HOW DO I GET TO TWITTERVILLE?

Twitter is probably the most misunderstood social networking site.  When I talk to people about Twitter one of the first things they ask me about is the 140 character limit.  Think about it.  How many characters are in “good morning?”, or “how are you?”  Good morning has 13 characters and how are you has 12 characters.  That is a long way from 140 characters.  Although there may be something you want to say that is more than 140 characters, you’ll know instantly because the background where you type your message turns red.  Before we get too far down the road, let’s talk about setting up your Twitter account. 

Twitter account set up.  Go to Twitter.com to set up your account and select “Sign Up.”  Its the big yellow box on the right.  You can’t miss it. 

Fill out pertinent information and select “Create My Account.” You’ll have to go through three screens consisting of things that interest you, sources that interest you and finally people you are looking for.  Twitter will match your interests with people who have the same interests as you do.   After you’ve set up your account there ar some things I want to tell you about that will save you from getting lots and lots of potentially unwanted email, but you’ll have to decide for yourself.

On the upper right is a selction named “Settings.”  Select Settings and you’ll get another set of selections.  Go to “Notices” and read through each one of the types of notices you’ll receive via email.  Later on I’ll show you how to increase your following exponentially and you might not want to get an email every time someone sends you a message or follows you.  This could end up being a lot of emails.  I uncheck these three selections for all my clients. 

Profile:  Now set up your profile.  Make sure you have a picture of yourself, your business logo or something else you’d like for people to identify you with.  If you are a business, definitely use your logo or even a picture of the outside of your building.  The rest of the blanks are self explanatory.  For the bio, think of something catchy, or use your company tag line.  Also, make sure you “SAVE” everything you do or it won’t show up on your page.  There are a few more things to the setup I’d like to share with you, but I’ll wait until tomorrow.  For now, go back to the top, select “Home” and make your first Tweet.  even something like ” good morning” or “hello.”  Until we grow your Twitter following you may not get much feedback, but others are listening.  More tomorrow.