10 Twitter Tips For Novices

1. Shrink Your Urls– Most people want to share links on Twitter. The only problem is that you only have 140 characters. If you try to share a forum post like this one: http://www.thefreeadforum.com/vbull/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/598184-9-tips-get-most-traffic-out-digg.html , there is not much room left to make a comment. You can use url shortening services to shorten the above url to something like: http://tinyurl.com/3sotcm8 The first url had 121 characters, the new shortened one has 26. Now you can share your link and make a comment telling people why they should look at it. Here are some url shortening services: tinyurl.com, is.gd, ow.ly, and bit.ly .

2. Use the @ Sign– To respond to someone on Twitter just put an @ sign in front of their Twitter username. My Twitter username is quickregister. To reply to me you would use @quickregister . To view replies to your own tweets click on @replies from your profile page.

3. DM or Direct Messaging– You can send something like a mini 140 character email to your followers. This is called direct messaging. There are also services and software that will allow you to send an automatic DM welcome message to everyone who follows you. Some people in the Twitter world think this is un-cool. Up to you.

4. The Retweet (RT)– If you want to tweet something that somebody else tweeted this is encouraged but you must give them credit for the original tweet. To do this just put RT @theirtwitterusername in front of their tweet and post it yourself.

5. Search Twitter– Twitter has it’s own built in search engine. You can search for your friends or search and see what people are tweeting about certain topics. You are then free to follow, and or retweet away.

6. Share your pictures and videos on Twitter– Ok this one has got a certain politician in trouble. Remember Twitter is a totally public forum! Do not Tweet anything you do not want the whole world to see or know about. You can now add pictures and videos to your Tweets with services like Twitpic.com.

7. Categorize your Tweets– If you put a # sign in front of your tag you are basically creating a category for your tweet. Then if you do subsequent tweets on this subject you can use the #yourtag to make it easier for people to find all your tweets on this subject. If you are tweeting about something popular it could catch on and many others could start using your tag. For example if I was tweeting about local marketing tips I would put the tag #localmarketing anywhere in my tweet and it would now be associated with this category. People could then find my local marketing tweets more easily.
Here is an article which goes into depth why you should use hashtags.

8. Tweet from your phone!– Oh my, this could get overwhelming but you can receive and send tweets from your phone by text message. Please do not do this while driving or making love. Under settings go the the devices tab and enter your phone number. Twitter allows you to update your status and receive updates via text message.

9. Using a desktop client– If you are becoming a power Twitter you might consider one of the popular Twitter desktop clients which allow you to send and receive tweets in a more organized manner. Some of the popular applications are TweetDeck, Twhirl, and TwitterFox.

10. Power Tweet using a mobile Twitter application– Ok by now you are no longer a novice. Your Tweets are coming in so fast a furiously that you no longer can wait to manage them with one of your many Desktop Twitter clients. Also, you are getting so many tweets on your phone that you cannot keep up. You now need a mobile Twitter application to help you organize and deliver your precious tweets in an efficient and timely manner. The popular mobile clients for Twitter are: Twidroid, Twitterific, TwitterBerry, and PocketTweets.

This should really get you going on Twitter. Of course you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/quickregister

Thank you,

Matthew Meyer

P.S.When you are ready for Twitter writing tips for experts check out Copybloggers Twitter Tips.
Ready for your blackbelt in Twitter? Click here.

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