How to use Twitter

Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to share thoughts, links, pictures or videos. It is also a handy tool for keeping up-to-date with news events anywhere in the world as they are happening. Each post is known as a ‘tweet’, and must consist of fewer than 140 characters, including hyperlinks to any articles. images or video.

 

To add your details and be able to tweet, you must have a user account, which is free.

 

 

 

Step 1: Go to the Twitter website, where you will see a sign-up form on the homepage.

 

Step 2: Enter your full name, email address and a password. Click Sign up for Twitter.

 

 

Step 3: Twitter will automatically suggest a ‘username’ based on the name you entered on the first sign-up form. However, you can change this to a different name if you want to.

 

If Twitter is happy with the information you have entered, a green tick will appear alongside each field. If not, a red cross will appear and prompt you to change the information you have entered.

 

 

Step 4: Enter a password that shouldn’t be easy to guess – avoid birthdays and your children’s names. The strength of the password entered is graded by Twitter. Entering an easy password such as ‘password’ will trigger a prompt for you to enter something more secure.

 

Step 5: Enter your valid email address. This is how Twitter will contact you to alert you to new ‘followers’ or private direct messages. Your email address is not available for people to see on the site.

 

Step 6: When you’ve finished entering all the necessary information, click Create my account.

 

Step 7: Twitter will now take you through a short tutorial, which includes suggestions of who to follow based on your email contacts and other popular accounts.

 

 

However, if you know of a Twitter user by name that you would like to follow – a person, company or other organisation, such as Digital Unite – enter that name into the search box and click Search. You’ll receive a list of possibilities. If you recognise the person or organisation you’re interested in, click Follow next to their search result.

 

 

Step 8: You’ll now see your timeline – more commonly known as your ‘Twitter stream’. This shows tweets from the accounts you follow as they are posted.

 

Items listed under ‘Worldwide Trends’ show what’s currently popular on Twitter, not just who you are following. You can choose which region’s trends this area displays by clicking Change and picking the most relevant area to you.

 

 

To look at the details of a specific account that you’re following, click their name or the picture accompanying the name and their profile information will pop-up.

 

 

Step 9: Any ‘mentions’ (people tagging your Twitter name in their tweets), new ‘followers’ (people subscribing to your tweets) or ‘retweets’ (another user sharing your tweet with their followers) will appear in Twitter’s new ‘Connect’ section.

 

 

Or you can keep up-to-date with the latest news and popular stories with Twitter’s ‘Discover’ section.

 

 

Step 10: You can edit your profile information, set a new image to appear as your avatar, or even change the background on your page at any time, by clicking on the dropdown menu in the right-hand corner of any page and selecting View my profile page.

 

 

Step 11: Click Edit your profile in the top right-hand side of the screen. Personalising this will allow you to tell prospective ‘followers’ a little bit about yourself, including your ‘Location’ and a brief ‘Bio’, explaining who you are and/or what your interests are. Click Save when you have finished.