Twitter and Tweeting

GetOn.com's guide to Twitter and Tweeting......what is it and why you should care?

Twitter is a free social networking and micro blogging service that enables users to communicate via short (140 character) text based posts known as "tweets". Twitter allows users to share and discover information quickly and easily, and is the world's fastest growing social media site.

Twitter is a way to quickly report your status to friends (similarly to facebook status updates). It can be used to post interesting links, pictures and info, and it can be used as a marketing tool in many different ways. Twitter is simple and fast to join, you simply:

• Sign up (free registration) https://twitter.com/signup
• Pick a user name (your profile web page will be http://twitter.com/your name here)
• Customize your Twitter home page by uploading an image or choosing web colors

Important Note: Twitter user names can only be registered once. It is recommended that you sign up in order to get the user name you want. If your name is Jon Smith and another Jon Smith has registered that user name already, it is gone.  The same goes for your website's URL.  If you wish to use your website URL for your twitter user name, we suggest you register it quickly before someone else does. You can quickly check if the user name you want is available by typing it in the User name box at https://twitter.com/signup

Why Should You care?

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social networks in the world with over 32 million unique visitors according to comScore. This does not include the millions of users who interface with twitter via their phones, desktop applications and other websites. Twitter is used by Government agencies, Advocacy groups, Businesses, Celebrities, Politicians and others to quickly broadcast opinions, observations and information on a broad range of subjects. The underlying principle behind twitter is staying connected. Twitter is a great method of communicating with people, businesses and organizations who share your interests. Best of all Twitter is free to join and takes only minutes to set up.

Uses of Twitter

Twitter has many different uses depending on the user and their goals. Businesses can utilize Twitter to quickly communicate: job openings, new products, sales and specials, and any other relevant info. Realtors could update their Twitter with any new listings and links to interesting real estate articles (Twitter allows the posting of URL's in your tweets). Twitter allows businesses to define and build their brands online for free. Some other examples:

• A restaurant tweets their daily specials
• A ticket agency tweets about-to-expire tickets
• A realtor tweets new homes on the market
• A chamber of commerce tweets local events and promotions.

How does it work?

People can only follow you if they know you exist. When you first start a Twitter account you will have no one following you. A follower is someone with a Twitter account who has decided that your Twitter profile is worth following. The question you need to ask yourself is "Why would someone want to follow me on Twitter, how will they benefit from it?" A great way to begin getting followers is to do a search on a subject of interest to you, and begin following users who are making interesting comments on that subject. You can increase your chances of having someone following you by posting interesting tweets with links to relevant articles etc. Once you are following someone, their tweets will be displayed on your Twitter homepage. The more people you follow, the more tweets you will see. Likewise, if someone is following you, your tweets will be displayed on their homepage.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for a new cool way to promote your business, keep up to date on the latest news and trends and keep in touch with friends family and coworkers, I suggest you give Twitter a shot. It can be a bit intimidating at first, but have fun with it and explore, and you will be making friends (followers) and enjoying yourself in no time.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to send me an email steve@geton.ca, or better yet set up a twitter profile and Direct Message me at http://twitter.com/GetOndotCom

If you would like GetOn.com to provide training or to setup a Twitter account for you please email me.

Steve Barker
Business Development
GetOn.com Technologies

Twitter Username: GetOndotcom

steve@geton.ca

About Twitter
http://twitter.com/about