Twit·ter (twit-er) n.,  1. a social networking and microblogging website that allows users to send and read other user messages called tweets  2. Tweets are short one or two sentences (140 Characters) that are displayed on Twitter.com  3. Twitter can be updated by most phones, computers and the iPad.

Still you ask, “What’s the Point?”    The Twitter is a website about conversing and building relationships.  Unlike traditional websites where you put up content and broadcast here we are look at me.  Twitter is all about sharing information and holding conversations.  Tweeters, people on twitter, expect people to hold conversations over twitter.  It is not enough for an organization to say, “Sale, Sale, Sale!”  Organizations need to learn to listen to what people are saying on Twitter and respond likewise.  Now, let’s get started.

To see people’s tweets you need sign up for a Twitter account at www.twitter.com.  Once you are signed in go to ‘Settings’ and by default it will take you to the ‘Account’ page.  Make sure you your profile is filled out.  I do not recommend checking the box ‘Protect my Tweets ’.

Click on ‘Profile’ on the menu near the top of the screen and begin filling out the info on this page.  Under ‘Bio’ you have filled in descriptive words that define you (ex. Father, rocket scientist, etc.) . Remember to upload a picture to your profile.

Click on ‘Design’ on the menu near the top of the screen and pick out a nice background for your account.  This can be updated at anytime.

Now that your profile is all filed out it is time to find people you already know that is on Twitter.  If you have a Google, Yahoo, AOL and/or LinkedIn account you can click on ‘Find People’ on the very top menu bar.  Then click on ‘Find Friends’ and log into your Google, Yahoo, AOL and/or LinkedIn account.  Twitter will do a search through your contacts and if it finds anyone that is in your contact list and on twitter it will show you their names and you can choose to follow them or not.

Go back to the main menu bar on top and click ‘Home’.  On the Home page you can tweet you first 140 character sentence.  In the next lesson we will be discussing how to increase your followers.

Once you are done with Twitter 101 then it’s time for Twitter 201

Follow me at :twitter.com/PaulLuna