Read Twitter for Dummies Online

Authors: Laura Fitton,Michael Gruen,Leslie Poston

Tags: #Internet, #Computers, #Web Page Design, #General

Twitter for Dummies

Twitter For Dummies
®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Twitter? Like Birds Do?

Part II: Joining Your Flock on Twitter

Part III: Twittering in High Gear

Part IV: Knowing Why We Twitter

Part V: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Twitter? Like Birds Do?

Chapter 1: Sharing Your Thoughts, 140 Characters at a Time

Figuring Out This Twitter Thing

How Individuals Use Twitter

How Organizations Use Twitter

Businesses That Use Twitter

Getting Your Tweet Wet

Tweeting Like a Pro

Branching Out with Third-Party Applications

Chapter 2: Hello, Twitter World!

Signing Up

Picking a Name

Finding Contacts

Using useful people-finding tools

Searching by using Twitter Search

Inviting Contacts

Say Hello! Your First Tweets

Customizing Your Profile

Changing your avatar

Changing your background

Using your background image to expand your profile

Adjusting Your Text-Messaging Settings

Controlling the text-message flow

Selecting your text notifications, person by person

Chapter 3: Stroll Around the Grounds: A Tour of the Twitter Interface

Starting Out on the Home Screen

The sidebar

The “What are you doing?” box

The Twitter stream

Tweeting to One Specific Person: @Replies

Shhh! Sending Private Notes via Direct Messages

Playing (Twitter) Favorites

Becoming a Renaissance Man via the Everyone Tab (RIP)

Figuring Out Who’s Following You

Looking at What You’ve Tweeted

Chapter 4: Using Twitter Wherever You Think Best

The User Multi-Face: Interacting with Twitter Every Which Way

Text messages (SMS delivery)

RSS feeds

Desktop clients

TwitterFox

Widgets and gadgets

Going Mobile: The Key to Happiness

Part II: Joining Your Flock on Twitter

Chapter 5: Tweeting It Up

Finding People to Follow on Twitter

Look who’s talking

Searching for people

Inviting people personally, through Twitter

Opening up your stream

How to Follow People

Replying to Tweets

Direct Messaging

Direct-messaging shorthand

Should I @ or DM?

Encouraging More Followers

Chapter 6: Who’s Using Twitter

Tweeting with Regular People

Building Company Relationships with Twitter

Talking Politics with Actual Politicians

Following Celebrities on Twitter

Signing Up for Syndicated Material

Tweeting in Unison

Part III: Twittering in High Gear

Chapter 7: Tricks of the Twitter Gurus

Following Twitter Protocol

Language and abbreviations

Engaging others on Twitter

Tweeting frequency

Inserting Links into Your Tweets

Using Your Twitter History and Favorites

Your Feeds, My Feeds, Everyone’s Feeds

Deciphering Twitter Shorthand Code

D – direct message

F – follow

@ – reply

On/Off

Fav – favorite a tweet

Nudge

Stats

Get

Whois

Leave

On/Off username

Invite

Quit and Stop

Codes may come, and codes may go . . .

Chapter 8: Twitter Minus Twitter.com

Tweeting with Your Cellphone

Via text messaging

Via smartphones or PDAs

Using Twitter through Your E-Mail

Swimming Your Twitter Stream with RSS Feeds

Grabbing RSS feeds

Sending RSS feeds back to Twitter

Using Third-Party Services

Sharing Tweets All Around the Web

Auto-Tweeting

Chapter 9: Embracing the Twitter Ecosystem

Finding Interesting Twitter Talk with Search Tools

Twitter Search

TwitScoop

Hashtags

Expanding Your Twitter World by Using Clients

Desktop clients

Mobile clients

Keeping Your Tweets Short with URL Shorteners

Getting All Your Online Activity in One Place by Using Aggregators

Using Trending Topics to Stay on the Twitter Cutting-Edge

Playing with Twitter Games and Memes

Tag Clouds

Keeping in Contact with Visualization and Listening Tools

Google Alerts

BLVDStatus

Twitter Search

Radian6

Knowing Your Network with Follower and Following Tools

Part IV: Knowing Why We Twitter

Chapter 10: Finding Your Tweet Voice

Finding Your Voice, Whether for Business or Pleasure

Your business on Twitter

You as you on Twitter

Mixing business with pleasure

Identifying Your Audience

Viewing your network

Diversifying your network

Targeting specific networks

Measuring influence

Understanding your extended network

Keeping Your Tweets Authentic

Joining the conversation

Sharing links

Image is everything

Being genuine

Evangelizing your causes

Keeping Twitter Personal . . . but Not Too Personal

Protecting personal details

Maximizing privacy and safety

Chapter 11: Twitter for Business

The Business of Twitter

Putting Your Best Face Forward

Public relations

Customer service

Networking on Twitter

Offering Promotions and Products

Promoting Bands and Artists

Sharing Company Updates

Building Community

Conducting Research

Going Transparent

But, What If My Employees . . .

Sharing Knowledge

Chapter 12: The Social Side of Twitter

Using Twitter as a Support System

Connecting with People

Making New Friends

Searching for topics of interest

Twitter-based events

To Follow or Not to Follow?

Getting Quick Answers

Accessing the experts

Information about breaking news

Getting recommendations

Sharing Information

Chapter 13: Changing the World, One Tweet at a Time

Twittering the Globe for Change

Charity events

Politics

Natural disasters

Helping others

Organizing People Online and in Real Life

Organizing on a small scale

Banding together for creative purposes

Planning an event

Engaging in Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism hits the mainstream

Being a Twitter journalist

Tweeting accurate info

Gathering your journalistic tools

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 14: Ten Twitter Tools

TweetDeck: Connecting with Many

Seesmic Desktop/Twhirl: Managing Multiple Accounts

CoTweet: Corporate Tweeting

Smartphone Clients Tweetie, PocketTwit, and TwitterBerry

Twellow: Finding People to Follow

FriendorFollow: Managing Followers and Followings

TwtVite: Event Planning

Twitterfeed: Getting Your Blog Posts to Twitter

TwitPic

Xpenser: Keeping Track of Your Expenses

Chapter 15: Ten Useful Twitter-Based Services

BreakingNews

StockTwits

Tweecious: Use Delicious to Organize the Links You Tweet

TipJoy

ExecTweets

EpicTweet

Link Bunch

Tweetree

TwitterGrader

Blip.fm

Chapter 16: Ten Cool Ways to Use Twitter

Plain Old Networking

Breaking News

Travel

Finance

Food, Wine, and Spirits

Books

Music

Education

Charities and Causes

Event Planning

Twitter™ For Dummies®

by Laura Fitton @pistachio, Michael E. Gruen @gruen, and Leslie Poston @geechee_girl

Jack Dorsey

Inventor, Founder, & Chairman, Twitter

Twitter™ For Dummies®

Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at
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.

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Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

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