A beginners guide to getting started on Twitter.

Recently I have been introducing alot of my friends and associates to twitter, believing that under the right conditions and used in the fashion. what it has been designed for, it can be an incredibly valuable asset both socially and as a business.

As I have only recently dedicated time to twitter as a medium I thought it might be wise to write a twitter beginner guide as quite frankly the process of using twitter isn’t very well documented on the website www.twitter.com and the whole concept isn’t explained enough for my liking.  As I have experienced this I had better explain a few points that may well help a new twitter user get the ball rolling.

First off, get an account with twitter. I wont go into the logistics here, its the usual affair but I will say that you should choose your username or account name carefully, something relevant and certainly not rude.

Now what?

Now we have to find some friends. As I mentioned, twitter doesn’t go a great job of explaining how to get the ball rolling.  For me it began with (surprise surprise) doing a search.

Check out search.twitter.com

Now, this resembles Google doesnt it?  It works in exactly the same fashion so the only thing I have to explain is how the process of the search works and what you should be typing to find *GOOD people. (the term GOOD people will be explained later).

Ask yourself what you are interested in. Sport? Politics? IT? Fashion?

Search for it!

The results that come up will include any Tweet that has been broadcast by someone with that word in it. Simple really.  Now just click on the persons avatar (the little picture of their face usually) and it will take you directly to their page on twitter listing all their latest tweets.

The more you refine your search the less results you will get but the more accurate the subject, so searching from the general to the specific is the usual run of course, test it out and play around.

On this page, just underneath their avatar is a button with the word “Follow”. Clicking this will add the person to the “FOLLOWING” section of your profile and you will start to become involved with them as they continue to twit.

In order for them to see what you “twit” however they will need to follow you in return.

So how do they follow me?

Again its simple.  As soon as you follow someone they receive an email notification informing them that you are following.  The most typical reaction is for them to immediately click the inlcuded link and visit your page inturn and begin following you, although of course they are certainly not obliged to but it helps to build your network and gain exposure to the people that you do want o be involved with.

That explains the first stage of finding people who talk about what you are interested in.  Remember the search is LIVE so you can search for the same thing all day and you will continually find new people who are talking about your particular subject as and when they tweet about it!

The second stage to building your social network is to see the followers of the people you are following.  By visiting their page and clicking on  “followers” you will be presented the full list of all the people following that individual.  Following the same process you can visit each persons twitter page, see their Bio, and review what they are talking about.  If its revelent and you feel you could become involved then hit the follow button and your off.

*GOOD people
The essence of twitter is based around SOCIAL NETWORKING and hence there are some social niceties that should be observed.  Some impractical idiots (there is always one or a thousand) use twitter as if its a wall street crash, spam tweeting links to their blog, service or product, screaming BUY BUY BUY or SELL SELL SELL. They will not last long as they quickly loose followers or are blocked.  No one likes it, no one wants it and no one appreciates it so DON’T DO IT.

That will hopefully get you started, not to complicated is it?

No of course not.

See you on twitter and if you want to begin following me my address is http://twitter.com/justinparks

If you need some more information on twitter check out these two posts I have already done wit ha whole range of different applications to choose from to modify or develop your twitter experience.

twitter tools and links & What is twitter?

Speak to you soon! BUT NO SPAMMERS!