Setting Up Your Twitter Account & Tweet Beginning with Dr.Hossam Darwishs

Setting Up Your Account & Tweet Beginnings

Below I will give you, the new Twitter user, some basic information to set up your account and begin tweeting.

1. Choose Your Username

For personal branding consistency, your username should align with your other social networks. For most students, use your first and last name. Because other variations of Hossam Darwish were taken by other users, my Twitter name is Hossamdarwish.

2. Create a Twitter Bio

It is crucial that you complete the Twitter bio section when setting up your account. Include in your bio: your interests or major in school, where you go to school, profession if you have one and what you tweet about. In short, let people know why they should follow you. I rarely follow anyone who doesn’t include a bio. If you don’t tell people who you are, why would they follow you?

3. Customize Your Twitter Background

A memorable and customized Twitter landing page helps further your personal brand. Twitbacks offers simple, quick and customizable backgrounds, where you can include links to your blog and other social network profiles. Visit this list of Top 10 Twitter background sites for more suggestions.

4. Become Familiar With the Twitter Home Page

In this screen shot, you can see the basic Twitter home interface.

Type your 140 character or less update in the “What are you doing?” box. Below the box, you can see the stream of tweets from the people you follow.

On the top right-hand side you will see your profile picture, your follower/following count and the Twitter lists you are a part of. Below that, you’ll see “@username”- which displays tweets directed at you by other users, “Direct Messages”, and “Favorites”. When you like a tweet, you can “favorite” it by clicking the star next to the tweet.

Below that, you will see “Lists”. Lists are a fairly new Twitter feature, and this article gives more information if you’d like.

5. Following People

There are a few ways to find people using Twitter. After setting up your account, you can import all of your Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL contacts already using Twitter. Also, look for important college contacts, friends, professors and professionals in your field.  If there is a company you’d really love to work at after graduation, see if any of their staff is on Twitter and start connecting now!

This Mashable post offers 10 suggestions for finding people to follow on Twitter.

6. Start Engaging 

In my opinion, beginning to tweet can feel a little awkward. But, it becomes a lot more interesting when your following picks up and people start sharing and responding to your content. Note: You don’t have to literally answer the “What are you doing?” question!

Here are a few basic suggestions as you begin to tweet:

1.       Use links. A valuable Twitter update could include a link and your brief thoughts. It is always thoughtful to credit the author of the post if you can.

2.        Use a url shortener, such as bit.ly. Go to the site, paste in your long url and the site will generate a shortened version. Twitter only allows 140 character updates; you don’t want a long url to take up half of your character allotment!

3.       Retweet. By retweeting, you are sharing other people’s content updates that you find interesting. To retweet, you simply type “RT”, followed by the person’s update. This is also a good way to pick up followers! People often follow you back if you retweet and share their ideas

4.       Using @reply. You can communicate directly with another twitter user by using the @ symbol followed by their twitter name. Normally, @ replies are not private, but through your settings, you can control whether or not you see @ replies that aren’t directed to you. (go Settings > Notices > @ Replies).

5.       Sending direct messages. To direct message someone, type “D” followed by their username in the status update box. This sends a private message, not visible to the rest of the Twitterverse.

Summary of ‘Getting Started’ suggestions :

Do not make your Twitter account private! The point of Twitter is open information sharing—if you don’t want people to see it, why are you on Twitter?

Share links. Use a url shortener.

Give credit when it is due. Use the @ symbol to recognize other Twitter users’ content.

Keep your updates shorter than 140 characters if you want people to retweet them! For instance, RT @cassie_holman is 18 characters, so if I want people to retweet me, I must keep my tweet below 122 characters.

Tips for Twitter use:

•    Write interesting stuff.

•    Include links when you can.

•    Lend your input on a topic of interest.

•    Write a good Twitter bio, and then deliver on what your bio says about you. If you are a business student about to graduate and enter the workforce, are you using Twitter for networking, to find a job, or to simply connect with the community?

•    What are your interests? Sharing a personal side with your Twitter community is important. Remember, on social networks you are still a person, not a profile.

•    Demonstrate your involvement. Are you a student reporter? Participating in a conference? Attending a speech by a renowned speaker? Volunteering for a cause? Being a student is one of the busiest times of your life. Share these moments and what you are learning from your experiences.

•    Pose questions to the general Twitter community and to individuals via DM or @reply. Thank someone or comment back if they answer your question.

•    Link to others’ blogs and @mention them in your tweet. Other tweeters are more likely to recognize you if you recognize them. One of the big draws of Twitter: it’s one big kudos community. Give credit where it’s due.

•    On a similar note, participate in #FF (Follow Friday). On Fridays, recognize other tweeters worthy of following by using the #FF hashtag. For instance, an update might be: “Follow these PR people for great insight! @PRone and @PRtwo #FF”.

•    Learn to write concise, targeted messages. Shorter messages are easier to retweet.

•    Syndicate your blog feed using Twitterfeed.

•    Refer to your Twitter account in other mediums: email signature, other online profiles or your business card, for example.

Third Party applications:

Twitter has a robust search capability. Here are some basic third party apps that you can use to your advantage:

• Tweetdeck: Tweetdeck’s robust features and ease of use make is a favorite among many Twitter users. Use this desktop app to create list columns, monitor mentions of your name, manage multiple Twitter accounts, and sync your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace accounts.

• Twellow: Connect with people of interest using the yellow pages of Twitter.

• Tweetbeep: Get free Twitter alerts by email.

• Tweetmeme: Put a button on your Website or blog that makes it easier for readers to retweet.

• Ping.fm: Update all your social networks at once.

Bring the connections elsewhere: 

Twitter is just one medium for making connections and strengthening your online presence. Take the relationships to Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks. Comment on others’ blogs. Attend conferences or events and introduce yourself to online friends in real life. Connect with university officials or potential employers via Twitter, and then set up face-to-face meetings. Once you begin making and strengthening these connections, the possibilities are endless.