Twitter account set-up

1. Set up the account, with email, username and password.
• Choose a username that is 15 characters or less
• Create a password
• Associate the account with an email address.
2. Create an avatar
3. Enter in profile information: name, location, website and bio.
4. Create a custom background that includes logo, description, and useful links, uploaded through Settings > Design.
5. Change the design colors in Settings > Design to match your background or business colors.
6. Begin following others.
7. Begin Tweeting.

You may also connect your Twitter account to a mobile phone through the Settings > Mobile menu. This allows you to receive and send tweets via text.

Logging on

When you log in, you will be directed to your home screen, which provides a feed of updates (“tweets”) from all the people you are following. Notice in the right hand upper corner, you can see the number of users you follow, the number who follow you, and the lists you’re on. To view your profile, which displays your tweets, click the “Profile” link in the top navigation or go to www.Twitter.com/[YourTwitterUsername].

Following

A great part of growing your Twitter account is following others. The term "following" on Twitter means that you choose to receive tweets from a certain user. These tweets show up in your home page Twitter feed, where the most recent status message is at the top. Following others not only helps you get important information from others, it can help you gain followers since many will follow you back.

To follow a user, click the “follow” button on his or her profile page. To seek out users to follow, click the “Find People” link in the top navigation. You can enter the Twitter profile name, the person or business’ name, or keywords.

There are also third-party tools that help you find people to follow, and some that automatically follow users based on certain parameters.

Tweeting

In the dialogue box at the top of your home page, you’ll see the prompt: “What’s happening?” This vague question offers a lot of opportunities to reach out to your Twitter audience. “Tweeting” is simply answering this question in 140 characters or less, which will then show up in the home page feeds of everyone who follows you. The Twitter community has developed some of its own language and terms. Here are some things to consider:

• Tweets don't just include words, but hyperlinks in many forms. An @reply links to another user's Twitter page, as do retweets, signified with the letters RT or an icon with arrows in a circle. Retweet simply means you're repeating the tweet of another user, and these commonly show up in news, conversational, and pass-along tweets.
• Hashtags. Hashtags are a way of categorizing a tweet, and they were developed through Twitter users who realized the need for labeling their tweets. For example, if you write a tweet about real estate, you could include the hashtag #realestate in your tweet. Hashtags are also hyperlinks, and they link directly to a search page for that term.
• Linking to other web pages. Since links to outside web pages can often times be extremely long, URL shorteners are useful. Some examples of these are ow.ly, is.gd, and most popularly, bit.ly.
• Incorporating other media. Tweets may also include video, audio, and photos through use of outside applications. TwitPic allows you to upload photos, connects to your Twitter account, then generates a link and tweets the photo for you. TwitVid does the same with videos, and Twt.fm does the same with songs. Smartphones with a Twitter application can automatically post these forms of media.
• Direct messages. If you wish to contact someone privately, send them a direct message (the Direct Message link is on your home page in the right sidebar). The shorthand for a direct message is “DM”.