Twitter is a new-generation social media platform that allows users to post updates of ‘what they are doing’ in 140 characters or less. The updates you post end up becoming your stream of ‘tweets’, classified by date and time of course.
Following and Followers
Unlike social networks (Orkut, Facebook, MySpace) that allow users to enlist other users in their network of contacts with a request, Twitter uses ‘Following’ as the primary interaction idea between users. One can choose to follow the updates of another person, which would then appear on your Twitter homepage the instant they’ve been submitted. Similarly, other users can choose to follow you and have your updates appear on their Twitter homepages.
@Username?
Twitter provides a unique handle to every user (not case-sensitive) at time of registration which also becomes a part of the URL of the user’s Twitter homepage. For example, if I choose @NetSimplified as my handle on registration (and depending on availability, of course), my Twitter homepage would be - http://www.twitter.com/NetSimplified. A user can view all my tweets on this page.
Communicating on Twitter
Apart from tweeting, users can communicate on Twitter in multiple ways:
-> Reply to tweets
Reply to tweets of other users by simply including the handle of the user as the first words of your tweet. For example, if I want to reply to user X, I simply write ‘@X Hi, this is @NetSimplified’ in my Twitter textbox. This way of communication is purely Public and can be viewed by any Twitter user.
-> Send a DM
Users can send a direct message (‘DM’ for short) to another user by simply mentioning ‘DM’ followed by the user handle (’@X’ for example) before their tweets. Direct messages are private to the two communicating users. To reply to a direct message, follow the same procedure.
Eg. DM @X Hi, this is @Net Simplified
-> Re-tweeting
If a user posts an interesting tweet that you might want to share with your set of followers, simply re-tweet it by mentioning ‘RT’ or ‘Retweeting’ followed by the user handle. Please note that there is no specific Twitter way of re-tweeting, unlike DM-ing. The two ways mentioned above are the most commonly used identification of re-tweeted posts.
Eg. RT @X Twitter is amazing!
Ways to use Twitter
-> Web service
The most popular way to use Twitter (although it may not remain so for long) is through it’s web service. Set up an account on the site, specify an available handle and start tweeting and following. Twitter’s web service is extremely simple, but slow in comparison to many better and emerging platforms.
-> From web browsers
Web browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Flock have Twitter applications available as add-ons. Try TwitterFox or TwitterBar to use Twitter from Firefox. Internet Explorer 8 users can try Cloudberry Twitter.
-> Twitter Applications
Various Twitter applications have been created that make it much easier for advanced users to enhance Twitter usage. TweetDeck and twhirl are two such applications that have been created using Adobe’s AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) development platform. These standalone applications, which can be downloaded from their websites for free, vastly improve the efficiency of Twitter usage by simplifying DM-ing, RT-ing and pretty much everything else. For example, TweetDeck allows users to re-tweet posts with a couple of mouse clicks.
-> Mobile
Twitter can also be accessed through a mobile phone. The web service is available at http://m.twitter.com. Even for mobile phones, various applications have been developed to ease usage. twibble and Snaptu are two such application for mobiles while Apple iPhone users can try iTweet, Tweetie or Twitteriffic. Blackberry users can opt for TwitterBerry.
More?
Twitter can do a lot more than what has been covered in this (basic) post and is the ultimate social media platform available on the internet today. One can post photos, create event invitations, set up reminders, market a brand and do a whole lot more on Twitter.
Since it’s creation, Twitter has revolutionized communication and has become extremely popular on the Internet. Many celebrities and famous personalities are also taking to tweeting and reaching out to normal users.
Enjoy tweeting!
Follow Internet Simplified on Twitter.
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