How to use Twitter

If you’ve spent a lot of time on the internet recently you have probably heard a lot about Micro-blogging and more specificaly, Twitter. I’ve noticed that a lot of people have heard of, but don’t know how to use Twitter. I’ve been using it for a while now so I thought I would share what I’ve learned. Im not expert but I think this covers all the basic, plus there are some links to some other, slightly more in-depth articles.

What is it?

In a recent attempt to define Twitter is came up with the idea that if traditional blogging is like writing a diary then twitter is more like logging and sharing SMS messages. It allows you to post messages comprised of text (140 characters max) to your page on the Twitter site i.e www.twitter.com/your-user-name. As Eric notes Twitter is open and transparent rather than private like email or text.

Whilst others can subscribe to this feed and have it presented to them on their twitter homepage, it can also be viewed by anyone (unless you wish to hide your updates).

Those who already use Facebook will find that Twitter is similar to the ’status update’ displayed below their name on their profile page ie ‘Thomas is…’ In fact as DiscoBeta notes it is now possible to integrate your Twitter updates with your Facebook status. Once you have joined Twitter you can ‘follow’ people which means that you receive their updates. They can then choose to follow you back. You update your status whenever you feel like it. You can say what you are doing, post a link or just get something off your mind. You can update via www.twitter.com/home or by mobile.

Mobile updates

Twitter can be updated via your mobile phone in two ways. You can text your Tweet (message) to their number (see below) or, if you have wap enabled, you can visit the mobile version of their site at m.twitter.com. Most blogging sites offer this kind of service, allowing you to update when you’re not at your computer. This is, after-all, the best time for you to answer the question which appears above the input area on Twitter: What are you doing?

Twitter also allows you to receive updates about those you are following direct to your mobile phone. In the UK these are limited to 250 a week due to the cost involved (in the US most users pay to receive SMS messages so we have it much better here!). Updates can be turned on or off at any time. You can also choose to follow some users on the web but not via your mobile.

Uses

To make the most of Twitter you need to get your friends using it. You can send out messages directly to certain people or to everyone at once. You can update people regarding you whereabouts and stay in touch cheaper than by using text messages as you only need to send your message once and Twitter distributes it for you.

I can imagine that Twitter would be particularly useful to people who are traveling away from home (depending on overseas text charges) as you could give your friends and family your homepage url and keep them updated without them needing to register. You could update your micro-blog without needing access to an internet connection.

DoshDosh has some other useful ideas about how to use Twitter for those who are a little more advanced.

Commands

These command are sent to +44 762 4801423 from the UK and 40404 from the US. Before doing this you need to link up your account with your mobile. To do this click on ’settings’ >> ‘phone & im’ and enter your mobile number.

invite [john's number] john sends a text invite to john

follow username you will get phone updates from this person (requires initial approval)

on enables twitter updates

get gets recent updates from all your friends

get username gets this person’s last update

nudge username encourages this person to update

leave username disables updates from this person

off disables twitter updates

stats a few statistics about your Twitter account

help sends back a list of twitter lingo commands

followers sends back a list of your followers

d username message sends a direct message to this person.

Who to follow

Here are some interesting blogs to follow:

TwitterLit - The first lines of great books.

Cookbook - Recipes in under 140 characters.

BBC - News updates.

JKottle - Of Kottle.org fame.

wordsREthings - My Twitter page

10 great online tools and resources.

1. Pixenate

Pixenate allows you to edit your photos online. Its useful when you don’t have access to photo editing software. I use it when I’m at work so that I don’t have to wait until i get home (where I use Photoshop). It’s quick and easy and doesn’t have lots of ‘advanced features’ which you need to register to use like a lot of other online photo editors. It is simple to use, simply upload your image from your computer, edit it using the menu (see below) which is quite straight-forward. Once you have, for instance, cropped your image and corrected the density, you just download the image back to your computer.

Pixenate - Online Photo Editor via kwout

2. Fat fingers

Fat Fingers is a site which helps you to find ebay bargains. Many actions go almost unnoticed because the seller has mistyped the name of the item they are selling. When you type what you are looking for into Fat Fingers it performs a search on ebay for lots of possible misspellings, allowing you to find items others may not have! Less competition = lowers prices.

Fat Fingers - eBay typos and spelling mistakes via kwout

3. Kwout

Kwout Allows you to grab a screen shot of any website to display on your blog, just like I have here. See the quote of Kwout below! You type in the address of the site you wish to quote, choose an area to show and Kwout outputs the code you need. This is much more straight forward than cutting down a screenshot then hosting it yourself.

kwout | A brilliant way to quote via kwout

4. Flickr color selectr

This site is perhaps more interesting than useful. It allows you to pick a colour (see menu below) then displays images from Flickr which feature predominantly that colour. The images are creative commons licensed so this site is helpful if you are looking for an image to use which will match a particular colour scheme. It is also an interesing way to browse images as you never really know what you are going to find.

Flickr Color Selectr via kwout

5. Skreemr

Skreemr searches blogs for free to download or stream mp3s. Simply type in the artist you are looking for and Skreemr presents you with a list of tracks to choose from. There is also an advanced search function but that never seems to work! The site gives you information about the files including the bitrate, this saves you from downloading an mp3 then discovering it is of a poor audio quality. This site is quicker and simpler than searching through sites like Last Fm for streaming tracks because of its simple design and lack of other features.

SkreemR Mp3 Search - World’s Greatest Mp3 Search via kwout

6. AlbumArt.org

Pretty straight forward this one: like google image search but for album (and DVD) artwork. Better than google image search as it takes you directly to the image.

Albumart.org - CD and DVD cover searchengine via kwout

7. Vector Magic

Vector Magic lets you upload an image from your computer then turn it into a vector. A vector graphic can be re-sized without any loss of quality. As an example, if you blow up a jpeg you can see the pixels and the image becomes distorted but this isn’t a problem with a vector. This tool is also useful to add a cartoon style effect to your images or avatars.

VectorMagic | Precision Bitmap to Vector Conversion Online via kwout

8. Remember the milk

Disorganized? forever writing lists then misplacing them? You need Remember The Milk! (do I sound like an infomercial yet?!) It lets you set reminders and create to-do-lists which you can access from anywhere (again this tool is useful for those of us who work at a computer). You can also use RTM offline and it will update when you reconnect.

Remember The Milk via kwout

9. Dynamic drive

Dynamic Drive has hundreds of free DHTML scripts to liven-up your website! They describe DHTML as ‘an advanced form of JavaScript.’ In practice this means you can add floating menus, thumbnail viewers and other such widgets to your site. You can even make it look like it’s snowing on your site, which is useful if you are trying to create the worlds most annoying webpage.

Dynamic Drive DHTML(dynamic html) & JavaScript code library via kwout

10. Money saving expert

A mine of information on Mortgages, car insurance store cards and stoozing (earning interest on money borrowed on interest free credit card deals). This site is worth visiting before making any kind of important financial decision to find out the truth behind all the jargon banks and large companies try to bewilder us with. Also worth a mention is the forum as some of the people who post actually work for the companies being discussed which means you can find out the best offers you might not be offered (if that makes any sense).

Money Saving Expert: Consumer Revenge - Credit Cards, Shopping, Bank Charges, Cheap Flights and more via kwout