It’s not just about what you had for breakfast!

 No other medium has the capability to send and receive information as widely and as quickly as Twitter. ◦ Due to the ability to follow people without permission ◦ Rule of thumb = 50% of the people you follow will follow you back ◦ Real time usage via mobile phones and web applications=immediate response (no waiting)

 Very effective at driving traffic to a blog, website or landing page  Credible resources use Twitter to share valuable information  Easiest way to find the best articles and blogs – Jim’s favorite reason for using Twitter  Drive business through “Twitter” specials – used well by Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts

 Twitter is all about the followers – people who want to read all of your tweets. The reason they choose to follow you may be obvious, but often isn’t.  Why do you want unknown people following you? They are a volunteer advertising audience who will forward your advertising on to everyone who follows them.  The power of Twitter is in the combining of a large number of followers and interesting tweets.

 It is possible to lock your account requiring pre-approval before someone can follow you.  If your goal for using Twitter is building awareness and advertising, the privacy option defeats the purpose.  A default setting is to send you an notice every time someone new starts to follow you.  If someone decides to follow you that you do not want to follow you, you do have the ability to block them.

 Networking partners  Experts in your field  Competitors  People of personal interest  People who tweet on topics of interest

 Unique Username – Profile web address is  Location – not required  Website address  Short bio – only 160 characters  Upload a photo no larger than 700k  If you want to use it on your mobile phone, you provide your phone number to connect and authorize the sending of text messages.

 Preset backgrounds to choose from  Unique design opportunity for the “frame” around the Twitter box. However this is flexible based on the viewers screen size settings.  Upload your own background graphic as long as it is no larger than 800k. Have option to display as is or tile a smaller graphic – same as computer screen background.  Adjust individual design element colors using hex codes.

 Free Twitter backgrounds by several online providers: ◦ ◦ ◦ twitrounds.com twitrounds.com ◦ ◦ ◦ twittergallery.com twittergallery.com  Purchase customer background from online service or have custom designed by graphic designer

 Twitter will search through webmail address books to find people you know who are already on Twitter.  Basic Search – Find People via name or username  Twitter Advanced Search – search for tweets based on keywords, phrases, location, people and even attitude. Twitter Advanced Search  Third party follow applications – usually not free. Set specific criteria and the application automatically follows anyone whose tweets meet the criteria – or simply auto-follow anyone who follows you.

 All Tweets are limited to 140 characters – including spaces and punctuation.  Links in Tweets require “ before the link in order to hyperlink. Because links can be very long and use up much of your allotted 140 characters, it is suggested that you use a URL shortener such as bit.ly or tinyurl.com.bit.ly tinyurl.com  Re-Tweet: Add the letters “RT” before an exact copy of someone else’s Tweet to forward the message to your followers.

– Put symbol in front of someone’s username to direct a public message to them. The followers of you and that person will see the Tweet – it is not private.  Direct Message – (DM) A DM is a private message to a specific user. Only you and that user can see the Tweet. It is still bound by the 140 character limit.  Star – Click on the star next to a Tweet to list it in your favorites. A great way to keep track of Tweets with links you want to recall. You can favorite the Tweets of those you follow and your own Tweets.

 Deleting Tweets – If you accidentally post a “bad” Tweet, you can delete it by going to your Tweets page and clicking on the trash can. Although it does immediately delete the Tweet, there often is a lag time for it to delete from Twitter Search. If it is urgent that the Tweet be completely removed from the system as soon as possible, you have to contact Twitter directly with the Tweet ID number (found by hovering over date & time of Tweet).  Trending Topics – Lists the keywords & hashtags that are being tweeted with the highest volume.

 Twitter application only provides a real-time rolling tweet list.  Not all Twitterers you’re following are created equal, so how do you make sense of it all?  Twitter Account Managers ◦ Main Desktop Managers: TweetDeck and SeesmicTweetDeckSeesmic ◦ Web App: HootSuiteHootSuite  Tweet Schedulers – TweetLater, TwAiter, etc.TweetLaterTwAiter

 Hashtags – The # sign you see in front of words and strange abbreviations. You have to in order to use. will track the number of times that the hashtag is used. The hashtag is not exclusive and anyone else can use it. There is no way to separate your hashtag from someone else’s hashtag if it is exactly the same.

 Bit.ly – URL shortener that tracks how many times it is clicked. Further, it tracks the total number of times that any bit.ly link to that long URL is clicked. Bit.ly does require a separate account.  Apps such as Twitteranalyzer.com and Twitalyzer.com – will measure your reach and how “strong” of a Tweeter you are.Twitteranalyzer.com Twitalyzer.com

 There are more third party applications than you can imagine! Some are free, some not. New applications come out every day.  Best source to find applications is the Twitter fan wiki -  Sharing Photos – Twitpic: Allows you to upload photos and posts Tweets with direct links to share the photos.Twitpic

 Twitter has had issues with hacking and worms. Just like , be careful about who you retweet and direct message.  Twitter PRO accounts – Twitter plans to have businesses pay for the use of Twitter. Likely by the end of 2009 beginning of However, the package of services they will be offering with the PRO account is supposed to be worthy of the cost.