twitter.com

Page 6: Twitter, a beginners guide

Choosing a nameKeep it short! Remember that your display name will appear in most clients anyway.

Make sure you upload an avatar and fill in your profile – you’ll look like a spammer otherwise.

Page 7: Twitter, a beginners guide

Who to follow?Friends

People who are useful, insightful or funny

Robots and services

Celebs

Spoofs

Avoid spam and block immediately.

Page 8: Twitter, a beginners guide

Consider your toneAre you going to be:Personal?Professional?A Broadcaster?A Conduit?

If you find yourself covering very disparate tones, consider separate accounts

Remember that the majority of your followers probably don’t know you personally

Finally, it’s ok to just listen

Page 9: Twitter, a beginners guide

Send a tweet!Type and send. You have 140 characters. There are twitter extenders but don’t bother

One point per tweet

Avoid ephemera - stick to concise opinions, insight, knowledge sharing and being funny

Avoid txtspk but don’t be verbose

You can also text (but I don’t know many people that do)

Page 10: Twitter, a beginners guide

Anatomy of a Tweet

Page 11: Twitter, a beginners guide

RetweetA retweet is essentially a shorthand for “I agree with this” or “I think you’d also be interested in this”.

Retweets appear in the timeline as if from the original author, even if you don’t follow them (but clearly indicated). RTs are how stories and comments spread – don’t be reactive!

RT vs Quote and etiquette. Always credit and add if you can. Short tweets get retweeted more.

Page 12: Twitter, a beginners guide

@@usernames generally used to address people directly. Beware of 1:1 conversations though and take them to DM.

@names are also used inline to reference people “Going to see @andrewdotdobson for a drink tonight”

Many companies use accounts for information “@firstCC are there delays at St Albans tonight?” This can be very useful for information and to reach out to people

Tweets which start with an @ only appear in the stream of people that also follow the @person.

Page 13: Twitter, a beginners guide

The hashtag# signifies a metadata “tag” which aligns your tweet to a particular topic.They can be used #inline, or #tagged at the end of the post. #useful #twitter101

Often used to signify sarcasm: “Really enjoying being pressed up against the window on the train this morning #fail #fml”

Applications and campaigns use hashtags to collate relevant tweets (#hignfy, #gottodance, #qt). There is no lookup table, but you’ll pick them up just by following others lead.

Page 14: Twitter, a beginners guide

Trending topicsEssentially just “what people are talking about”

Normally reactive to current events

What’s on TV, breaking news, deaths, announcements all figure highly

Media, gossip and sport always trend

Campaigns are rare, unless they’re very good or sponsored

Beware spoilers!

Page 15: Twitter, a beginners guide

Hashtag gamesAlmost daily occurrence

Quickly get hijacked or fizzle out but will have high traffic

e.g. #6wordfilmplots: “Nemo gets lost. Nemo gets found.”

Page 16: Twitter, a beginners guide

Twitter traditions• #ff Follow Friday – one person with an explanation please!• #mm Music Mondays – TUNES!• The fail whale – Twitter often goes over capacity and shows this

fella• /via and HT (hat tip) – used to acknowledge sources, particularly

off twitter• OH - Overheard• MT – Modified tweet (editing the original tweet before reposting)

Traditions rise and fall all the time. Treat Twitter like joining a conversation in a pub with people you don’t know.

Page 17: Twitter, a beginners guide

EtiquetteAvoid auto updates and cross posting to twitter

Acknowledge people but don’t flood them (treat as you would a CC)

Remember that it is a very public forum, even if you’re only following friends, and that the shortness of responses makes context very hard to set.

DM if you’re having a 1:1 conversation

Most companies monitor twitter for reputation management

Page 18: Twitter, a beginners guide

EventsReal time events are where Twitter comes into it’s own.

TV show feeds provide and alternate commentary to the programme (see The Apprentice, Question Time, Masterchef for good examples).

Conferences, press events (like big tech launches) and breaking news stories will always have lively coverage

Learn to separate the signal from the noise and be wary of misinformation and the twitter echo-chamber

Page 19: Twitter, a beginners guide

The APIsApplication Programming Interfaces allow developers and companies to leverage functions of the Twitter service without having to interface with it directly

Tweetboards, Zeebox, data visualisation are all being used with increasing frequency

Twitter is driving game shows, audience participation, polling, access to data services (like timetables etc) and providing direct access to consumers and businesses. Lots of creative applications

There are popular clients for every platform and device. iOS5+ has it built in. Many apps can also send updates directly to Twitter (i.e. Instagram)

Find the client and useage that is right for you

Page 20: Twitter, a beginners guide

Good luck!@andrewdotdobson

Further reading: http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/03/the-bare-bones-guide-to-twitter/72283/http://www.chrisbrogan.com/a-brief-and-informal-twitter-etiquette-guide/