Seven thing you can do to get started on Twitter

Twitter is a great new Internet communication tool or is it more than that?  I guess if you get started, you can decide for yourself about the Twitter experience (I guess that would be Twerience).   Here is a list of seven thing you can do to solve the problem of getting a good start on Twitter. 

1. Set up your account at www.twitter.com. Here are a few thoughts about setting up your account.
   • Select your user name wisely.  This is what everyone will know you as. 
   • Use a secure password.  I have heard of Twitter accounts getting hacked and you don’t want people sending out messages as you.
   • You can pick a background or you can make a custom background that is unique to you.  Many people create a custom image with more info about them on it.
   • Add an image of yourself.  People like to see who they are communicating with.
   • Enter a good bio.  This is what people are going to read about you to decide if they want to follow you.  Most people list the things they are interested in.  It is not very long so you will have to be concise.  After you start using twitter you can read what others have written in their bios and come back and revise yours.
2. Read about Twitter.   Read the Twitter getting started page. Read the the twictionary.  These will help you learn how Twitter works and some of the vocabulary you will see.  If you are visiting a new country it is good to know how it works and the lingo.
3. Find some tweets to read.  It is always a good idea to listen before you speak.  Read some tweets and see what others are saying.  You can do this by clicking on search at the bottom of the page once you have your account set up.  Just enter a search term for something you are interested in and click the search button.  You will see the recent tweets that contain that term.  Click on some of the links that are in the tweets and see if the information the tweet pointed to is interesting to you.  You might notice that the URL in the tweet looks strange.  This is because the URL has been shortened to fit in the tweet.  There are several services that will create a short version of any URL and then redirect to the original URL when the short URL is used.
4. Tweet.  Send out your own message.  You can reply to a message you have read with a comment or a question.  You can do this by mousing over the right end of the tweet display and clicking on the reply arrow.  It will put the persons id in the message with an @ in front of it which means this is a message to them.  Type your text and click on update to send it out.
5. Find some Twitter tools.  I like using TweetDeck to view tweets on tweeple and topics I am following.  There are lots of Twitter tools available.
6. Follow people.  Find people to follow and follow them.  You can follow friends, people you are interested in, and people that make interesting comments. Following them means that all the tweets they make will display easily for you.  If you follow them, they will likely follow you back and see your tweets and respond to them.
7. Interact.  That is what Twitter is all about, interacting with other people.  Sending and receiving tweets.  Asking and answering questions.  Become part of the Twitter community.

Welcome to the Twitterverse. Now you are all ready to start using Twitter in a productive way. Yes, there are really productive ways to use Twitter, but that is another list.

By the way, you can follow me on twitter by clicking here.

Related posts:

1. Seven Tools I use with Twitter
2. Seven things my business is doing with Twitter
3. Seven useful things you can do with Twitter
4. Its Tweetie for me!
5. Getting Twitter Tools to Shorten URLs
6. TweetDeck – the best way to Listen to Tweets
7. TweetDeck for iPhone – Just Awsome