10 Twitter Tips To Get A Head Start

It's common for new Twitter users to get overwhelmed after joining. This article presents 10 Twitter tips which will help you get started while ensuring that your time on Twitter is both productive and efficient.

Top 10 Twitter Tips for Beginners

1. Choosing a Username: A lot of Twitter users choose nicknames that are unrelated to the information they are offering. If you are using Twitter for personal use this is okay, however, if you are going to use Twitter to offer high quality information related to your area of expertise, you should choose a username that reflects your area of specialization. When people see your username they will know exactly what you are about.

2. Retweets: Retweets or 'RTs' as they are also called are used to resend someone else's message. If you think the content of the message is relevant and useful, you always have the option of forwarding that person's message. If you wish to send a retweet, all you have to do is type "RT @name" in front of their message and then proceed to post it. When you post the tweet, remember to give credit to the person who created the message.

3. Communicating with the @ Sign: The @ sign is used to reply to people who have posted tweets. If you wish to post a reply, simply place an @ sign in front of their username and then type in your message.

4. Locating Your Friends and Searching for Topics of Interest: You can find your friends and other topics you are interested in by using search.twitter.com. It works just like a search engine except you are searching the Twitter site to locate people and read information that is of interest to you.

5. Receiving Mobile Tweets: If you have a cell phone you can receive tweets from Twitter on your mobile device by simply entering your cell phone number under the Devices tab in your Twitter account settings online.

6. Mobile Twitter Clients: Twitter provides mobile clients which enhance your experience with using Twitter. The clients include Twitterific and Twitterberry and work with a cell phone that contains Wi-Fi.

7. Categories: Twitter provides a way for you to categorize your Tweets so other Twitter users can easily locate them. If you are posting a tweet about a topic that is currently popular, all you have to do is place # sign in front of the topic of your tweet.

8. URL Addresses: URL addresses are website addresses that you can provide in your tweets if there is a page you want others to view. Generally website URLs can be pretty lengthy and do not fit within the 140 character limit. For this reason, Twitter users use shortened URLs by using URL shortening services.

9. Direct Messaging: Any tweet you post on Twitter, the message can be seen by everyone, however, you can use the direct messaging service to send private messages.

10. TweetDeck: If you end up using Twitter on a frequent basis, it is a good idea to install a Twitter desktop client such as TweetDeck on your PC. A desktop client application will help you to easily manage all of your communications on Twitter

There are a lot of other ways that Twitter can be used but these are the top 10 Twitter Tips that will help you understand the basics and get started using Twitter.


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If you are interested in more Twitter tips to improve your efficency and productivity, visit the Twitter Tips Central blog.