What is Twitter?

Twitter is a micro-blogging site – meaning you can state your thoughts, views, opinions and links, but in a super-compact way. In fact, with Twitter, you only get to use 140 characters for each post, affectionately known as a tweet. At first glance, you may think 140 characters can’t possibly give you enough room to say anything of value, but once you jump into the flow, you’ll be amazed at the way Twitter can change your social media marketing world.

How Does it Work?

Twitter works as a real-time social media platform for users to update their followers with 140 characters and tidbits of information, chat, tips and tricks and other short messages that are broadcast to a group of users who have chosen to stay updated to your messages. While there are over 6 million users on Twitter, according to the latest statistics, individuals choose who they want to interact with by “following” them.

Every user gets a profile page, with room for a short bio, a photo and a link to the site of your choice. Your profile page also includes a button people can click on to begin “following” you – which means they will have access to all of your updates.

The more followers you acquire the stronger your networking capabilities become on Twitter. Twitter functions as an ever increasing network as each person interacts with their following, who then connects them to their own group of followers and on and on it grows.

Let’s break it down a bit.

When you create your user account and choose some people to follow, they have the opportunity to follow you back. As your followers start to get to know you, they will look to you to promote other people on Twitter and when they find people they relate to, they will begin following them as well. This “tell two friends who tell two friends who tell two friends” networking will expand your network faster than you can possibly imagine.

This is part one in a series of articles on A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing with Twitter.

Even if you are just getting started with social media, you’ve probably heard of Twitter. Twitter is one of the fastest-growing social media tools around right now. To give you a head start we’re going to walk you through the basic steps of getting started on Twitter.

Twitter’s concept is very simple—it lets you communicate short (140-character) bursts of information to the people that subscribe to your updates. These updates are known as “tweets.” It’s like blogging, only smaller.

You can also subscribe to, or “follow,” other Twitter users yourself. Tweets from the people who follow your tweets will show up in a stream of updates on your Twitter page.

Step 1: Set up an account

Go to twitter.com and click on the big “sign up now” button.
On the resulting screen, enter the username you want, your desired password, your email address and complete the spam checker.

Step 2: Enter your profile information

Once logged into Twitter, click on the “Settings” section at the top of your Twitter home page and complete your profile information. The information doesn’t have to be revealing or creative.

Step 3: Find your friends

• Search for people you know who are already using Twitter by clicking the “Find People” link at the top of the screen.
• Invite your friends—enter your friends’ email addresses to invite them to join Twitter.
• Search for new people to follow using search.twitter.com.
• Search for the city where you live to find other users who live close to you.
• Enter your career area to find business peers.
• Enter your hobbies to find people with shared interests.

The list of potential things to search for goes on and on.

Step 4: Manage your messages

I’m a big fan of Tweetdeck, an application that runs on your desktop. Tweetdeck’s selling point is that it lets you group the people you follow by creating different columns, which display each group’s updates. If you interact with a large community on Twitter, this can be very useful
Installing Tweetdeck is very easy. Just scroll down the Tweetdeck homepage and click the black “Download” button. Once it’s installed, getting started is as simple as logging in using your Twitter username.

There you have it—you’re now ready to start using Twitter.

If you’re nervous about getting started in social media, Twitter is a great place to look. It’s quick to start, easy and flexible to use, helps you get to know other people and it doesn’t require the concentrated investment of time that blogging can require. It’s still emerging and still developing; but, use it well, and you can get a lot of value from it.