1. HOW TO USE TWITTER Austin J. Hall, Des Plaines Valley Public Library District

2. What the heck is Twitter?  A silly name  A social networking tool  A text message delivery and retrieval service  A way to keep in touch with friends, family, celebrities, businesses, and trends  A way to market oneself or one’s business

3. Yeah, but what IS it?  Twitter is a social networking tool that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length to the people who follow you.  You can also read the messages of those people YOU follow.

4. What can you do with it?  Tell everyone what you’re doing  Follow famous people  Keep up with news as it happens, in “real time.”  Find out what people are talking about – what’s trending?  Broadcast promotional material to whoever follows you  Can be used on cellular/handheld devices as well as home computers/laptops

5. How is it different than Facebook?  Fewer features  More immediacy  “Trending” feature allows you to see what people are talking about  “Retweeting”  140 character limit for each message  It suggests who you should follow based on your messages

6. http://twitter.com

7. History of Twitter  http://www.140characters.com/2009/01/3 0/how-twitter-was-born/ http://www.140characters.com/2009/01/3 0/how-twitter-was-born/

8. The Language of Twitter  Tweets  Retweets  Hashtags  Trending  Followers  Twitpics  @, #, 40404

9. Why is it so popular?

10. Who uses it?  Youngsters AND adults…people of all ages  Businesses  Artists, comedians, writers, politicians, etc.

11. I’m not a teenager. Why should I use Twitter?  Let’s say you have a small business…  ADVERTISING!  Even without a business, you can make sure groups of people know where you are and how you’re doing using Twitter.  Keep in touch with friends, family, reconnections, etc.  Follow trends, hobbies, interests

12. How do I sign up?  Signing up is FREE! All you need is an e- mail account.